Remember, Remeber, The Time I Was A Bear Chaser (Part Three, Finale)

"You saw three polar bears yesterday? That was so cool! We saw a polar bear yesterday as well! But that was the only one we have seen so far." 

The Eskimoo museum and the town's catholic church

It turned out that the Spanish couple I met at the Eskimo Museum the other day encountered a polar bear while crossing the Churchill River on a boat en-route to Fort Prince of Wales. The bear was standing by the shore, an action which halted a group of humans literally in the middle of some very rapid water and forced them to watch him to swim with leisure across the river. 

Today, Liz, Uldo, Pam, and I will be crossing the same river too.Our destination? Fort Prince of Wales. 

Statues of wolves near the bed and breakfast I stayed

Our group was soon transported to the Port of Churchill building. While waiting for the zodiac to pick us up, we saw a couple of seals swimming in the area. The guide told us that the wild animals in the area had very little interaction with the humans, thus they appeared to be very curious about human beings.

As soon as we boarded the zodiac, we saw a group of Beluga whales flipping around not far away from us. When the zodiac began to move, the Belugas followed.

Half way across the river, the water got very choppy. Even the Belugas turned back at some point. The Zodiac speeded up a little bit to buffer the ferocious wave coming our way.  Suddenly I felt like that we became some sort of marine special force members trying to land on a tough coast for our mission. Only moments ago we were watching Beluga whales in peace.

When we arrived at the fort, we were welcomed by a Scottish park ranger who was carrying a rifle. He briefly told us the history of the fort, and how important Hudson Bay was back then when it was the closest way for fur shipping and trading between North America and Europe as there were literally no other means of infrastructures in Canada. The famous Hudson's Bay company was headquartered in Churchill and it continues to serve Canadian community as a premium department store up till this day. Inside the fort, the ranger showed us the living and working quarters of soldiers back then. The most interesting thing I found in the fort was the oldest freemason symbol in entire North America. Nobody knew how it got there.

The ranger leading us to Fort Prince of Wales

Inside the fort

While wandering around the fort during our free time, the ranger suddenly yelled:


"There is a polar bear"

I could tell that all of our nerves were hung high up the cliff at the moment. The questions everyone was asking were: How far away was it from us? How long is it going to linger around? Are we directly exposed to it?

The area outside of Fort Prince of Wales

It turned out that there was a polar bear sleeping somewhere far away on the coast of the Hudson Bay - too far that you could only see it through a binocular. 

The white rock like thing in this picture is a sleeping polar bear

As we were sent off by the ranger to our zodiac trip back to Churchill, everyone's Churchill adventure was also approaching to the end. We were all very satisfied that we saw some polar bears, but felt sorry for those who came all the way from different corners of the world yet did not have the chance to catch a glimpse of those majestic beings. By noon time, we returned to Churchill.

The port building from Fort Prince of Wales

We were supposed to board the train in the late afternoon. My Bed and Breakfast host the Goulds family were gracious enough to let me and two other Japanese girls they hosted to stay as long as we liked until the departure time. When we got back to the Bed and Breakfast, it was still early. Then the entire family asked us whether we were interested in going to Cape Merry with them, how could we resist?

Cape Merry and Fort Prince of Wales

Then we hopped on to the back cargo bed of  Mr. Gould's Ford pick-up truck from probably late 1940s or early 1950s. As we passed the area where I ventured to alone two days ago on a bicycle, it gave me a different feeling - I no longer had the uncertainty and the fear like the first time I was there. Mr. Gould pointed to a lone research Icebreaker ship on the Hudson Bay and told us that it was the same model as the one shown on the Canadian $50 dollar note.

The famous icebreaker

The truck stopped in front of the same wooden hut where I was two days ago. All of us went together to the monuments and the military compounds. It was from Mr. Gould where I learned all the knowledge about the early explorations in the area. As I looked around, I realized that regardless of the size of the crowd we had that day, there was still the chance that a polar bear might show up. So I asked Mr. Gould what to do in case we would encounter a polar bear.

Fort Prince of Wales and the Churchill River from Cape Merry

"I have two bear spray bottles underneath my jacket. But they are my last resource. Polar bears wouldn't naturally hurt humans. All you need to do is to take off your jacket and the bear would mistaken your jacket for you because the jacket has your scent on it."

The site of Fort Churchill, the former defense structure at Cape Merry

The Goulds' little daughter, Hannah, was dancing to the waves and the wind and was totally unaware of the fact that she was in the polar bear country. I really admired the Northern lifestyle: it was bold, fearless, and free.

At the train station, I was somewhat surprised to see Hannah and her parents sending us off at the platform, together with some other familiar faces. As the train began to move, I thought I was going to miss all the polar bears and beluga whales. Then I saw Hannah and the Goulds were waving at us. I suddenly realized that there was something I would miss even more: the great people I met in Churchill and all those times and memories we shared together. 

The Eskimoo museum and the town's Catholic church

(The End)