Aqua Gliding with Beluga Whales in Churchill

A Rainy Morning and a Change of Plans

Because of the beluga stop on the way back from Fireweed Island, we did not return to the lodge until close to 10 p.m. Our schedule originally had us kayaking the next morning, but with the late night and stormy weather forecast, the plan was switched to give us a town tour in the morning and go aqua gliding in the afternoon. When we woke to pouring rain, we were especially grateful for the buffer.

The town tour was short because Churchill is quite small; it spans just 53 km² (20 sq mi). For context, that’s about four times the size of Key West or about half the size of Coober Pedy. And it only has about 900 permanent residents.

The first stop on the tour was Miss Piggy, a WWII-era Curtiss C-46 cargo plane that belly-landed near Churchill in 1979 due to engine failure. All crew survived and it now sits colourfully abandoned on tundra rocks as a quirky photo landmark.

The next stop on the tour was the Polar Bear Holding Facility, nicknamed “Polar Bear Jail,” where problem bears are safely held in cinder-block cells for up to 30 days before relocation far from town, protecting both residents and the bears regardless of season. We visited here in 2008 so snapped a few “then and now” photos. Quite a bit of difference in temperature from August to November!

 

We spent the rest of the morning going through photos and videos from the day before. Everything about Fireweed Island had exceeded our expectations, and not by a little, but by a lot. I was oddly excited for aqua gliding though.

What is Aqua Gliding?

I mean, what could possibly top having your boat surrounded by hundreds of beluga whales? The answer: aqua gliding.

 

Since snorkelling with belugas is not allowed under Canada’s Fisheries Act, which prohibits disturbing marine mammals, Lazy Bear Expeditions came up with the next best thing. Aqua gliding involves lying on your belly on a foam mat towed slowly behind a zodiac.

Into the Water with Belugas

In the afternoon, we returned to the marina. Lazy Bear has a smooth setup: one large room for collecting wetsuits, hoods, gloves, booties, masks and snorkels, and another room for changing and getting life vests. With water temps around 10°C (50°F), we were glad to have all of the extra layers. We brought our own masks and snorkels, because our masks are prescription and I don’t like loaner snorkels, but their equipment looked brand new.

Our group of 20 split across four zodiacs. We had six passengers in our boat plus a guide. Within minutes of leaving the dock we were surrounded by belugas.
Our guide assessed their curiosity, and the mat was deployed.

Belugas are naturally curious, but the trick is to make noise. Our guide encouraged us to make noise into the water, which meant singing, squealing or shrieking. When it was time to go in the water, the other two couples hesitated, with one asking if belugas bite, so Andy and I volunteered to go first. (This pic isn’t us – but just to show how it works)

We scrambled onto the mat and lay on our bellies with our faces in the water. The visibility was not crystal clear, but we could see the beluga circling around. We began making noise through the snorkels: random sounds, then songs. Baby Shark. Happy Birthday. Somehow, we even ended up vocalising the keyboard riff from “Bizarre Love Triangle”  by New Order.

Between songs, Andy talked to the whales. He was actually kind of yelling at them. His snorkel voice, which sounded like a perfect blend of Mickey Mouse and an angry parrot, had me laughing so hard I nearly swallowed half the bay. But it worked. The whales twisted and turned, gliding right up to us, close enough to look them in the eye.


 

We rotated out after about 10 minutes to let others have a turn, and then managed two more rounds before heading back to the marina. It was simply next level.

Why We Travel (Even When the Photos Aren’t Perfect)

On paper, we came to Churchill for polar bears. They were the headline species, the animal that anchored the itinerary, the reason we booked this entire holiday.

 

In my book, Wanderlist Blueprint, step 1 of the wanderlist journey is discovering your travel values. For us, the sweet spot sits in the overlap of three circles: adventure, photography, and wildlife. When all three align, it’s magic.

 

Fireweed Island delivered on the wildlife and photography front: eight bears before we even landed, close encounters, clean compositions, the kind of day that looks good on a memory card.

 

But the belugas? This wasn’t our best photographic day.

 

The visibility wasn’t ideal, and we were limited to whatever we could shoot while clinging to a flimsy foam mat being dragged behind a zodiac. The images won’t win awards.

 

And yet, it was one of the best wildlife encounters of our lives (and the hardest I have laughed in recent memory).

 

The book Die with Zero talks about “memory dividends”: investing in experiences pays better long-term returns than buying things, because you can relive and reminisce about those moments. This day illustrates that perfectly. Even now, as I write this and remember singing “Baby Shark” to a beluga and Andy shouting at them in his snorkel voice, I’m laughing again. It was ridiculous, joyful, and completely unscripted.

 

The polar bears brought us to Churchill, but the belugas reminded us why we go anywhere at all. And sometimes, the best experiences aren’t measured in pixels.

Andy and Jennifer Martin

We’re Andy and Jennifer—two former corporate executives who chose long ago to prioritise experiences over stuff while pursuing our passions for travel and photography. From the Arctic to Antarctica, and most places in between, we’ve captured the world through our lenses and love sharing those stories. Our careers gave us the means, but our purpose is inspiring others to explore and helping people create images they’re proud of.

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