Every morning started with breakfast around 7:00 and we’d depart around 8:00. The kitchen staff was amazing. Each day they offered eggs, bacon, and sausage. This morning also had waffles and the best chocolate croissants I have ever tasted. There were other pastries to choose from as well. Huge bowl of fresh fruit, yogurt & more!
Today is the first day of full day Tundra Buggy adventures. Everyone was so excited. The bear from last night was there this morning and he came and laid down next to the observation deck that we used to board the buggies. We spent a
long time watching him before we took off. He is an older bear and has a scar
above his brow. The guides nicknamed him “scar brow”, but just call him “star”
as it sounds better than scar. This time of year, they are quite depleted, and are mainly conserving their energy while waiting for the ice to form so they can
get out and hunt seals. The females with cubs are still in their dens and
usually are the last to leave.
We watched the sunrise and there was debate amongst the group whether there was a second bear or if it was just a rock across the water and even with binoculars, I decided it was just a rock. Greg said, “Annette your rock just stood up”. The buggy driver, Alex said we’d move to see if we could see it better.
Each buggy has a viewing area on the back, and we can open the top part of the windows for photos. It was a nice day and most of us just left our windows down. Of course, we were dressed in layers, coats, gloves & boots. So, it was comfortable on a nice day without a lot of wind. There is a bathroom on board that we can use when the buggy is stopped. Since the buggy holds 40 and they only do these tours with 20 per buggy, we each had our own row. Greg sat on one side, and I sat on the other to have different views. Of course, when wildlife was sighted everyone got up and went out on the back deck or to that side of the vehicle.
We saw a few Arctic Foxes. Very hard to get photos of since they fly by at a distance. We saw them at various times throughout the day, but I have put them together for the blog.
We watched a bear testing the ice in a pond. They spread their legs apart to distribute their weight and it was so fun to watch. We got video that I will add later.
There was a mid-morning break for cookies and hot chocolate, tea, soda or coffee. Then we’d take off looking for more wildlife.
At lunch time we went in search of a “lunch bear” that we could watch while we ate. Today was minestrone soup and pasta.
We watched 2 Muskrats in a pond, so cute to watch. Equally hard to get decent photos....
We watched one bear that has a dark stain on his cheek that found a feather and was playing with it.
It was time to work our way back to the lodge and a bear was close, so we watched him for a while. We were half an hour late since we spent more time watching bears.
We had a great day and I think everyone was pleased with what we saw today. I honestly don't think I'll ever wipe the smile off my face.
I thought I would have time for a quick shower before dinner, but just as I got in, I overheard Bryan telling Greg right outside the door that it would be our group's turn to visit Tundra Buggy One. I rushed and got dressed. We missed the appetizers that are served each night before dinner in the lounge and were last to join the group on Buggy One. It is a specially equipped buggy for Polar Bears International. We met the 2 on board now and they showed us around their buggy and explained some of the work they do for Polar Bears International Kieran McIver is the Manager of Churchill Field Operations and in charge of video feed from their webcams, that we had been watching prior to our trip. Marissa Krouse is Director of Conservation Programs, and she is currently studying mothers & denning with cubs. Tundra Buggy One is a mobile broadcast studio that brings the Subarctic tundra near Churchill, Manitoba into classrooms and homes around the world! https://polarbearsinternational.org/
The researchers sat with us for dinner. Very interesting people and we felt lucky to get the chance to talk with them about their lives and work. Both have done some incredibly interesting projects. They seemed genuinely interested in our lives as well. When dinner was over, they told us to keep traveling and I told him we would as long as these bodies will let us. Tonight, we had roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. Dessert was a pumpkin cake which didn’t sound good but was really tasty. (more cinnamon & spice than pumpkin)
We went to bed early since the night before we didn’t get much sleep with all the excitement. After our day, we didn’t know how it could get any better.
Tomorrow is predicted to be wind and snow after noon.
For larger (and more) photos:
Tundra Buggy Adventure – Day 1 https://photos.app.goo.gl/31Kv71fhD2KDPo3Z7
For all albums: https://photos.google.com/sharing
It took a long time to wade through over 1,000 photos taken today. I weeded out about half of them.
