Polar Princess - Moosonee River to James Bay, Canada

Today is Canada Day. The 140th birthday of Canada is today and Canada handles it like the Fourth of July in the United States., as well they should.

Breakfast was to be available at 6:30. We were down there with the remainder of the invitees at 7. Because there was a visible light rain, the proprietor drove us over in his truck, a choice up, so he had to do three trips to present us all. My married woman and I went first. Our baggage was left at the bed and breakfast to be delivered to the station at 5 this evening.

The Polar Princess, operated by Two Bay Tours, departs at 8. After our tickets were exchanged for a boarding base on balls we were ready to board. Rachel*, the guide, took a couple of images of us on the dock with the boat in view. The Polar Princess is 65 feet long, holding 100 passengers. Today there are only 13. A good figure as there is plenty of room. There are maps of the river so we can see the path up to the oral cavity of the Moosonee River, at the entranceway of Jesse James Bay. There we turn around, as a bigger boat is required for a particular the licence to go in the bay.

Departure took topographic point at 7:50, after all the invitees were on board. Seating was booth style with a tabular array between the two seats, like in a restaurant. On our tax return we watched a movie. Try and conjecture the title, available at the end. The river depository financial institution is mostly trees with a few beach areas. The H2O is brownish or brackish. There is a community in Moosonee and one on Elk Factory Island. Moosonee have a population of around 3000 and it is about 85% Cree. Elk Factory, on the island, have a population around 2500, mostly Cree. The High School and a little college are located in Moosonee, while the infirmary is in Elk Factory. I didn't larn why it is called a mill but the island was where the first achromatic work force settled, establishing trade with the Cree; the First State people of the area. More about the island later.

One fact really fascinated me. After "freeze up" gets in November the river is frozen by Christmastide allowing traffic, including trucks, to drive across the river. This is difficult for me to believe but the river at that clip have at least four feet of ice, enough to back up the traffic.

At the bed and breakfast we were told that a river of water water ice extending about 300 statute miles north lets easier go to that area. They add about a ft of H2O to this water ice route to do a frozen route bed. During the wintertime they can present stores to the North over this road. Last wintertime the country only received a few ins of snow. Low humidness do the cold feel less utmost when the temperature driblets to -40 "C". I have got learned that you double the Anders Celsius figure then add 30 for an estimate of Fahrenheit. Here, dual negative 40 Anders Celsius equaling negative 80 then you add 30 for negative 50 Fahrenheit. Remember that this is an approximation.

The soil roadstead in Moosonee had numerous pot holes while we were there. The proprietor at the bed and breakfast said that when it begins to freeze he washes his motortruck and it remains clean all winter! Although no salt is added to the roadstead I did notice that the little span had soil piled up on the sides where it had been spreading during the winter. While there in the summertime all the autos were soiled from the soil roads. The roadstead are actually smooth when they freeze.

Children on the island come up to the school aboard the Polar Express before "Freeze up" and after "Spring Interruption Up." With the river frozen, they sit the school bus. During freezing up and interruption up a chopper is used, the cost picked up by the government. Sometimes, in the less 48, we believe the weather condition is bad!

*Name changed