More Belugas

The morning started off with a lazy start. With no tour in the morning, and stores opening at 10am, we were able to relax. There was some debate on weather and trying to figure out the rest of our stay. Finally we booked our final tour and just wandered through some stores.

Northern Images
One of the stores you can spend some time browsing is Northern Images. Featuring Inuit and Dene art, it is a co-op that pays their members a fair price for their art. My main purchase was a kick-ass and fully functional ulu!

My break as a Model
Picking up a quick bite at Gypsy's I ended up running into a former University friend. (Of all places!) Turns out that she works for Travel Manitoba and that she's been living the good Churchill life, experiencing all the Churchill fun on her organization's tab!

The job involved shooting and filming Churchill for Travel Manitoba, and finding models had been a challenge. So understanding her struggles - as a fellow Marketing grad - I volunteered to play a prop in the Eskimo Museum. So if you happen to see a Churchill video or advert and you see someone who you think looks like me, odds are it will be! It was a quirky fun thing to do that killed some time before the next adventure.

Kayaking
I love kayaking. Being on the water is so peaceful and relaxing. The steady pace of the paddle, being the master of your fate by choosing where to go, the possibilities are endless. (Well, depending on currents and tides.)

The belugas brought kayaking to a whole other level.

Belugas love to swim with kayaks. Once you find a pod - or a pod finds you - they literally hover under water, watching and swimming next to you. They also love it when you move, as they like to hang out at the back, enjoying the bubbles. There they'll slow turn on their back, belly up, almost waving at you with their fins.

There were several times where we had over half a dozen whales next to us, behind us, and diving under us. If you're lucky they'll also bump the underside of your kayak. For us we got a little nudge on our rudder.

It was an incredible experience that I would recommend to anyone. You actually felt like you were with the whales.

Don't order the steak
Tonight's meal was our freebie at the Lazy Bear Lodge, as part of our package. I was excited to try either caribou or musk ox, but sadly both were not available. With a slab of meat on my mind I went to the third choice - steak.

I like my steak cooked slightly more than rare. My steak was medium to well done. Total fail. Mom had the arctic char with cranberries and other bits, so with presentation alone it seemed like a better choice.

While we haven't tried the more common dishes, I have a hard time recommending any upper end dishes considering the price. And to boot, they don't serve alcohol! The milkshakes weren't bad though.