Just to give you some feedback on our trip. The absolute highlight without doubt was the trip into Churchill as we did see polar bears despite that fact that we were actually too early for the season. Even the local guides were pretty excited by one of our experiences. We went out on a boat to see beluga whales. While we were heading out word came through that there could be a female polar bear and cub on the shore of Hudson Bay so we set out to see if we could find them. We did and were watching them hoping for some activity as they were sleeping on the shore. While we were there a lot of beluga whales came to see what we were up to. They were all round us and we could hear their communication through a microphone which was put into the water. One beluga played with the microphone. But … behind us a male polar bear appeared in the water swimming his way up Hudson Bay. The beluga whales took the opportunity to swim around and under him, hassling him as they apparently do when polar bears are in the water. It was hard to know where to look! In all we saw 8 bears in 5 sightings (probably the same two on two occasions): three mothers with cubs and two lone males. Just magical!!

Our diversion to Rankin Inlet when Churchill airport was closed by cloud turned out to be an advantage. The tour company did magnificently. Rather than have us stuck at Rankin Inlet Airport (in a small room, without enough seats and nothing in the way of food) for 10 hours they managed to find two buses and two local guys to drive us so we got a look around the area and met local Inuit people, saw (and bought!) their handcrafts. They also managed to arrange for a very nice lunch and dinner for us. Hats off to them!!! We would certainly recommend them to others.