Polar Bear Bait
Swimming with Polar Bears: Part Two
Last week, I spun you a tale of poetic adventure—photographing a polar bear beneath the Arctic waves. I carefully chose each word, hoping to ignite your imagination and carry you into the stark beauty of Canada’s north. But let’s set the poetry aside. This week, you’re getting the backstory: the raw, unvarnished reality of wildlife filmmaking.
Working on a program for CBC’s The Nature of Things was a dream come true. I’d grown up watching David Suzuki’s gentle, warm face on TV, his voice whisking me off to far-flung places I never thought I’d see. He’s Canada’s David Attenborough—though maybe with fewer button-down collars and more flannel.
But dreams come with details, and details come with complications. My first problem was the camera, an unfamiliar one with lots of menus—like a choose-your-own-adventure book designed to make you regret every choice. That meant I needed the right scuba mask to actually read the display. As a bifocal wearer, I had a brilliant plan: sacrifice my distance vision entirely. I’d slap some +3.0 readers into the mask, top to bottom. Forget the world beyond arm’s reach. This way, I could see my gauges and the camera monitor without dislocating my neck. Genius, right?
So there I was, rolling off the boat into the icy water, adjusting the focus on the new camera system. Mario, my diving partner, bobbed beside me like a seal who’d had too much espresso. “Let’s do this!” he yelled, as Solomon, our Inuit guide, backed up the canoe. The game was on.
The bear, a hulking beast of muscle and malice, zeroed in on us. He surged through the water at 10 kilometres an hour, a bullet of teeth and fur. My distance vision was a blurry mess, but I didn’t need it to know he was closing in. Mario shouted the command: “DIVE!” We sank fast, weighed down by belts heavy enough to anchor a small boat.
I pointed the camera upward, framing the bear in the lens. He paused, massive paws suspended for a moment, then dove. But buoyancy got the better of him, and he popped back to the surface like a cork.
That’s when the current grabbed me. It tugged me under the ice, dragging me away from the boat. Panic pressed against my ribs. I knew better than to surface near the ice edge. I kicked and clawed my way against the pull, my legs burning, the housing in my hands as unwieldy as an anvil. Finally, the rev of the engine signalled the all-clear. I surfaced, gasping, 100 meters from the boat.
Relief washed over me. The ordeal was over. Or so I thought.
“There’s Jill,” I heard Solomon call from the canoe. “She’s ready for another bear!”
Ready? I was anything but. My lungs heaved, my vision blurred. Somewhere out there, 1,000 pounds of apex predator was swimming toward me, jaws open, eyes hungry. This time, I didn’t wait for Mario’s shout. I folded at the waist and dove, my body slicing into the depths like a desperate arrow.
The wait felt eternal. Suspended in the freezing blue, I considered my options. What if I ran out of air? What if I couldn’t equalize? What if I needed more weight to stay down? My thoughts ran in circles, each worse than the last.
When the engine finally roared again, I surfaced. This time, they pulled me onto the canoe without delay. We had our shot—the footage we’d come for. But as I sat there shivering, the bear gone, the water still, one thing was certain.
I’ll dive caves again. I’ll swim with sharks. But this? Facing down polar bears in the wild? That might be one dream I don’t need to repeat.
Hello and Happy 2025 to all. We wish you Peace, Love, and Adventures!
Jill and I are turning things down a few notches through January - in Portugal for a short Algarve holiday. Jill is shooting images just for fun - something she doesn’t get to do as often as she would like. There are flocks of Flamingoes here!
And the food…oh, the food! If I have to enjoy only one last meal on this earth, let me have it in Portugal.
Above: Our first stop in Lisbon is always at “Honest Greens” - one of our favorite restaurants on the planet. I am ready to dig in but Jill had me wait until she captured the picture.
Over on the eastern edge of Portugal, at the Spanish border at Vila Real de Santo Antonio, one of the hidden secrets of foodie culture - “VeGood”, a vegan cafe with great vibes and better dishes.
Above: Pink! Cauliflower soup.
Above: Baba Ganoush, Beet dip, and hummus.
Above: Zucchini Carpaccio
And now… a short, sleep-deprived mobile podcast recorded as we packed for our trip:
Yayks! Sounds terrifying! The photos are amazing but I don’t blame you when you say no need for a repeat! Also yumm! Making baba ghanoush today! Enjoy!