Has anyone actually seen live polar bears with their eyes on a polar expedition cruise (not pictures)

[ael123]

I am feeling disillusioned after joining Seabourn Venture. So far there have been polar bear sightings but in essence they pin size blobs seen only with binoculars. After reading Seabourn's marketing material I thought we would have the opportunity to be in RIB boat and actually see polar bears. Today while we were on board viewing polar bears on land that were not visible with the human eye we saw another companies RIB boats up close in the water approaching the shore and those people were actually able to be in a position to see polar bears. We were told they were violating AECO and Seabourn would never put out RIB boats with polar bears on land. The only other ship we saw in the area was Quark adventures and they are part of AECO and I don't believe they would be in violation as they are a respectable company. So I am trying to find out if anyone has ever done an arctic expedition and actually seen a polar bear with the naked eye? And if so what company was it with?  Thank you for replying. If you have not actually seen a polar bear and were on an arctic cruise what company were you with and what did you see. 

[pavementends]

1. Yes, I saw bears with the naked eye. Not very close, binoculars were better.

2. There is a considerable amount of luck involved.

3. The trip I took (not Seabourn) was careful to manage expectations.

[BasandSyb]

Yes. Twice. See the Svalbard posting on this site. Both times from the ship. We left Seabourn Venture on Thursday 20June. One bear was in the water and climbed out. I would not want to be anywhere near him when he was in the water. He was enormous. The other was a mother and cubs on land. We watched them quietly for an hour.

 

viewing was better through the camera lens or  binoculars, but I watched with and without. They move so quickly you do need binoculars when they move away, particularly the big boy.

 

Good luck. They are around. You really don’t want anyone to have to use a gun if they get too close.

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

On Venture we saw three bears in an 8 hour period in the ice cap, nothing on Svalbard.  Luck of the draw.

 

[Mrs. Claypool]

On a different cruise line going through the Northwest Passage, we went for over a week without seeing any polar bears.
 

Finally, the captain went to the elderly Inuit gentleman who was serving as our Arctic guide and ordered him to “Find us polar bears!”  So he stationed himself on the bow of the ship with a pair of binoculars and within two hours … five polar bears!

 

But I agree, it’s the luck of the draw. The only place that you can be absolutely guaranteed to see wild animals is at your local zoo.

 

 

 

[Laylam]

Yes, on Akpatok Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, and they were visible from the ship. We got an even closer view from the zodiac, We saw 9 in total, 3 adults and 6 cubs. We were on Seabourn Quest cruising from Reykjavik to Montreal. in August 2019.

 

 

 

Edited June 25 by Laylam

[highplanesdrifters]

6 hours ago, Laylam said:

We saw 9 in total, 3 adults and 6 cubs.

 

Did you play the lottery after this sighting? 😃

[kej1]

10 hours ago, Laylam said:

Yes, on Akpatok Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, and they were visible from the ship. We got an even closer view from the zodiac, We saw 9 in total, 3 adults and 6 cubs. We were on Seabourn Quest cruising from Reykjavik to Montreal. in August 2019.

 

 

 

We were on a similar cruise in Aug 2018 on Quest.  Saw bears three times in the northern Canada uninhabited islands area.  1. Up close on a zodiac. 2. Further away but decenr viewing on a zodiac, better with binoculars but could see without them.  3.  Only through a strong on board telescope and strong binoculars from the ship. I think we were lucky!  Hope you have the chance too!

[Catlover54]

The Hapag Lloyd MS Bremen bear protection guards definitely saw a polar bear back in 2018, when the bear attacked one of the guards and then got shot dead by the other guard.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44996873

 

But the best way to see bears  might be through a land-based tour.  I have a friend who did a bear tour out of the Manitoba, Canada  area this last winter, organized by a well-known "luxury" tour company.

The tour was commercially described as below, and she said the actual experience lived up to the description and then some. 

 

"Two exciting excursions in polar bear country with a naturalist guide aboard a specially designed tundra vehicle. Private, exclusive after-hours reception and dinner at the Manitoba Museum, home to a replica of the historic 17th-century ship. Private charter flights between Churchill and Winnipeg; spend three nights at a lodge in the "Polar Bear Capital" . Dog sledding demonstration and a dog sled ride Visit to the Eskimo Museum in Churchill"

 

From the "specially designed tundra vehicle", she said they saw "13 bears the first day, 30 bears the second day."  Hard to beat that on a cruise!

 If I want to see polar bears, I will go by land on this tour (though there are never guarantees).

 

Some of her land-based tour pictures :

 

 

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

A very different documentary about Polar Bears.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuisance_Bear

Edited Wednesday at 02:58 PM by highplanesdrifters