Churchill or Bust!

I thought since “Life On Manitoulin” had mentioned she wanted to visit Churchill someday that I would put a little blurb up here.

First of all you have to decide which you want to see, beluga whales or polar bears. The big season for the white whales is August while prime polar bear time is now running from late October into November. There is of course a good chance of seeing the bears at any time of the year but the beluga are limited to the summer months. Without a bit of stretching the truth I happened to go for a walk one evening in August of 2005 and there were hundreds of them popping up to breath as far as I could see up the river. At any one time there had to be at least 50 spouts visible on the water. I never saw that many at one time again but you could always see a dozen or so around the beach behind the hospital and elsewhere along the coast. One great way to see them is to take one of the many tours offered by "Sea North Tours." If you are at all interested in history take their “Beluga and Fort Tour” which will take you across the river to Prince of Whales Fort and either on the way over or way back (or both) you cruise along in the boat with the whales swimming right along side you. Again, you may or may not see a bear and you just take your chances on that.

If you want to see polar bears then the main time is when the ice is starting to form in late October and early November. The old timers tell me that this is getting later every year as the seasons are getting warmer. I was reading somewhere recently that the bears are now actually getting about one month less time to hunt seals than they used to. This is also making them hungrier and more impatient while roaming up and down the coast so when you see one of the many warning signs… BELIEVE IT!

I personally know of one guy last summer who went past the sign behind the hospital to get a closer look at the whales and when he looked up the beach there was a bear ambling towards him! John was smart enough not run but just backed away slowly and made his way to the back door of the hospital… which was locked. It’s OK, he made it around to the front and got inside but if that bear had been very hungry the ending may well have been different. Best way to see bears? Book at tour with “Tundra Buggy Adventures,” You’ll be warm and safe and still see the bears from just a few feet away.

Normally I’m just passing through Churchill but one time I was there for a few weeks and flew up on a Calm Air Saab 340 and took the train out. I really enjoyed the train as I got a single roomette for the two night journey to Winnipeg. It’s got a very comfortable seat with a great view out your window, a sink that folds down from the wall, your own private toilet and a bed that rolls out of the wall. I must say getting in and out of the bed was a little tricky as when it is pulled out there is absolutely no floor space to stand on while getting in. (Did I mention these roomettes are small?) Anyway, I found the best way was to slide the bed half way out, get up onto it, and then grab the window frame and pull it the rest of the way out and lock into place.

There is a community shower (very clean) at the end of your car and you can wander down to the lounge / dining car to relax, chat with your travelling companions or have a quiet drink. Oh, I shared the dinner table one night with a nice old couple from the Waterloo area who are retired and spend part of their summers “riding the rail” and seeing different parts of the country. They were going to be driving back to Waterloo from Winnipeg and were of course driving through Manitoulin on the way in order to save some miles by taking the Chi-Cheemaun and also to stop at 3 Cows and a Cone for some delicious Farquars Ice Cream!

Another point about the community is that Churchill is a major seaport. It regularly has huge ocean freighters in port loading up with wheat that arrives in town by train. There were two from China in town loading while I was there.

Churchill was also the location of Canada’s only space port, the remains of which are still there. At one time there were plans to build a huge operation that would have rivalled Cape Canaveral and many rockets were actually fired from this location.

If you are into Northern Lights then this is the right place for you, in the winter of course. There is one building way out away from any lights with glass domes on top so you can sit back nice and warm with your hot cocoa and watch the show going on above you.

All in all, Churchill is a great place to visit and I definitely want to get back there some day for at least a week. To tell you the truth if I’d been posted there with Northern Stores years ago I would have never left… but then I wouldn’t have discovered Manitoulin, which would have been a tragedy!

Here's a few more Churchill photos if you're interested.