Abandoned Oil Platform, Floating in the Arctic Ocean. Broke off of the Cables in a Storm.

Being so remote, I knew we would find some beautiful places to explore on this trip, but I was surprised to see so much stuff abandoned. Oil and Gas have dominated economies around the world for many years, so it makes sense that there has been exploration up here, but to see it left behind is unfortunate.

This platform is built of six pieces, each of them float and were originally held in place by cables. on the ocean floor. This area of the Arctic experiences very strong winds during a storm, and years ago the platform broke free of its mooring cables and drifted into the shore. It is beginning to sink, and I hope Esso will come and clean it up before it becomes a larger pollutant. This platform is unfortunately not the only thing left behind by the oil company. Just outside of town is a large work camp, that is basically a city on stilts. The camp was put in to house the workers on the drilling rigs and other oil related work, and today, it just sits and rots.

Aside from abandoned items, this week we also got to do some great exploring around the area on the water, which was a massive hi-light for me, because it is an experience very few traveler get. Traveling with a boat has brought a whole new aspect to these locations for me, and this is certainly no exception. Going to see the Pingos was a no brainer, because I had never heard of a Pingo before, and there are 1400 of them aroung Tuktoyaktuk, and even the second largest one in the world. A Pingo is a land formation only found in areas with permafrost, and it is quite basically just a hill with a core of ice. They can range in size and shape, and they have been used for centuries by the local first nation people for navigation.

Emi and I both really enjoy fishing, and we both really enjoy eating fish, so we were definitely going to try and catch one while we were here. There are only a few species of fish in this area of the Arctic, and we were after Whitefish. This area of the Arctic also comes with stricter regulation, because it is part of the settlement region for the local peoples, and requires special permission to fish. We were lucky enough to get permission, but unfortunately that was the end of our luck when it came to fishing. As much as we would have loved to catch our own fish, there is plenty of opportunity to meet locals and they are happy to sell some of their supply, so were going to be leaving Tuktoyaktuk with some fish of our own regardless.

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