It’s windy again this morning, and we all receive a rude awakening when the blue toilet tent blows out into the bay. Once more, Dave is called upon to rescue a tent.

We head out into the bay a bit earlier than Thursday, but there are no narwhals to be seen. Around noon we haul our survival-suit-clad selves up onto Bruce Head in hopes of spotting narwhals from the point. Soon after we arrive, Carol sees spouts.

Within minutes, the whales come. An estimated 250 to 400 narwhals stream past Bruce Head in what we soon call the "narwhal parade." They come in groups of anywhere from two to a dozen, all clumped together, their bodies touching as they swim. We hear them blow, and a few call out—one a high, trumpeting sound, one a long, bellowing moan. A few show long stretches of dark or mottled backs as they dive; one whale flashes its fluke. The show is over in 25 minutes. We are grinning for hours afterwards.

As evening comes, we explore the far side of Koluctoo Bay in the boat. An old fishing village sits beside the shore. We see a few narwhal spouts in the distance, but the whales disappear when we approach. When we return to camp, we find a flock of Black-Legged Kittiwakes perching next to the stream, and a family of Snow Geese—mother, father, and two gray fledglings—on the hill behind camp.

The excitement this morning revolved around our toilet tent blowing into the bay.  Dave and Charlie had to rescue another tent.   Everyone placed more big rocks inside their tents to hold them down until it became difficult to find large rocks.

Our boat ride this morning was uneventful.  We searched the bay, but never saw a narwhal.  At noon we headed to Bruce Head, a rocky ledge where Milne Inlet and Koluctoo Bay come together. 

While Dave and Marianne were preparing lunch, Carol saw a spout and then we all saw dozens of spouts.  For the next 25 minutes a non-stop parade of narwhals swam by our rocky lookout point.  I am positive there were at least 500 and maybe 1,000 whales in this very large pod or group.  Marianne, who is doing research on narwhals,  estimated there were 200 or so.

This was the best narwhal viewing of the entire trip.   They came as close as 20 or 30 feet to the shore as they swam by.