Aug 18

Polar Bear Blog - Day Four

Stayed up last night until close to midnight. No Northern Lights. Set the alarm for 2am. No Northern Lights. It’s the wrong time of year, but they were sighted a couple nights ago. I’ve got great animal mojo, but apparently I’m not celestially gifted. Slept late. John, a former cop, pours our coffee. Tells me stories about befriending gang members and hookers in Winnipeg. Says he’s thinking of working a cruise next.

We hop on the tundra buggy tour with Neil, our new best friend. After seeing bears for the last 14 days straight, we spend four hours traversing and see absolutely nothing. One bald eagle. A dead caribou on the back of an Inuit’s ATV. A couple sandhill cranes. A few snow geese. But I’m after bear. And, I’m patient. The next tundra buggy tour is booked solid with, get this, the Canadian Chapter of the SATW (Society of American Travel Writers). Pretty much anything I try to do something around here, the SATW already has it taken. What’s a girl to do? I decide to crash the party. I meet the head of the chapter and Travel Manitoba’s PR folks. Tell them I’m willing to be held captive in a tundra buggy for six hours with fifty writers who can pitch me every story they want for our magazine if they’ll just let me in among my peeps. They do.

I spot the only bear we see and loan out my binoculars to the journalists. I earn my keep. They let me drive the Tundra Buggy and drink their beer. They’re a fun group. We have a “tail gate” party right there on the tundra in the rain.

We sleep late. Sunday is the day of rest around Churchill. No tours. No snorkeling. Nothing much open except the grocery store. We buy some picnic items and head for the beach to watch the Belugas and look for bears. Tomorrow we head home. Two polar bears in the wild. Worth the trip. Getting away from civilization for a while (my cell phone doesn’t work here)…priceless.

I did find out a secret denning place for mother polar bears and their spring cubs. Only sixteen people at a time can go. It’s in the Wapusk National Park. That’s all I’m going to say until I visit one day. Maybe in March. I’ll keep you posted. Here are some of my final photos…..

Michelle driving