Cross Island: Young hunters play in the wind; Nanuq family rides in with the ice, takes a stroll down the beach
Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 2:53PM 
For days, all the hunters on Cross Island, young and old, male and two females, have been working hard to cut up and prepare the whales. Now it is time for a break. The older hunters retreat to their cabins to get out of the cold wind, to eat, drink coffee, visit and relax.
But the young hunters - their energy is boundless. They eat quickly, then run out to play with the wind. They climb upon a roof, scramble across it and, with the wind at their backs, leap off.
The wind howls in excess of 30 knots. It is the kind of wind that cuts through clothing, skin, fat, blood and meat to chill the bones.
The young hunters don't care.
To them, the wind is fun. It transforms their coats into sails and pushes them about.
Young hunters, at play with the wind.
For a moment, I worry that the wind will lift him right off the island, hurl him out over the Beaufort Sea and drop him down amongst the icebergs, or perhaps carry him over the top of the North Pole and all the way to Russia.
Won't the Russians be surprised to see a boy from Cross Island drop into their country?
"How did he elude our fighter jets?" Putin will rear his head and grill his military advisers.
It didn't happen that way, though. All the young hunters had fun, but stayed on the ground.
;)
Even as the boys played with the wind, this nanuq family rode in with the ice, then stepped onto the beach and took a stroll.
Reader Comments (5)
Hi Bill,
you managed to capture some great fun there. I used to do the same with my then boyfriend in Iceland a couple of years ago, but thankfully the wind was not that icy. Unfortunately with a wind like this it gets quite difficult to sit down on the beach without becoming a sand dune yourself.
Loved the nanuq family ... Amazing that they did not mind you being so close, I thought they would be much more cautious.
One day, Bill, one day I will come to visit!
Big hug,
Lassal
ahhh, to be young again...i'm hoping for a lot of ice this year, for the nanuq family and the walruses
I love the faces of those exuberant boys, and I love the polar bear family taking a stroll. You fave a wonderful world up there. Thanks for the look into it.
Lassal - thanks! As to the Nanuqs and their interaction with humans, stay tuned.
Me too, Twain. Me too. There is a lot of ice in the Beaufort over Eastern Alaska right now, but not much in the western Beaufort and Chukchi.
Debby. Thanks. Yes, this place is marvelous. It can be awfully tough at times, but that's part of what makes it so wonderful.
Bill, I thank you for your further coverage of Cross Island. I've been out three times in three summers while working on Crowley tugs from Prudhoe and have been facinated by the island, the villagers I've met from there and the visually stunning row of Bowhead whale skulls. I ordered your book "Gift of the Whale" a couple of summers ago and had it up here, sharing it with the other boat crews and going over it with the villagers from Nuiqsut who were sailing with us that summer as Marine Mammal Observers, learning a lot from them and hearing many stories. I remember writing you that I would love to see and to have photos of the island from the air, especially showing the row of skulls, and I hope that you have the opportunity to post something along that line some day. I managed to get some really great photos of the baleen in two of the seasons up here and will send you some of those. Keep up the great work.