Sunset Kayaking with Beluga Whales
Sunset Kayaking with Beluga Whales - Sea North Tours
Everyone knows Churchill for the polar bears. But did you know that beluga whales are the star attraction in summer? Beluga whales make their way from the cool arctic waters to bays and estuaries to feed and give birth. Approximately 4,000 beluga whales come to the Churchill river because of this. Between July and August you can spot beluga whales by the hundreds.
Before coming to Churchill, I had no idea how many beluga whales we would see. I’ve been on a ferry in Alaska and was lucky to see a humpback whale splash out of the water and gracefully flip its tail back in. Chris and I traveled to South Africa and took a tour to see the southern right whale, where we were gleeful as we saw three of them swim around our boat. And one of our favourite experiences EVER was shark diving in South Africa, where we saw great white sharks (approx. 3 or 4) up close and personal but in the safety of a cage. We have seen a few animals in the water, in the wild, and each time it was magical. But in Churchill, I was astonished by the sheer amount of beluga whales I could see at one moment. Here’s what I mean: I was standing by the beach looking out into the Hudson Bay, it was a warm summer day, just a little breezy but not windy. The dialogue in my head went like this: “It’s a calm day, why are there so many white caps out there?” I squint to see better and try to look closer… “Wait a minute, those are not white caps… those are beluga whales!”
Best Time to See Beluga Whales
There is a window from the middle of July to the middle of August to see beluga whales. They start coming in June and leave at the end of August to early September. We ended up going at the end of August and we were extremely happy with all the beluga whales we saw.
Best Ways to See Beluga Whales
Sunset Kayak with Beluga Whales - Adventure of a Lifetime
There are a few ways to see beluga whales: passenger boat, zodiac, kayak, and standup paddle boarding (SUP). All sound fantastic and depending on your family, any choice is going to be amazing. There’s no wrong answer here! For our family we decided to try two ways. Chris and I kayaked with the beluga whales and then our family, along with grandparents and friends, went on the passenger boat. Before going we knew that kayaking would not work for our kids, they were too young for this adventure (need to be 8 or older). We were fine with it, sometimes it’s nice to get away and just be a couple on an adventure together. Conveniently we were able to leave our kids with their grandparents.
What Tour Company to Choose
There are a few tour companies you can go with. For us we knew we wanted to go with Sea North Tours because they are highly spoken of. Their top priority is the safety of the beluga whales. Their website says “Churchill’s only beluga whale friendly company.” They are committed to having boats that do not hurt or kill beluga whales with propellers, so they either have guards on their propellers or use a jet drive. We are thankful for tour companies like Sea North Tours to have the philosophy of respectful practices.
Getting Ready to Kayak with the Belugas
We met at Sea North Tours building (right across from where we were staying) and then took a shuttle to the port where we were outfitted with lifejackets, kayaks, and paddles. They gave a short demonstration of how to kayak so if you are a novice kayaker, you should be able to figure it out. You don’t need to go far or fast to see beluga whales. Also if you are new to kayaking they also have a Zodiac boat that accompanies the group. If you need anything- they will help you. We weren’t sure if we wanted to each have our own kayak or take a tandem but in the end, we opted for the tandem kayak and we were so happy we did. Chris kayaked us around while I snapped all the photos.
The Zodiac accompanied our kayak group as we kayaked the estuary
What to Wear
Lots of layers, waterproof clothing, buff to cover ears, hat and sunglasses
It really depends on the weather. But no matter what, layering is always a good idea. Thin base layers such as merino wool to wick away sweat, fleece to keep you warm (easy to take on and off depending on how warm or cold you are) and waterproof outer layer. Since it was the end of August, the weather was getting cooler but the day we went was a beautiful sunny warm day of about 20 degrees celsius. Kayaking you can get a little wet so we wore waterproof pants (I also wore merino wool pants underneath) and rain jackets (and I wore a merino wool shirt and fleece as well). I was way too warm when we started but by the time we were getting off the water I was glad to have the warmth. We also brought a thin pair of mittens but didn’t end up wearing them or needing them. Bring a hat and/or sunglasses if it’s sunny out.
Splash, Knock and Sing
What a thrilling experience; kayaking in the estuary of Hudson Bay while beluga whales swam around us. Beluga whales are curious gentle creatures. Prior to embarking on our kayaking adventure, our guides informed us that, in order to attract beluga whales, we should make noise. Creating some noise will make them curious and they will come and check it out. They told us we can gently slap the water with our paddles, knock the side of our kayaks and sing. What was the song of choice? Well if you are a Canadian and listened to Raffi when you were young, you know what song I sang. On repeat, I sang “Baby Beluga.” If you are not familiar with this song, please take a listen to this great Canadian treasure of a song!
Check out this baby beluga! Swimming close by mum. Baby belugas are grey.
Playful Pods
Kayak tours are scheduled during low tide, therefore at the time, our kayak tour started around 6:30pm and we were out of the water around 8:30 pm. We spent two hours kayaking around, spotting beluga whales everywhere and enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the water. It didn’t take us long to kayak into the estuary and see beluga whales. Not too far off in the distance we saw a pod popping out, so we raced towards it but they were gone in an instant. With the advice of our guides, we sped off in another direction, slapped our paddles on the water and continued to kayak and wait for them to emerge again. And they did. Many times over.
Sometimes they would tease us and we would only see air bubbles floating to the top of the water. Other times a pod would swim up to the surface, coming in our direction and then deep dive down down down. Where did they go? They would pop up far off in the distance. Some playful pods would swim around us and get very close. They would glide right under the kayak and we could feel their air bubbles under us. They came so close that they would gently bump up against the kayak to say hi and then swim away. They did this over and over again. I think I squealed a few times because I was so delighted and was a little terrified they would tip us over. BUT, they are gentle mammals and did not try to tip us out of our kayak, they were just curious. And they really liked the back of the kayak and would pop up, nudge the kayak in the back and be off again. I think they liked the wake from the kayaks.
These curious playful pods were a delight. It was an amazing experience to be kayaking with so many beluga whales. We were constantly pointing out beluga whales and kayaking all over the estuary. We were blown away with how playful they were and had no idea there would be so many. It was a pleasant surprise and an amazing adventure on the water.
