Travel: Going eye to eye with belugas in Churchill, Manitoba
Every summer, 55,000 belugas migrate from the Arctic Ocean to the relatively warm water of river estuaries. Standing still on my paddle board, I scan the flat, calm water in the estuary of the Churchill River.
The surface dimples and a white shape appears from the deep. Sometimes it comes alongside me, turns its beaming face upwards and momentarily looks me in the eye.
I’ve come to Churchill, Man., to see beluga whales in summer, when some 55,000 migrate from the Arctic Ocean to the relatively warm water of river estuaries like this one on the west coast of Hudson Bay.
It’s the single biggest population of beluga whales in the world, yet the allure for visitors, I soon discover, is not the possibility of seeing many belugas, but making soulful connections with a few.
Author's summary: Witnessing beluga whales in Churchill, Manitoba.