Sloop Harbour, Labrador
August 12, 2013
No story would exist
without its cast of characters and we’ve had some memorable ones on this
trip. They’re big, inquisitive, smart,
furry, white, the biggest land predator today, known as Nanuk in the Inuit
language, they are polar beaers.
It seems fitting to wrap up our cast of characters here in Sloop where we saw our first bear on this trip.
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| Sloopy – We really don’t mind seeing a bear running away! We’d never expected to see a bear this far south but with the pack ice so close it made sense. |
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| Michael Phelps – our first swimming bear. Polar Bears are classified as marine mammals and he was right at home. |
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Mrs. Schooner & cub - These 2 came down to the beach in the gloamy light of dawn. The cub got Mom to play with him, took a short nap, watched us a bit.
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Kip – We learned from Mick
& Bee that “kip” is British slang for a nap. If we’d had any idea how much kipping “Kip” would do we might’ve named her Sleepy.
Eclipse – On so many occasions we thought a rock was a
bear but this time we really thought this bear was a rock! Approaching the
anchorage in Eclipse it never moved and it was only as we got close enough to
see the black nose that we were sure.
Zodie – We saw this bear
climbing up a steep cliff on our zodiac ride up Saglek. Bears aren’t just on the out islands or close
to the open sea. They’ve been seen miles inland and at high elevations.
We saw 2 bears in the
distance. They’re “extras” and not in the running for a major part.
Monty -
Entering the off-lying island of Maindmonts we watched a large golden-white
rock in the grass uncurl itself and become a rather large male bear. Anchoring was delayed as cameras came out and
he seemed to enjoy his moment in the spotlight, climbing onto the rocks so we
could get some great shots. It also put him at a distinct height advantage!
These bears
were all great but the Oscar must go to – Clark Gable. Curious, bold, not the least disturbed by us,
quite the opposite in fact, Clark is the bear we haven’t wanted to encounter on
shore and affirmation that our decision not to hike in some of these gorgeous
places was the right one. We spotted him
as we were leaving Clark Harbour. standing on his hind legs in the water
sniffing in our direction. Maybe we were
the first yacht he’d ever seen. He
ambled onto the 30’ high cliffs in this tight anchorage and followed as we
moved slowly along. Followed – some
might say stalked. It felt like
stalking!
