oscarandpenelope

I am considering a trip to Churchill, either in August to see Beluga Whales, or in November to see Polar Bears. What is the likelihood of actually seeing a whale or bear during 2 days of tour there? Or is it possible to be out for 8 hours and not see even one polar bear in November?
Also, I heard that the polar bear tours in October/November tend to fill up fast, so one would need to book six months ahead. Is that true? If it is, is it the actual day tour that goes out out to the tundra that fills up, or is it the accommodations?

tomfuller

I went to Churchill twice. Once by myself and another time with my DW. Both times I went on the ViaRail train from Winnipeg. The train takes about 1.5 days and is a bit more uncomfortable than flying in from Winnipeg. On the second trip I did see 1 polar bear across a small inlet which was enough to say that I had seen a polar bear in the wild. Many others pay big bucks to ride out of town in tundra buggies where the polar bears sometimes even get up and look in the windows. My DW and I went out with a Japanese tourist in a taxi. We each paid $20US to the taxi driver who had us out for about 2 hours to see the polar bear. In late October or early November, you can be quite sure of seeing at least 1 polar bear.
Sometimes the Wildlife Officers haul problem bears from the "polar bear jail" to a far off location in a net under a helicopter.
I/we did not spend a night in Churchill. We left Churchill 12 hours after we got there on the same train that brought us. Arrived 9AM and left at 9PM.

oscarandpenelope

I finally made it out to Churchill! I just got back from doing the two-day tour through the Lazy Bear Lodge. The flight to Winnipeg was 12 hours late due to a wildcat job action at Toronto airport, and the weather for the first two days at Churchill was crappy (5 degrees Celsius with 39 km wind; felt like walking through a hurricane, except windchill was negative 1 degree Celsius), nevertheless we saw a polar bear. On the last day, the weather returned to normal and I did a whale watching tour and a kayaking tour, spotted lots of beluga whales. I had a great time.

eliztravels2

Glad you had a great time. Thanks for letting us know.

atravelynn

I am especially interested in the summer visits and the Belugas. I understand you can snorkel with Belugas. I've been interested in that for many years and would love to get some feedback.

<i>", I heard that the polar bear tours in October/November tend to fill up fast, so one would need to book six months ahead. Is that true?"</i>

Try 18 months. 6 months may be enough time for some trips, but many of the Natural Habitat trips for polar bears are filled a year out. I had to go a year later than I had intended because the late Oct to early Nov Tundra Lodge trip was filled over a year in advance. It was worth the wait.

oscarandpenelope

I didn't do the snorkeling tour when I was there. The tour company said the water temperature was 1 degree Celsius (I'm not that brave). We had to wear wetsuits even for the kayaking tour.