Beluga Whale Trip Report 2024 ( Trip 2 )

Churchill, Canada
August 3 - 9, 2024

 August 4, 2024 - Day One on the Water

It was a fantastic first day. We had beautiful blue skies and calm water, which was a pleasant surprise after the heavy rains this weekend. I was concerned about the water visibility, but it turned out to be a super nice day.

Our guests are veteran divers who regularly visit the Arctic and Antarctica for wildlife. They’ve seen some epic cold-water wildlife, including belugas, but only fleeting sightings. It was so great to watch their expressions when we motored out into the Churchill River and, within two minutes, already had belugas swimming by. Becky was floored by all the belugas we saw today, and Sara was moved to tears. It was really special to see and feel their joy.

We went out to the point to try and find a bear, but surprisingly, we didn’t spot one. The bay was calm, and there were a lot of belugas around, so we went in search of the pod of friendly male belugas we had last week.

Happy to report… we found the pod, and it was game on. Our guests had a blast in the water, staying with the pod for a solid hour and a half. It was amazing.

Becky was hoping for some great video opportunities, and she definitely got them. She captured a lot of fantastic moments today.

I even went live on Instagram to share what we were seeing. I recorded a solid 15 minutes live, with belugas all around us—a great clip to share.

The trip begins with a bang… I’m super happy.

August 5, 2024 - Day Two

The sun was out and strong today, but we had a strong northern wind, which churned up the seas. We tried to reach the point to see if there was a bear, but unfortunately, there wasn’t. I thought I saw one, but I wasn’t sure—might have been one of those famous rock bears of Churchill.

We returned to the river to swim with the belugas because the bay was just too lumpy. At first glance, the water looked nasty, like soup. Thankfully, I was wrong. The visibility was quite good in some parts, although it was murky in others. I still managed to capture some great shots in the clear water.

I snapped a picture that I think is a powerful conservation image. It shows a beluga inspecting the boat's props, which are thankfully covered by a prop guard. This image tells an important story about how prop guards can protect wildlife from injury.

The day was really good. We had the Juniors with us out there. The bay seems to attract the big belugas—the pods of adult whales—while the river seems to be where most of the juveniles are.

My guess is that the river offers them better protection from predators like orcas or pilot whales. In the bay, they’d be too exposed and easy pickings.

Anyway, the Juniors were a lot of fun. They’re extremely curious, and many of them came right up to investigate the cameras and snorkelers.

Our guests had an amazing time. The river was bumpy due to the north winds, but overall, it was still a great experience.

I can’t wait for tomorrow.

August 6, 2024 - Day Three

WOW WOW WOW is all I can say! On our first week’s trip, after our epic beluga whale encounters, I thought there was no way it could get any better. I was wrong... it can, and it did!

We started out in the Bay looking for belugas, but they weren’t interested in us at all—many of them were heading into the river to feed. So, our captain made a few radio calls to see what was going on, and we found out that there were a lot of friendlies in the river. We turned around and headed back to find some whales to play with.

We motored in and found the same feeding aggregation of whales that we encountered on the final day of week one, when we were chased off the river by a lightning storm. There were so many belugas—it was incredible!

The moment we got on the board to see the whales, they were already surrounding the boat. Whales everywhere!

This continued for the rest of our time on the water. It was so good!

We had beluga after beluga visiting our boat. Sadly, visibility was an issue. In some parts of the river, the water was ok, and the visibility was good enough for close up photos. In others, it was murky and hazy.

Reader’s Note: Remember, we are slowly towing the beluga board behind our boat. This is to keep the belugas interested in us—they're attracted to movement and can't help themselves. So we are moving all the time.

Today was a day of dreams coming true. I had always wanted a shot of a beluga with its mouth open, and I finally got it! A beluga kept mouthing my camera over and over again—it was awesome!

I also had an epic encounter with a baby beluga. A mom with a tiny baby kept coming over to check us out. She swam by us over and over again. Our hearts were exploding with excitement. The baby was only weeks old and the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a moment that will be engraved in my memory forever.

What an epic, epic day.

The Northern lights were out last night, but sadly everyone was too tired to go photograph them. It sounds like we missed one hell of a show, but that’s okay.

Day Four... let’s go!

August 7, 2024 - Day Four

Another great day out with the whales. The north winds were pushing the water around, so we stayed in the river.

There were a lot of belugas around, and we had a great time. The visibility was a big challenge today, though. Even though we had belugas right in our faces, it didn’t matter—everything was murky. So, we just enjoyed our day with the whales and called it a day early. By early, I mean we returned to port about 20 minutes earlier than usual. LOL

We heard reports about a bear hanging around the Golf Balls area, so we picked up my buddy Kenny, who is a licensed bear guard, and went out to investigate. Sure enough, we found a mom and cub sleeping on the rocks.

She was dead asleep when we arrived. She looked up at us, then dropped her head back onto the rocks and went back to sleep. We snapped a bunch of images of her for a short while and then left her alone to get some rest.

The sea ice melted late this year, so it's been a long season for the bears, which means they fed extremely well. The bears here all look healthy and fat, which is good news compared to the polar bears in other areas of the world who are not doing as well.

On the way back into town, we encountered a cross fox crossing the road. It was the first fox we’ve seen this summer. It was a quick encounter, but still a thrill to see.

Tomorrow is our final day of the trip and the season for us.

August 8, 2024 - Day Five

Our final day on the water. It has been an amazing week, and the interactions have been incredible. Today was no exception.

The beluga action has been great, but today we wanted bears. We were all hoping to see one on the point, or even better, to see a bear in the water. They call the bears "sandwiches" over the radio, or a "soggy sandwich" if the bear is swimming.

When we first got out on the water, we went looking for bears on the rocks. Bear sightings have been a bit slow this week compared to the previous week, so I was hoping for a good sighting today for our guests.

Last week, we encountered bears on the rocks every day. This week, not so much. There was a bear on the rocks this week, but it was staying deep inside Eskimos Point, and we could not see it.

We motored slowly around the point looking, but sadly, we didn’t see anything.

As we were looking, we got a call over the radio that there was a soggy sandwich in the area. We raced over to where the bear was seen. It was just exiting the water onto the rocks when we arrived.

We were bummed we missed the swimming but happy we got a bear on the rocks. It walked along the shoreline and then re-entered the water to swim some more.

Love being lucky. We got our bear, and our Soggy Sandwich!

After that, we went over to where we had seen a bunch of belugas feeding together. The water visibility was not the greatest, so the images and videos are not the sharpest, but it was so much fun.

There were a lot of belugas. A lot of mothers and calves. It was such a great day. The sun was out, the seas were beautiful, and there were many animals to look at.

We were about out of time. The whales were all around our boat, and as if some whale in the distance made a call, all the whales left, swimming out into the Bay. It was as if they were saying goodbye.

We watched them swim away, saying goodbye to the beautiful white whales as they disappeared from our view.

Churchill is a very special place.