Lets go out .. .. .. .. to the Ocean Ice.
This where is ALL happens. The entire communtiy moves out here. 18 whaling captains, their crews, and assorted support personel, Umailaq (oo may lick) -[WHALING CAPTAIN]
Driving into the sun, is absolutly blinding, you can't see, it takes hours to just get four miles out, it seems like we have driven 10 miles or more. I feel like I have just finished a tackle football game, I am so sore all over, I can barely walk, I was convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that, all the frozen lenses would be "smashed" or cracked, from the constant crashing and bashing of the sled as we rode over small hills. the machine takes these hills smoothly, but the rider of the sled gets tossed around up and down. EVERYTHING, that the snowmachine "kicks" up.. has only one place to go.. ALL OVER ME! I truely wish it were possible for someone to have taken a picture of me as that sled arrived in camp.
I have developed a unique habit of making these people fall to the ground in utter hysterical uncontrollable laughter!.. .. .. .."constantly!"
MIDNIGHT IN MAY .. .. .. HOORAY ! no more darkness, till the end of August!
The Umailq - Jake Koonuk - Whaling Captain - Scanning, waiting, watching, waiting, watching, for weeks.. .. .. 24/7 ? (don't these people ever sleep?).. .. NO!
constantly being exposed to the powerful rays of the sun, 24 hours a day, "flips a switch" in your body, your becoming "solar powered", you require little if any sleep.
Every three days of so (LOL) you merely lean back on that sled and rest/doze/sleep, for a short "cat-nap" so to speak. (chuckle).. ha ha.. This place is a "different planet".
The "stuffed" seal skin has "air" in it. Avataqpak (ah vah tuck puck) it is used in the exact same manner that you use a "bobber" or float when fishing!
There is 200 feet of rope, attached to that "float".
when the captain harpoons that whale, avataqpak is thown overboard along with rope,
if there is enough time.
if there is no time.. #2 person in that umiaq, has the responsibility to make sure that himself and the captain don't get "dragged" out of the umiaq into that water which would spell instant death.
EACH CAPTAIN, has his own personality, and the whale copies that captian's personality, and so does the "weather"! ?????
They must wait.. .. for the whale, to give itself over, to the Captain, of its CHOICE.
This is difficult to explain, the IMPOSSIBLE for you to UNDERSTAND, but I will do my best, to explain this in a simple manner, based on what I have been taught and WHAT I have experienced.
A whale can easily outswim this umiaq, There is no question about that. A whale has great eyesight and hearing abilities. I have PROOF of that.
OUTon the ocean ice, people are constantly telling me, quit yelling. (I am speaking in a what I consider a normal voice.) ssshh! oh ok.!
Groing up in a big city Boston, ths noise is something we are used to, and we grow accustomed to speaking over that noise. Out here there is only the sound of the wind, and the ice.
In a big city, the furthest your capable of seeing and "training" your eyes for, is to look across the street!
Out on the Ocean ice. 8 miles is the "training method" and area. The eyesight of these people cannot be put into mere words. They can see and hear 10000 times of our capabilities!
THE FENCE: is yes ! a snow fence.. to keep the snow OUT OF THE VILLAGE and it works perfectlly.!!
Before that fence was put in, it was a COMMON request, to hear someone over the cb radio saying, HELP! we cannot get OUT OF OUR HOUSE..in other words, their house was covered over, buried in a huge snow drift, 30 - 40 feet tall.