Unbelugable excitement!

In the last blog I mentioned the quote “being on ship is like being in jail…..” – but oh boy, you should try travelling by train! We boarded the VIA Rail train “The Canadian” in Vancouver for our trans-Canada trip, and were shown to our cell which was roomy enough for both of us if we breathed in and coated ourselves with Vaseline. There were a number of other places to go on the train to find more space, thankfully. Anyway, 2 days on the train was a little tedious, but it was a good way to see a lot of Canada along the way. We left the train in Winnipeg so that we could take a side-trip to Churchill. The train was 3 hours late into Winnipeg, arriving at midnight into the deserted city centre. Our taxi driver looked like he had just hopped off his park bench and stolen a taxi; he quite seriously looked like a ‘dero’ in filthy worn clothes, long matted hair and missing teeth. However he did drive safely and got us to our hotel, in spite of our initial concern.

On to Churchill, located on Hudson Bay. Depending on the time of year, Churchill is variously “Polar Bear Capital of the World”, “Beluga Whale Capital of the World”, “Birdwatchers Paradise” or “home of Nature’s Lightshow”. Phew, such a lot of responsibility for a small remote town. We timed our visit to coincide with the beluga whales which hang out in their thousands in the Churchill River in the summer.

Our first adventure was to go snorkelling with belugas. The first challenge of the day was putting on the wetsuit in 2 parts – 7mm thick Long Johns covered by a 7 mm jacket making 14 mm of neoprene around the torso. Michelin Man eat your heart out. This was followed by boots, hood and gloves. And then an attempt to get into the Zodiac (inflatable boat) with some measure of agility and dignity. Hmm. In the immortal words of Winston Churchill “this is no time for ease and comfort, it is time to dare and endure”.

Deirdre the mutant Ninja!

If we were worried about not seeing belugas, our fears were groundless as the whales were everywhere. They are really curious, particularly attracted to the spinning propeller of our boat which is probably a dangerous obsession. So with a deep breath and a sense of porpoise, into the murky depths we slid. All that neoprene gave us superb buoyancy but it was hard to do much else other than float about – diving was out of the question, and bending your arms was a challenge. The whales whizzed back and forwards underneath us, whistling and chirping. Probably saying, “look at those weird fat blobs, they can’t swim very well can they?” Belugas have permanent grins on their faces, and they can turn their necks to get a better look.  We saw several mums with newborns glued to their sides, and lots of teenagers.

Do Belugas have lips?

Nuzzling the propeller of our zodiac

The next day we went kayaking in the river. While snorkelling is billed as the big adventure, we actually had a much more enjoyable time kayaking. The whales are attracted to movement so after some initial shyness, they were on for playtime. As we paddled, we’d collect a following of whales – I felt like the Pied Piper. They liked it when the rudder moved - at one point I had a whale sucking on the rudder, which made steering a challenge. They seemed to like rubbing their backs on the bottom of the kayak – a little disconcerting when a 5 metre long, 1.6 tonne blubbery whale is lifting your kayak up out of the water. Mike was particularly given this treat. We think they were playing – perhaps they were just sick of Mike singing “Hey ho, little fishy, don’t cry, don’t cry” on an endless loop.  Belugas are called the ‘canaries of the sea’ for their vocal repertoire, and we also heard several deep rumbling noises accompanied by lots of bubbles, that sounded suspiciously like farts. Mike thought it couldn’t be a fart because he didn’t hear any of them laugh. But I reckon I heard “eeee, eeek, squeak, whistle, ee, ee, ee” which is beluga for “pull my flipper”.  I had a jolly time trying to hypnotise one with my paddle – I moved it back and forth in the water and had a whale staring at it, moving his head back and forth in time. What a hoot!

See if you can spot the 6 whales in this picture.

 

Pull my flipper!EEEEEE...

In the afternoon we did a tour of the Prince of Wales Fort at the mouth of the river, with some more whale watching on the way. It was interesting to tour a historic site accompanied by an armed guard. The guard was there to protect us from polar bears, one having been seen in the vicinity shortly before our arrival. The fort was completed in 1773 after 40 years of construction, and abandoned 11 years later after being attacked by La Perouse – he was probably still sore from just missing out on claiming Australia.  

Churchill is an interesting town – on the one hand it’s a community where no-one locks their cars or houses, yet on the other hand they tell you not to go walking in certain areas, particularly at night because it is too dangerous. The danger however, is from polar bears. At the beach there are big signs warning you not to walk there due to bear danger. There is a bear alert patrol on regular duty and an emergency number to ring in case of sighting a bear in the town. 

Naughty bears get trapped and taken to the ‘bear jail’ for reassignment to some other location out of harm’s way. We hired a car on our last day and drove out to Cape Merry at the mouth of the river, where we were fortunate to see a bear from the safety of our vehicle. Walking around the Cape Merry historic site was therefore a dangerous proposition. Continuing on the coast road we saw another bear much further away, which confirmed that romantic strolls on the beach were out of the question in these parts.  

Showing off his Bear Bum

Let sleeping Bears lie!

"Bear Gaol"

We made a brief stop at the site of a 1979 plane crash - the plane is called “Miss Piggy” apparently because of the shape and ability to hold lots of cargo. Sightseeing in polar bear country, in the absence of a weapon, is done quickly with lots of scanning the horizon, which kind of adds an edge to it.

One hell of a rough landing!

Apparently it is possible to see the Northern Lights at this time of year as it is dark between midnight and 3 am. We woke frequently during these hours to check outside, but didn’t see any lights unfortunately. Churchill has left something for us to come back for – you can’t have it all! Now back in Winnipeg, we are looking forward to a dark night and uninterrupted sleep.

Keep Calm and carry on!