I am huddled under the tarp for a minute, my rain jacket,pulled tight around my face. It’s raining for practically the first time in two weeks. I’m grabbing brief moments of shelter in between scanning for Bright Eyes with a bright flashlight. Its time to go out, check on the fire and walk around the inside of our bear fence shining the light. its 2:30 AM., the thermoses are full of hot water, our wild rice, breakfast is rehydrated ready for tomorrow.

We rounded cape white handkerchief today. The first Cape with any sort of conditions. as we crossed the valley before it, a hot wind lasted us from the side. It was like being in an air-conditioned room in a hot country, and suddenly opening the doors. The warm gusts highlighted how frigid it’s usually is. . The wind and waves were in our face, and the kayaks bounced down into the chop water splashed up into our faces, and we had to dig deep. It was a beautiful place to work hard. A steep cliff towered up above us, Brown rock injected with vertical black stripes. Once around the Cape, the wind dropped but the sea remained lively with waves rebounding off the cliffs. I enjoyed the energy I love being able to make small course corrections, using the waves and the view got even better. A long line of tall steep mountains lay ahead of us. ribbon waterfalls tumbling down onto icebergs below. Smooth granite type rock on one Headland, a block sized black intrusion on the next. A lone, male polar bear sat on a rare grassy patch on a less steep section. He stood up as we saw him and strode along the cliffs in our direction catching I was sent he turned towards us and sniffed before continuing on His way. Visibility was a little better today. there was some texture in the sky with a few clouds visible. We could still only see a detail a few miles ahead. It had the effects that we could only appreciate the beauty of our immediate surroundings. New delights revealed them selves all day. It was like we could only open our presents one at a time. we stopped after about 34 km as the next decent beach was over 10 km further.

It’s starting to get a bit brighter outside but I still need the light to scan. Time to wake jf for his shift