Churchill, Manitoba, Canada Aug 25 - 30, 2018

We traveled to Churchill, Canada, on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, hoping to see Polar Bears, Beluga Whales, and hopefully the Northern Lights. We were fortunate to see all of the above!

We stayed at Lazy Bear Lodge, which we can highly recommend. The guides were terrific, the accommodations good, and the food was excellent.

We went at the end of the summer season. We were told before we left that we would certainly see Beluga Whales, but it was not the prime season for Polar Bears, as they are "resting", waiting for the ice to form so they could go onto the ice and feed.

The weather was chilly, especially for us coming from 90-degree weather in Florida. It was generally in the low 40-degree range, and for the first two days or so it was rainy and windy. We were bundled up like the little boy Randy in the Christmas Story movie.

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This bear got too close to the town, and couldn't be chased away, so he was tranquilized
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This is the "Polar Bear Jail", where the tranquilized bear will be kept until he is relocated.
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Two different types of bear traps. To be honest, I'm not sure how the one on the left works.
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Several of the buildings in Churchill had been painted with Murals. Pretty Cool!
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The first bear that we saw (besides the tranquilized bear).
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Sniffing the air.
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A "COY" (Cub of the year) and its mother.
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Isn't he cute?
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We think he has the skull of a Beluga Whale, but it's kind of hard to tell
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Mom and cub both munching.
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The cub was wanting a turn, but mom "corrected" him.
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But she eventually let him have it anyway.
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This bear was certainly resting.
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This bear had what we think is a seal carcass. The Seal probably died in a storm, rather than from hunting.
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Some Beluga Whales - this is about what we saw most of the time.
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More whales
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This is about as far as they get out of the water.
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A Crawler that they use for bear watching in the winter.
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This is Kay bundled up to go outside - several layers!
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A movie of us on a sled dog run. (Kinda long, and over 1GB in size)
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Us taking off at the start of our run.
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When we returned, with Gerald, the "musher", and some of the dogs.
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Again.
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Northern Lights getting started. (Photo by musher's wife, Jennifer!)
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Another shot from Jennifer of the Northern Lights.
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Another shot from Jennifer of the Northern Lights.
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This plane was called "Miss Piggy" because it was used to fly pigs. It crashed, but all walked away, and the cargo was saved.
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Kay and Steve in gear for boat trip.
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Bald Eagle leaving the tree (The end).