Wild Life

Mario’s Log: August 9th, 2025

The vessel approached the turn into the back side of Blanley Bay. I was distracted by the glacier, crystalline white and sparkling as the sun rolled down it’s face into the blue-green water. Focused on getting another once-in-a-lifetime picture of a surreal landscape to port, Sam taps my shoulder. “Walrus,” he says, the smile in his voice an audible thing. To the starboard, sleeping in the sun across from the glacier just 25-yards from the boat, lay twenty-two Atlantic Walruses. As they woke, one by one, their level of excitement rose and they headed into the water, agitated by this hulking metal beast cruising by. After we passed, they climbed back onto the beach. It was then that I took my first breath since Sam had tapped my shoulder and said, “Walrus.”

If Scott had told me that all he could guarantee was that I would see a small pod of walrus, but I’d have to commit to the three month trip to do it, I would have signed up. What we’ve seen, so far, is walrus, humpback, minke whales, beluga, seals, sunfish, polar bear, and musk ox. Along with my new favorite bird, the Northern Fulmar, and a host of other sea birds.

While I would love to talk about declining habitat, the reduction in sea ice, and the future implications for these animals, I am wholly unqualified to comment. Clearly this is not my grandfather’s arctic, but my mission here – if I have one – is to observe and talk about what I see. I’ll let the experts tell me what to make of it. What I know is that what I have seen so far has fascinated me.

When Sam shouted “Polar Bear” two days later, we were all a little skeptical. Sam has definitely spotted more wildlife than any of us. Perhaps he has a keener eye than any of us. Or maybe it’s because he randomly calls out animal names as he scans the horizon. His hit rate is about about 50/50. But while at anchor in Fort Ross, Sam’s polar bear was, indeed, a polar bear.

He (I’m guessing without context) laid there for hours on the patch of moss and grass and only later, when I went up to check to see if he was still there, did he walk on and over the hill behind us.

The next day, we transited Bellot Straight and made our way north into Peel Sound to try and find more bears. Another FPB, Ugly Betty, saw 30 polar bears on Prince of Wales Island so we were hoping to get lucky. We did run across dozens (over a hundred by nights-end) Beluga feeding along the shoreline of Le Feurve Inlet.

On the way out of Le Feurve in the morning, we spotted another bear walking the ridge on Prince of Wales Island. By the time I grabbed my camera, telephoto lens, and doubler, and got out on deck, he had sat down to have a look out at the water.

Far and away, the best images I captured were of Sam’s Barrel Musk Ox. In his defense, it was snowing when he spotted these beauties through his binoculars. “They’re definitely Musk Ox, they are moving!”

We’re sitting at anchor in Taloyoak now, pacing ourselves as we wait for the ice to clear out to the west of us. We’ll keep an eye out for wildlife, Sam will keep calling them as he sees them, and I’ll try and capture and share as much as I can with you.