In July 2023 Mary and I flew to Churchill in the Canadian subarctic for “Beluga Boarding” with yes, Belugas. They are possibly the world’s most friendly whales, each day we were surrounded by them, some of which were extremely playful and curious. Their population level is estimated to be around 3000 whales in the Churchill River estuary, the largest population of Belugas in the world although the poor water clarity can make it both challenging to estimate their numbers and to get good images. Mary and I were there as part of a Big Fish Expeditions trip lead by Andy Murch and were delighted that our good friend, the irrepressible Ron Zelt, was also on the trip.

Belugas grew up to 4.5 metres long, weighing up to 1900 kilograms. Happily, it seems Beluga numbers in the Churchill River estuary are stable. Belugas are believed to live up to 50 to 80 years old. ‘Believed’ because there's a debate in the scientific community on how to measure their age. Their age can be measured by taking a small sliver of one of their teeth and counting the rings in it but there is disagreement as to whether a ring equals one year or two!

We also went for Tundra Drives and on our very first one, came across a mother Polar Bear snoozing with her one-year-old cubs. A pretty special sight and only the first of many more Polar Bear sightings that followed. 

Unfortunately, I was not feeling great. Only two weeks earlier I’d had a right ventriculoperitoneal shunt inserted into my skull and connected to a hose which ran down the inside of my neck to my perineum, to permanently drain an unfortunate ongoing overproduction of cerebrospinal fluid. Still, this was hardly a strenuous Big Fish Expeditions trip and I would have hated to miss it.