Alert Canada: The northernmost settlement in the world
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- While stationed in Greenland for work I got invited to join a crew heading up to resupply the northern most settlement in the world, station Alert in Canada. Luckily the timing worked out just right so that I could hop on board and go check it out. While it is a very small station I hear they have some of the best food ever! I got the must have T-shirt and also got to experience some very fun flying in a C-17.
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![NUUK - the largest city of Greenland [HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DdWpppXPpSk/mqdefault.jpg)
I think this is what I'd do if I ever won the lottery. Just travel to the weirdest places on Earth. Particularly the cold places.
Bring me also in your trip😅
yeah same. id rather travel all over than buy a big house
Then you should go to Kugaaruk Canada. The town that recorded the coldest windchill on earth for an inhabited place at -79C.
I’ll travel with ya!
I couldn't express my self better
I honestly thought Alert was just a single building, like a weather station or something. I didn't expect to see a souvenir shop.
Yes it is called the Trading Post and we can get clothes, snacks, shampoo, hats, gloves, deodorant, laundry soap, post office ect. Alert is a self contained Station, what we don't have will come up eventually. I loved every min of my tours and miss it very much.
@@susansimons5577 Thanks for the insight. I'm fascinated by remote arctic settlements. I just wish I had the money and opportunity to visit them.
It's called the Trading Post. We can get clothes, shampoo, deodorant, tooth paste, snacks ( which are expensive) hats, Alert crests ect.
@@Pining_for_the_fjords It was the most fun and exciting experience of my life, and I have had many.
Вот я и в Алерте тоже побывал
I found this place by just randomly searching through the map it's really interesting
same!
@@drjozyy9901 I heard of this place via a Quasiluminous video, where he says 500 miles north of here is the Holy of Holies (North Pole) and entry to the underworld of perpetual twilight , which is protected by an international Navy called the Rear Admiral.
Same
Same… “I was like how north can I go” … found alert on map
Same
Went all the way up there for a t-shirt made in China. 😂😂
Super Bird I thought the same thing. 😂🤣
I still wear it! :)
LMAO
Actually they are not made in China ( I worked in Alert for 3 yrs ). All the clothes you see in the Trading Post are made and designed by the Inuit companies.
@@susansimons5577 I hope that's true
It's nice to be able to travel to the most northern settlement humans have accomplished. Even nicer to be bale to do it in HD from the comfort of my warm home. Thanks for the video man and bringing us along.
Best comment ever! So true!
Alert is one of my bucket-list places. I'd love to do a tour of the Canadian arctic but I imagine that doesn't come cheap.
It’s actually very cheap to fly to Iqaluit then to alert or resolute it’s good fun to fly in winter
No, I don't think so. A trip to Greenland is already about €10.000
Alert is military, no tourist unless in transit and then you're restricted to certain areas only.
Fun fact: Alert is closer to UlaanBaatar (Mongolia) than it is to Washington DC
Alert is closer to Moscow than it is to Montreal.
@@penquinbumbum6049yeah because its on top of the world. Also i think we all know the earth is round so from up there anywhere you go is close
No tim hortons there come on canada
Just because you've seen one singular Tim Hortons does not mean that there are 150 tim hortons every square mile. Alert is very remote and only 5 people are there at a time.
Now tim hortons is owned by a big multinational corporation it isn't as good anyways. The idiots switched their coffee to a cheaper bean and Mcd Canada bought the old Tim Horton coffee contact. So Mcd in Canada has some of the best coffee now.
@Ken Lompart Or he probably just loves tims to the point he wants one every square mile? Idk
To cold for forign workers
@@Peorhum The coffee switching thing is simply not factual.
Thanks to share this video. I have so many good memories from my two trips in Alert back in 1976. I can see this Canadian station change allot especially with all the nice new buildings.
Hey how long were you there? I was up there, off and on from 76-79. Don't remember you by name, but not many up there anyway. I was a cook there at the time.
I've been to alert in 1993.
I went to alert in 2012 as a family vacation
Autistic Capitalist oof why cant my family ever go anywhere decent?Or even take me somewhere?
spooka770. Where do you stay? A tent or a lodge
That's incredible how FAR north that is! On the map says about 500 miles from the NORTH POLE! holy sht! Thanks for bringing us along.
LOL look how clean the inside of that Canadian Forces cargo plane is. From the cargo area to the cockpit. Working with the Canadians when I was in the military, I always found it amazing how they could have 20 year old planes that were so amazingly clean they looked like they just came from the factory last week. Our American planes show signs of an old work truck with all the bruises, scrapes, and grease residue. They run like a top and very safe but not neat and clean like the Canadians. The Canadian Forces act like drill day at the local volunteer fire department keeping the trucks and bays clean and ready for inspection. To be brutally honest, its very impressive. You get a look at that cockpit? Very clean like its brand new. This is how they do it. So much pride its ridiculous. Never disrespect these guys. They are more ship shape than any American military. I hate to say it but its true.
I have to agree, the CF130 are a hell of a workhorse. We loaded a smaller bus on board the Hurk, plus 12 people, & all our gear. We landed in Thule
( which we love ) & unloaded the Hurk. The crew then cleaned the plane for the next morning and the ride home to Trenton.
Well said gchsbus. Greetings from Canada
Thank you to our military for what you do up there.
You guys are the best !
Thanks for the 'memories'. My dad was in the RCAF and stationed in Alert and most of the other most northern bases when I was a kid. I lived in Goose Bay Labrador for awhile when I was very young. I was left property in Hay River by my grandfather who spent 40 years there. I have lived in Florida the last 52 years. My Floridian husband had no desire to 'retire' in Hay River so we sold the property there.
Nice to see this. My father was stationed there for 6 months about 30 years ago. I saw lots of pictures of it and some video my dad took of it. I have a painting in my living room made by my brother inlaw from a picture my dad took when up there.
Where's the ice wall that prevents all the water from flowing off of earth?
In the imagination of flat earth idiots.
That's Antarctica.
@@innovationhq8230 LOL 😅🤣
its not there its farther north idiot. and they cant fly there bc there is a vacuum
Oh no someone's figured out that what we say is rubbish quick think off an exuse erm erm it was fake they were acually in the south of greenland. (Joke). Seriously we must end flat earth. Id like to visit the north pole.
Alert and Eureka are NOT settlements as defined by Canadian municipal governments. They are a joint Canadian/American military weather station and communications centre. They are classified as "Restricted" thereby controlling who can and cannot visit. The most northern "settlement" in Canada is Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island in the Baffin region. How do I know? As a Canadian, been there, done that.
Feels like a different planet ! Thank you for taking me to this northern tip wonder of Canada.
Sweet video. Thanks for uploading and thanks to all the canadian soldiers for their service
Canada is massive…. Wow…. You can have so many different experiences in one country… from artic tundras and mountains to massive city’s and forests… it’s incredible
That must have been amazing. The people stationed there must have some excellent stories. What an experience! Thanks for sharing ❄❄❄
Ther can’t be to many story’s what they run into Santa Claus or a polar bear or a Eskimo on his way to the base to get a tshirt
OHHHHH you bet we have some stories, BUT I won't be putting those stories on UA-cam that's for sure.
I've been there, There are a lot of cool stories. There are ice caves you can go to. People take hikes out onto the Arctic Ocean., It's dark like 6 months, I was there. It was light the entire time for weeks in May. There are a lot of cool polar bear stories and other wildlife. Plus just the people there and the social life is pretty cool and interesting. There's another video on UA-cam by a guy who goes there and he has full shots of the inside and shows all the facilities. There's two bars, a movie theater, two gyms, a nice cafeteria, a coffee club, a gaming room, and more.
How in the hell does anyone give this a thumbs down? How many videos like this can there be? Where else are you going to see something like this?
Thanks for posting. That was great. Im just 2222 kms away...
Thanks for the compliment, made my morning!
Yeah, reeeally precious video
All the flat earthers disappointed when they dont see any big wall guarded by NASA employees
@@johnbrowning3986
Many of them are not very bright, so they accept the idea of a North Pole without understanding that the existence of the poles is yet another proof of a spheroid Earth.
I didn't figure they would let him film it.
I worked on the Polar Continental Shelf Project as a summer student in the late 60's and returned a couple of years later as a helicopter pilot. We lived in Parkalls (insulated Quonset huts) beside the runway about half way along. CFS Alert was different then. However they did have showers which we didn't as well as beer in the sergeant's mess. Clearing customs was easy as the immigration/customs officer was the officer in charge of the weather station. The RCAF aircrews overnighted in Thule and bought all sorts of stuff at the PX to take home. They cleared Canada customs at Alert. Sample dialogue: "Do you have anything to declare?" " Airman: "No" "Okay welcome to Alert" Airman: "By the way here are the 3 cartons of Winstons and the Rum you wanted". A fun place.
I remember one year I was up there.when a civilian Helo was doing some kind of Geo work.
Canadian customs officers tend to be a bit more relaxed, just saying.
That's awesome
Penguinbum Bum
Yes things sure have changed, no Quonset huts anymore there are buildings, all booze bought in Thule ( really cheap) is handed over to the flight tec the second we get on the busin Alert to take us to HQ. We receive it back after our tour & we are leaving the Arctic. NO drinking in the rooms, common rooms, you can only drink in the two bars.
No smoking anywhere in the buildings unless its in the smoke room, or outside.
There are no aircraft on station, they fly in, unload ( they do not shut down engines )
Load up again then leave. Yes I think from the 60's Canadian Forces Station Alert has changed considerably. Greetings from Canada
@@susansimons5577 Hi Susan, Nice to hear from you. It was a bit looser then. Even as civilians we were given ration cards which we could use at the sergeant's mess. We could also use their showers. I've seen the pictures and it looks much better. In the summer we usually had 2 or 3 helicopters at our base about a third of the way down the runway, between the water and the runway. I still have a couple of the "do not photograph" photos tucked away somewhere. I still have my "Alert Wireless Station" Zippo in a drawer as well. That was the souvenir of choice from up there - no t-shirts etc. One cool thing about Thule is that as a pilot working for the Canadian Government (actually contracted) we could use the Officer's Club at Thule and got single rooms in the transient aircrew quarters which annoyed the military guys no end. The Americans had a problem with Canadian ranks and some of the privates with no hooks got single rooms as well because the housing guy thought they had to be officers.
Never thought that the C-17's were that big. So freaking cool✌
Very useful work horse in Afghanastan , don't armed it , it's volatile .
I wish, I never went up on a 17, mostly the CF130 Hercules went up ( flying tank )
Cold, noisy, uncomfortable, ( sitting on web seats ). It's a long ride in a Hurk.
I live near ramstein air base in germany, and those things fly 2 feet above our heads every day. Awesome stuff.
C-17's sounding like a vacuum cleaner -- "Shhhhhhuuuuuuummm"
Twin Otter sounding like an angry mosquito -- "BBBBBZZZZZZ"
Nice to see the place again. From what I saw, a lot of changes for sure since my tour in 1970. Great video. Thanks for the share.
Back in the late seventies, I was into Ham radio and passed traffic and did phone patches from Alert. Somewhere I still have the QSL cards from the contacts.
I spent 6 months up there - half in the dark and 3 months of light. Went over to Thule, too! It's all bloody cold and dry in the winter. The lowest temperature I experienced was -45.
Awesome. Enjoyable vid. Foreboding, unforgiving place. Amazing a permanent installation can exist in such an inhospitable place.
bus driver was a cutie
Tf lol
@@giraffeboy2649 we don't see her anymore. Just a glimpse. He must had re-edited the video and cut her out. What a shame.
@@golgoth7600 she is there breifly and how many times have you watched this
@@giraffeboy2649 Well i actually forgot about this and went ahead and verified why I made this comment. To my surprise, she isn't in the video anymore. Well, just a glimpse. And to answer your question, just 2 times. I wonder why he took her out. It's not like I was being disrespectful or anything. She was indeed a cutie.
She was!
Excellent video of two interesting places I will never be able to see. Thank you for posting it. Steve, Oklahoma
Never say never Steve.greetings from Italy
Amazing...Anyway by this video I can see coldest part of my country.I can understand the hardships of few people for maintaining the borders of Canada 🇨🇦.
Thanks for uploading awesome vdo.
I thought Alert was just a shack or something like that, I am surprised at how much is up there. That is one remote place! Damn
Thanks for the memories. I was posted up to Alert for 6 months in 2011/2012. I miss Alert and the North. Glad that you got to check the Station out!
I'm surprised they have a souvenir shop there give the limited access to civilian tourists, but I guess even military people like the furthest north experience.
my old boss that worked for the water department in my city got sent up there for work, i am very jelly i want to visit alert and other northern parts of my country.
@M Harris I wonder how one would get up there, would love to see it
They usually have a base exchange on a base even a base so far from nothing I’m sure they sell tons of T-shirts’ up ther every guy in Canadian forces that has been ther will buy one any body that goes ther it’s basically a once in a lifetime unless you get stationed ther I wonder were the Mounties have a cop shop then again I guess not it’s a Canadian armed forces base so military police
M Harris I don’t think it’s much more than armed forces I don’t even think thers any eskimosmther maybe I know Santa Claus has a hideout nearby I’m sure lol
The "Trading Post" sold more than souvenirs. It's where you bought your toiletries, smokes, junk food, etc. For many years Alert was the only place you could buy the Alert branded items but it was a novelty to get something from there. I worked a flight just so I could get up there and buy someone some pyjama bottoms for my niece on time. Now you can buy things down south and takes away the value to me.. :(
Man, this is awesome. What a treat to be able to fly with them and experience this.
Pilot: ICEBERG DEAD AHEAD
Co pilot: godamnit jim
thanks for taking us with you
Cool video man! Brought back memories when I did the same thing in 72 while stationed with AF at Base Weather, Thule. Flew on AF C-130 hauling fuel bladders. Alert is a LOT more developed now than then. Thanks for posting. R.
More developed? Surely you must be joking. There is still hardly anything there but a few buildings. When you say more developed, do you mean one single additional building?
@@gchsbus alert used to have 2500 people living there
@@hitpointalpha8691 I was stationed at Alert in 1971-72 and we had 225 men, and about 25 dogs. Thanks to Project Hurricane put in place in 1982 to relay the data collected at Alert by a microwave link to Eureka, and then beamed up to geostationary satellites, the permanent staff is down to around 75 people. The microwave link requires annual maintenance that involves helicopters and technicians visiting the six stations across Ellesmere Island. The data is received and analyzed by operators remotely at Leitrim, a station outside Ottawa. Another major improvement is the use of CC-177 jet aircraft to support Alert, rather than the turboprop CC-130s. I had the privilege of visiting Alert again in 1992 and the amenities were much more comfortable than when I was there 20 years earlier.
Thanks for sharing, this place is one of a kind... The next time I get lost at the north pole, I'll head there first lol.
Thanks for the memories! was part of Ops Boxtop in '90; things have changed since then!
What a gem this video is! Thank you for uploading
This was really interesting. I was actually looking up far northern Canada and this video showed up.
Good memories ! I spent 6 months tour in 1975 , what a change..
wow very different from when I spent 6 months there in 1980
Wow you are so blessed to be able to have an adventure like that! It actually didn't look that cold, must have been spring or fall. Not that you would notice since there's no trees! Great video, thank you so much for posting. Two thumbs up. PS I want one of those t shirts. 👍🏻👍🏻
Didn't look that cold??? Where they heck are you from?
So cool, man! Alert is definitely on my list, and I would love to visit it one day. I wish I know people in the army stationed up there.
Well now Tarek, you will have to join the military, or find the company that works for the military, who support the station. This a secure station, intelligence, Science, ect. you can't just take a flight up there. Took me 2 years to get called to work in Alert.
Such a kickass experience. I’d imagine those airmen enjoyed the conversations and seeing a new face too! Thanks for sharing this.
Great video! Nobody would believe this story unless you documented it.
Really interesting. Liked getting a look at something I am never likely to see with my own eyes. Beautiful country! Thanks!
Lucky!… all my 3 flights to Alert were in a C-130 Herk 😂
Did you have to endure that 2G turn like he did in this video?
wow! c-17 nothing but 1st class! My first tour Nov 1977 was in a Herc sleeping on top of a wooden crate, and so were my other three tours after that....The place doesn't look the same.... kinda took out the nostalgia out of it....
What a lucky guy you are. I'd LOVE to have a day like that. And the T-shirt too.
When the plane was first taxiing on the runway before take-off, i thought it was already flying, it's so tall!
This is awesome. I spent a couple months in Resolute, Nunavut. Even got my appendix out while out there haha. It's a great experience up there.
Resolute must have advanced quite a bit. When I was up there, in and out of Resolute, working as a pilot, if someone had a medical emergncy he was medevac-ed out to the hospital at Thule AFB, Greenland about 465 miles away. At that time there was a male nurse at Res but I imagine he could take out an appendix if it necessary. The closest hospital in Canada is at Iqaluit, on southern tip of Baffin Island about 950 miles south.
@@penquinbumbum6049 youre right. I got the actual surgery done in Iqaluit. Theres a clinic in resolute where the nurses saw me. They told me to take the next flight out for surgery. I didnt need a med evac because it hadn't burst yet.
Dude how did you get the opportunity to live in Resolute?
I was up there for two months in 2014 and 2015 staying at the polar continental shelf research station. Same place the CAF does their arctic warfare training. Its a nice facility. A prof at the University I went to had a few ongoing studies up there tracking fish, seals and greenland sharks
I thought alert was some sad remote building with 2 people in it. This looks WAY better than that. :D
Now to save some money... yeah I know. Probably going to have to save 5 digits.
I served at CFS Alert during the Spring/Summer of 1985.
@ali kamel Quit spamming!
Wince, what did you serve when you were there? Musk Ox stew?
@@aloisius4188 I remember the helicopter pilots, who were changing out the batteries in the DEW line stations, would bring back Arctic Char. It was amazing. For some reason we also had lobster tails and frogs legs on a regular basis. We still had clam chowder on Fridays at lunch. There was always "newfie steak" too.
Very cool. Not too many people get to Alert.
Damn those shirts looked cool, I was up there once way back .. and guess why? .. We played Depeche Mode 2 nights :)
You are North of the magnetic pole, only 500 miles from the geographic pole! I missed getting there in c.1971 in the military - you had to be in good health ( to prevent toothaches, ha). And they hunted poor polar bears)
I’m glad this ended up in my recommended feed. I think it means I’m interesting.
You are interesting? Hmmm.
They got so many souvenirs up there. The business must be booming.
What an awesome flight!!🇨🇦💪🏻
So amazing you got to experience this trip! Thank you for recording it and sharing with us.
the northern most permanent settlement is in svaldbar (norway) but alert is the northernmost permanent settlement that is not public
That's awesome, I used to build the wire harnesses for the c17.. very talented pilots
Its like another planet...
How awesome! I was just looking on the satellite overhead after reading Labyrinth of Ice and came across Alert. I had to see if there was a UA-cam video. From Thule to Alert on a C-17 to boot. Cool video!
That’s crazy. Always wanted to go check it out
That 60deg turn looked insane! :D
Thanks for the great vid! :D
Those signs remind me of the signpost forest at Watson Lake Yukon along the Alaska Hwy.
Ashley
Alert is cool, but those 60° banking turns in a C17 were freaking awesome
I never had any desire to visit Canada until I seen this video. I know you can probably see everything there in a couple hours, but still it’d be cool to visit a place that far north. Plus it’s a lot bigger then I thought it’d be.
everything where..in Alert maybe...
You can't visit there. It's a military base only!
You have to really envy these guys getting to fly in an area that few human eyes ever get to see.
Had a great time working up there 😊
That's a sick plane !
Very Suspicious! I didn’t see the edge of the world. 😀 Love my Canadian Buddy’s miss them👍🇺🇸
Great cold experience !!!
I live at the southernmost point of Canada, it still is freezing down here. I agree, I am fine when it is -20 degrees celcius outside without gloves.
In Canada temperatures are below 0C every year
Some people have all the luck. Another destination I can now check off on my bucket list of armchair travels.
Awesome . Lucky you .
I would literally die for that opportunity and experience!
There's a lot of misconceptions in the comments about CFS Alert. I spent almost a month there in May of 2016. First and foremost, You can't just go there. It's a Canadian Forces Station only, The only way in and out is via Canadian military flights, which actually only happened about every 2 to 4 weeks. I think it was a 3-week cycle when I was there. So unfortunately all of you can't go unless you're in the military or doing work for the military as a civilian or the US government. There's another good video on UA-cam of a guy who gets hired to go up and take care of the fuel systems. When I was there in May it was 24 hours of light the entire time, But it was still pretty cold about 0 to 30° f that time of year. Basically there's a whole bunch of buildings connected together for living in, most of the others are supply buildings and support buildings. There's a wonderful Lake nearby that's frozen but supplies the water, They have a pipe that goes down like 100 ft, and it's the most pure water in the world and it's simply amazing. It's the water supply for the base. It is on the Arctic Ocean but when I was there it's just frozen over. It just looks like more land. It only thaws for a little while in the middle of summer and not for very long. This guy was really lucky to be able to get on a flight. I assume he's a US military pilot, otherwise, I don't think he would have been allowed in the cockpit. I know some people made comments about the location. Believe it or not CFS Alert is closer to Moscow than it is to Ottawa! I know that's crazy but it's true. I will say that the place is really special. The people assigned there were really wonderful, It was an experience of a lifetime and I feel completely blessed to have spent a little bit of time there. I also spent over a week at Thule in Greenland because we got stuck because of weather.
You know its cold when there are absolutely no trees 🎄🎄🎄
That C-17 is awesome
Lucky bastard lol. I’ve been to Baker lake nu. Goal is to go even farther north now
I love it! I'm in this video, waiting to board that little Twotter!
that was amazing, thank you.
Maravilhosa experiência ver este vídeo demonstrando um lugar com quase nenhum habitante comparado com o resto do mundo. Ótimos vídeo. Aqui do meu país BRASIL, fiquei bem curioso.
I love your channel! As a big aviation nerd, I would absolutely LOVE to somehow visit the worlds northernmost airport. How would someone not in the military get invited to fly to this location?
You can't, unless you are assigned to alert as a Canadian military person, or civilian contractor contractor, or as an American who gets a TDY there as a military or civilian. I'm pretty sure this guy is a US military pilot who is at Thule, and asked if you could tag along along on a flight. And they let him, he's very lucky.
So I don’t get it... are you part of the military or just have some crazy inside connections to be able to call up for a ride on an empty c-17 plane that would cost in the tens of thousands per hour to operate all for a tour of that sign and a shirt?... 😂😂😂
It was a fuel delivery. The cargo is the full tank of fuel that was drained off during that stop.
I'm not an expert, but I think the aircraft is a CC-177 Globemaster III www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/aircraft-current/cc-177.page I was in Alert in 91, but flew up there in a CC-130 Hercules.
@@CoastalKillersTV that's very interesting
Twice a year, CFS Alert runs Operation BoxTop - a refueling mission, although, there isn't a fuel bladder in this aircraft in the video, so it might have just been a training mission. For Boxtop, they fly aircraft (Usually CC-130's) back and forth from Thule, Greenland to Alert with fuel bladders and transport fuel to Alert. Personnel posted to Alert at the time usually have the opportunity to have a brief escape from Alert by hopping onto one of these flights and spend a little time in Thule. In Oct, 1991 one of the planes crashed on its way to Alert, full of fuel. There was a book (www.amazon.ca/Death-Deliverance-Haunting-Story-Hercules/dp/092191234X) and a movie (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordeal_in_the_Arctic) made about the crash. I knew one of the people on the plane that crashed.
I was in the air cadets and got to fly a c-17 and CC-150. The reason they let us fly is the pilots need to keep a certain number of hours and they also used the flights to practice tactical landings and takeoffs.
Cool video. Might want to go there one day
That tarmac looks so smooth.
It is a snow and ice surface and is regularly groomed. Of course it would be smooth.
Very good, next time try and show a little more of Alert, very good video.
Help there’s an Alert in Canada
Yo explorando en Google Maps me topé con Alert, el poblado más septentrional del planeta, me pareció raro que siendo un lugar muy "seco" alguien subió fotos del lugar donde se ven árboles, cascadas, andan en camisa, muerta un clima muy diferente y mejor vine a UA-cam para tener una idea más clara del lugar, muy probablemente nunca vea ese lugar en persona, es muy padre.
4:15 "do we see moncton anywhere?" lmfao
Yo thats ma city
@@DrBhil-oc5yg thats my city too!!
They have a sign pointing to Etobicke.... yessss ...!!!
was there from FEB-AUG 1970. great memoriees.
Didn't see Moncton, but did see Tignish. OK!
keep on with my maximun, most exciting trend my Friend. Keep on travelling!
Great trip, thanks!