August 6

Good morning! Great weather, calm seas and a strong current, all contributed to the Polar Ambassador setting some record speeds last night, and the ship arrived at Walrus Island early this morning. The group spent the day here, zodiac cruising the beaches, viewing walrus and ... polar bears!

Walrus Island is located at the top of Hudson's Bay, between Southampton Island and Coat's Island. This rocky, little island is home for many a slumbering walrus. In fact, the main concentration of Canadian walrus are found right here in this region. They live here during all seasons, with an estimated summer population of 2000. In the 1950s and 1960s, the walrus population of Foxe Basin and Hudson Bay together was estimated at 8,500. They are still abundant, and can be found as far south as the Belcher Islands.

Participant Journals!

From: Bali Symenuk

It seems like everything just gets better and better everyday with this expedition. They tell us if we are lucky we may see a polar bear on Walrus Island. Instead we see two, and eating a walrus at that! The walrus themselves are fascinating. They seem to think that doing anything except rolling over to sun the opposite side of their bodies would be a huge waste of energy—except of course when they are belly flopping into the water. It was amazing to see how gracefully they swim. The sounds they made were just breathtaking and I couldn’t help laughing at these unorthodox creatures. Today I have seen two things I never expected to see in my entire life—and it’s not even two o’clock yet!

Today has been amazing so far! The sky has been crispy blue with long puffy clouds billowing across the sky. The sea has been surprisingly calm as well which is extremely unusual. As part of the beluga zodiac group, I was on the first Zodiacs of the day to take off to Walrus Island. The zodiacs sped in the water as we all became more and more excited to see the walruses and a polar bear. As we approached the weathered rocks of the island, we began to make out shapes of the walruses. We sped nearer and nearer until we could hear the grunts of the walruses. It sounds like something in between a dog and a cow (or cow gone wrong like Lexi says). But the funniest thing was the smell of Eau de Walrus. It smelled like…nothing I have ever smelled before. It smelled like cow gone wrong again. Next we saw…THE POLAR BEARS!! Not just one polar bear but two! It was a mother and her cub. They had just freshly slaughtered a walrus. As we moved closer, we could see the blood floating with the waves. Although it was sad that the walrus was killed it was an amazing sight to behold! The polar bear cub kept climbing all over the walrus and the mother wary gaze toward the zodiac. 300 pictures later, we moved on to where the rest of the walruses were. Our zodiac was shocked by all the walruses there! At least 500 walrus were rolling and sprawled out on the rocks lard rolling around them. Every so often there would be a little fight and all the walruses would tumble down into the water followed by angry grunts and roars. So, to sum up today in one word: AWESOME!

From: Serin Remidios

It’s only a few days into the trip and we have already seen belugas and orcas. Today we added to our ever growing list! This morning when we woke up, we were greeted by the sight of Walrus Island right outside our portholes. Walrus Island seems like it’s nothing special to speak of: it is just a pile stones in the middle of Hudson Bay. However, it is particularly special as it is an ideal spot to see walruses. Our zodiac group, the belugas, was the first to be suited up and head out onto the water. From the ship we had already spotted hordes of walruses lining the shore. Using binoculars, we had also found a polar bear. As we loaded the zodiacs, the water around us was mirror calm, only the smallest ripples marred the surface. The sky was also pristine with purple and white wispy clouds, and the sun shone down, reflecting off of the water. We soon neared the island and saw our first group of about ten walruses. There was a flurry of picture taking and readjustment to get the perfect angle. We made our way round the rocky outcropping until we saw the aforementioned polar bear staring back at us. It soon became apparent that there was another bear as well, a polar bear cub specifically. They were eating a large walrus that the mother had killed. I can’t express how amazing our encounter was with the bears. It is one thing to see the animals on the television or in pictures, but to see them right in front of you is an exhilarating experience. After spending a good while with the bears we went over to the huge groups of walruses. Immediately we were hit by the stench: “eau de walrus.” We thought it smelled like a grotesque mixture of cow and decomposing fish. However, the sight of all the bellowing, squirming walruses soon compensated for the smell. It was amazing to see the mass of walruses interacting together. If you focused in on specific groups, you could see pairs of walruses fighting or sleeping. Sometimes a walrus would grow tired of the land and literally roll into the water. It was fascinating to see all the different types of behavior. I am hoping that our amazing karma will continue throughout the day and the rest of the trip. I look forward to all the exciting and unbelievable new things we will see.

Today is our third day on the ship. So far we’ve seen Belugas, Killer Whales, Polar Bears and Walruses. The Orca’s are the best animals I’ve seen so far. There are thousands and thousands of walruses on Walrus Island. But the smell was awful! The polar bear was on the beach with its cub with a stash of a dead walrus. The cub was so cute lying on the walrus carcass and eating.

From: Laura Anne Carroll

Wow it was an amazing time! We have been seeing beluga (Qilalugaq), polar bear (nanuk), seal (natsik), but I’m missing home. I’m very much missing the phone. Writing about this trip is hard because you gotta see what’s really going on. It’s an amazing time of my life.

Early day we went to Walrus Island. We saw a mother polar bear with her baby eating a walrus that she caught.

So far, the trip has been absolutely amazing! We’ve seen an arctic hare, belugas, orcas, birds…and today we saw walruses and a polar bear and her cub.

We were just finishing up breakfast when there was an announcement saying there were walruses. I headed up to the deck, and as we were up there looking at the walruses, someone shouted that they saw a polar bear! I was really hoping to see one on our trip, but I only got a quick glimpse of it before it disappeared behind the rocks.

I was excited to find out that the bear was still on the island when the zodiacs went out — and chances are she won’t be leaving soon, because she is still eating a huge walrus, and she has a cub with her. When we got up to the small cove where the bears were having their meal, we were able to go very close to the bears (only about 15 meters away). There was blood all over the polar bears faces and all over the cub’s chest too—the bears had been sticking their whole faces into the incredibly fat walrus.

After we saw the polar bears, we went around to the other side of the island and saw hundreds of walruses, all fat, and lying around on the rocks. When we got closer we could smell their horrible stench; they’d definitely not make good zoo animals—or pets!

It’s breeding season for the walruses right now, so the animals were very vocal. We also saw some males fighting, and a few of the walruses had big cuts in their elephant-like skin. Occasionally the walruses would be disturbed by something and all of a sudden there would be a great rush of bodies slipping clumsily off the rocks, followed by an enormous splash.

We had a great time watching the walruses (despite the smell), and I think there will be some pretty good pictures! (I know there will be lots—we all took about 50 pictures of the walruses, and at least that many of the polar bears.)

The weather here is absolutely beautiful: it’s sunny and cool, just the right weather to stand on the deck and admire the view. And what a view! Sky and ocean all around, stretching right to the horizon…it makes me wonder how anyone could have though the world square. (The horizon line is all around us in a circle; so far I have seen no corners of the sky.) There was certainly a strange sight to see when we were returning to the ship from the zodiacs: the lone ship in the middle of a huge body of water, with nothing but blue behind it.

So far I have had an incredible day, and had many new and monumental experiences (doesn’t everyone wish they could see both polar bears and walruses in one day), and it’s only 2:00! It certainly is true that we are in the best classroom in the world.

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From: Phillip Comeau

This morning we woke up to a beautiful day. Looking out your port hole you can view ocean as far as you can see.

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From: Rosalind Crump

Today has been amazing, and it isn’t even lunch yet. We are just weighing anchor from off the coast of Walrus Island. So far, our journey has been extremely smooth, with the water little more than a clear, rippling mass beneath the vessel. I can’t believe how much wildlife we have seen since we arrived. Today, to add to our list of beluga whales, thick build murre, and orca whales -to mention just a few- we saw hoards of walruses. From far off, we could see masses of light brown lumps draped across the rocks, my first ever glimpse of walruses. As we all strained to see the walruses better, someone cried out

“Polar bear! There’s a POLAR BEAR over there!” And there was, in the far distance a white bear, showing off its profile. As we all went out to the Island in zodiacs, we discovered that the polar bear was actually a mother bear, and her little cub was beside her, feasting on a walrus they had caught. Our zodiac of nine watched in awe as the magnificent bears feasted on the meat, their faces stained red. Cameras clicked continuously, but the polar bears weren’t bothered in the least.

Around the other side of the island were hundreds of walruses of all sizes – quite literally all sizes. Some were enormous with folds and folds of blubber, with huge tusks that can double as a head rest. Then there were little calves, being pushed into the water by their huge mothers. The smell (what we are fondly referring to as ‘Eau de Walrus’) was so strong you could almost taste it, and the noise of the walruses was all around us – it’s hard to describe how they sound…somewhere between a snort and a cry. Every now and then, there would be a large exodus, and hundreds of walruses would shuffle and shove each other into the water. It was amazing to see the difference between them on land and in the water. On land they are clumsy and slow, and use their two back flippers almost as feet to help haul themselves around, but in the water they are agile, at ease and fast.

Now I am off to lunch – Hard to believe that only half the day has passed…there is so much more to come!

From: Mary Simon

We just got off the zodiac and saw hundreds of walrus and a polar bear and her cub on Walrus Island. I am an Inuk from the Canadian Arctic and I am always struck by the beauty of these animals. The more I encounter these animals, the more I understand how we as Inuit respect these animals and only kill them for our food and clothing. Nowadays, we use rifles to hunt the Aiviq (walrus) and when I was so close to them today I could imagine my ancestors hunting the Aiviq by harpoon. They were very skilled hunters to be able to hunt the walrus and the Polar bear (Nanook). The weather has been absolutely beautiful for the last two days. We are so lucky to have calm waters when we crossed the Hudson Bay. It is a huge ocean even though it is called a bay. It took us from Saturday night at 11 pm to early Monday morning to get to Walrus Island. The students are an awesome group. They are learning so much by being here and I know that they will remember this Arctic expedition for the rest of their lives and I am very happy to be sharing this experience with Jordan.

From: Neha Thacker

The last two days have been so amazing that all I can say is that we all have good karma. Today was just as good as yesterday. No lectures but straight away a zodiac cruise around Walrus Island. So off we were to check out our first polar bear and cub along with hundreds of walrus seals. As we were getting to the island, all I could think of was how splendid it was at the middle of the Hudson Bay. For miles and miles I saw no roads, no buildings, just crystal clear blue water and the island.

We FINALLY saw the polar bear mother lying down in the water letting her cub grab some food off the dead walrus seal. She moved towards her baby and both of them displayed how hungry they were as they took bite after bite of the headless seal. Man it was just something so new for me as I had never seen that before. On the other side of the Island, we spotted so many of the walruses who smelled foul but still, the site was absolutely worth it. Some lay so lazy, and a few were just so playful that they kept falling into the water and made really loud weird sounds. But we were just watching each of them and it was a great satisfaction.

Later in the day, we headed further in the Hudson Bay and reached Coates Island at about 4 pm. The huge island was surrounded by mountain cliffs, and bluish grey sky with neat green water. How picture perfect! We hiked up the cliff and got to the station up there, which was surrounded by millions of murres (a bird) a black and white bird that looked like penguin, settled on different levels of the cliff. It was such a wonderful scenic beauty. I had a lovely time being in such a pure atmosphere with amazing people with me.