Beach Cleanup & Another Sealift

September 4 was the perfect day for community service.  Three cadets, an RCMP officer, and I spent a number of hours cleaning the shoreline behind the Arctic Bay Airport.  The army cadet corps has been keeping this area garbage free since 2013!

We drove out to the airport in two pickup trucks and an ATV pulling a trailer.  We left the trucks at the airport and loaded the supplies onto the trailer.  I let the senior cadet drive the ATV down to the shoreline.  The RCMP officer & I walked down to the shoreline.  I chose not to ride in the trailer with the other cadets because of the frequent bumps along the trail.  I’ve done it once in the past and that’s enough for me. 

Each person started with two pairs of rubber gloves and two large garbage bags.  The RCMP officer would drive the ATV like he did last year and fill the trailer with large objects and full garbage bags.  Speaking of large objects, I instructed the cadets to collect large objects into piles.  Discarded pieces of wood would – wow, twice – be added to the large wood pile.  Anything else would go to the dump.

We spread out and began removing items that did not belong on the ground.  Just like the previous years, it’s always amazing to see what we find.  Plastic bottles, toys, chips bags, aluminum cans, plastic bags, sports balls, tires, hula hoops, and much more.  This year the largest item we recovered was a blue boat!  It must have floated here from the community during the summer.  The shoreline looked a lot cleaner by the early afternoon.  The cadets and I posed for several photographs.

The ATV and trailer got stuck in some mud for a period time.  This happens every year, it’s (almost) expected and/or routine.  It’s one of the reasons why I strive to have two ATVs and a towing cable for this event.  Unfortunately, all we had this year was manpower and our wits.  Thankfully, after much pushing and shaking, the cadets & the RCMP officer freed the ATV and trailer. 

The senior cadet drove the ATV & trailer to the landfill.  I followed in Frank’s pickup truck.  The RCMP officer drove his truck behind me.  We dumped all the garbage at the landfill, including the blue boat.  We assumed if it belonged to someone in town, they would eventually come looking for it at the landfill.  I drove the cadets home.  I thanked them and the RCMP officer for doing their part in taking care of the land. 

September 8 was a busy day for Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping (NEAS).  Their ship, the MV Sinaa, arrived to unload a year’s worth of supplies.  NEAS ships usually arrive before Desgagnes, but I guess this year was an exception.  My cadets & I visited the Sinaa in 2019.

Once again, the people of Arctic Bay were told to stay away from the area in front of the Northern Store.  NEAS crews spent all day bringing wooden crates and metal sea containers ashore and arranging them in piles.  Many sea containers belonged to the Northern Store and the business hired locals to assist in emptying the containers’ contents into their warehouse.  The empty containers were loaded onto barges and returned to the Sinaa. 

I took a few pictures of the entire operation.

The ship left the next day.      

A niksik found by a cadet on the shoreline behind the airport.
They took it home.
September 4, 2022.