2001 James Bay Expedition

"James Bay is a great challenge. I have over 150 miles on the waters of the Bay, solo and alive."
~ Mingo Morvin, President of Bears Unlimited, Inc.

Kayaking Beyond the Edge - James Bay Kayaking Expedition Analysis

James Bay has a history of being a tough place to survive. The Bays first victims were also its first visitors, four crewmembers from Captain Thomas James’s ship the ’Henrietta Maria’. They died in 1631 as they wintered over on Charlton Island during the first detailed exploration of James Bay. In more contemporary times, the nineteen eighties and nineties, saw nine perish.. The first three became fish food while trying to canoe from the Albany River to the Moose River. Six others perished when their 32 foot canoe freighter was overwhelmed by sea water. I would be the first solo kayak expedition to challenge these waters and hoped not to be the tenth fish food victim.

My first visit to James Bay was a recon mission to explore environmental conditions. This exploration lasted for almost fourteen days. On a first expedition to a region one must develop a plan of attack based on reliable data. On this particular expedition little information was available from which to make life and death decisions. No one lived long enough to tell what happened out there. The locals, Cree and whites alike, seldom venture to these shores in non-ice conditions. Even the Ministry of Natural Resources and Polar Bear Provincial Park Rangers lacked accurate information on shore and shoal conditions.

What I found was both remarkable and daunting. Read More >>