... more whale photos to come...
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Dear everybody!
Today was our big day off! After getting up relatively early at 6:30 and a quick breakfast, we piled into the “Mystery Machine”, with Paige as our guide, and headed off towards Churchill. The first stop was the Zodiac tours. We donned our oh-so-attractive bright-orange life jackets and boarded the Zodiac, a rubber boat with a propeller. We first started off towards the Prince of Wales Fort, but caught our first glimpse of the beluga whales on our way there. We disembarked on the shore and took a walk up towards the looming stone fort up the hill. The tour guide was quite knowledgeable, and gave us fascinating insight into the history of the fort as we walked. Inside the fort itself, we were given a few other brief history lessons, and then were released to take photos of the impressive fort and the magnificent surrounding landscape. Unfortunately, our view was slightly marred by hordes of the notorious arctic blood-sucking fiends of the sky (aka Mosquitoes) but we fended them off and the sights were quite beautiful in the early morning sun.
After leaving the fort, we again got into the Zodiac to continue our whale watching tour. The whales were everywhere, and we had no trouble getting right into the middle of a pod and getting a good look at these awesome animals. Everyone was so excited every time we saw the back of a whale emerge from the water. The Zodiac pilot and tour guide even dropped in a hydrophone, to let us eavesdrop in on the whales’ incessant chatter. When we had finished mingling with the belugas, our guide took us around the coast to look for a polar bear. We scanned the rocky shoreline, and, sure enough, we soon spotted a moving white dot; we got our first up-close look at the infamous polar bear. We left the Zodiac excited, surprised, and awed at the wildlife we’d had the fortune to see.
Back on land, we then took a trip to the local Eskimo Museum. Paige works there during bear season, so she gave us a grand tour, telling us of the history and culture of the museum, as well as pointing out the important and interesting artefacts. After looking around the museum to see the unique relics, we left the museum to get a bite of lunch. This took us to the Lazy Bear Cafe, where the waiter was very friendly and the food was delicious! Finally, after chowing down on the tasty fare, we went on a shopping spree. We traveled around the quaint town of Churchill, searching for nice clothes and trinkets to take back home as souvenirs.
Our last stop in Churchill was the Parks Canada train station, where a young man led us on a tour of the exhibits and told us a little about the town. We also started watching a little beluga whale video, but after seeing the real deal, the film just could not compare. We left the town in high spirits, if slightly drowsy, and returned to the research center just in time for dinner, after which we all went to our room for some rest and relaxation. Our day ended with a great talk on evolution by Professor Cash. He enlightened us not only to the mechanism of evolution and natural selection, but also to the history of how the theories came to be. All in all, an eventful day and a well-spent day off. However, we are looking forward to returning to the field- and SCIENCE!- tomorrow.
Sincerely, Matt and the Earthwatch team.
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