Today was my last day on Buggy One. We had a really good day with sparring bears, sunlight and special guest Chantal Kreviazuk. She came up for the day because she’s really interested in helping spread the word on climate change and helping with PBI. After our day we drove Buggy One back to launch which takes around an hour and a half so that it could undergo maintenance before they head out to Cape for two weeks. It was a really good feeling stepping foot back onto ground after not touching it for so long, of course right afterwards I slipped on some ice outside!

Today it snowed for most of the day and was overcast, but there was a lot of bears around the lodge! This morning we had a polycom conference with Cesar Ruano’s class (Cesar took part in PBI’s Leadership Camp this last year) and there were alot of great questions and we were able to switch over to a bear outside to show them a little bit of what it’s like out here. There were two bears sparring near the end of the day and Dancer (a really big male bear that comes to the lodge area every year) was outside this morning -

This afternoon we had a South Korean film crew coming in to see what Buggy One was all about. Right now Dancer and another big male bear are looking ready to spar outside my window and are making really loud hissing noises.

Below is a photo of a small bear and its tracks that came to investigate the buggy this morning.

Had another Polycom videoconference with elementary and high school students today. CBC came in a filmed the elementary school conference from both sides. This afternoon there was quite a bit of snow falling and the wind was howling! It seems to have settled down now but it’s still on the cold side. Lots of sleeping bears again today and we saw another mom and cubs today and the cubs were alot bigger than the previous set which was good to see.

Snapped the picture above when a bear came up to investigate the camera jib. There were alot of bears around yesterday, but they seemed to had tired themselves out with all the sparring the day before, so most of them were sleeping. Looks like on Tuesday we’re filming a panel discussion using my camera and the polycom for CNN. Dr. Amstrup will be part of the panel with the rest of the panel being in New York. Also we had two really big males outside the lodge earlier.

There were so many bears out here today, it seems that their all finely congregrating to go out on the ice. There were bears sparring and at one point there was at least 8 bears in one area by the lodge. Here are some pictures that I took from my video.

Above is an image ripped from my video of the biggest bear I’ve seen yet with his face pressed right up to the basement window! It was probably one of the best experiences so far. We had a packed day today, filled with bears, web conferencing and wind. We had three different conferences with schools in the USA. It still seems pretty bizarre that you can be talking to and seeing people that are thousands of miles away, while your in the middle of the tundra! Saw the mom and two cubs again today and at one point there were three bears in one spot, and it really looked like they were going to spar.

Today we had a really good day! Started off with a mom and cub and lots of bears everywhere. Then at 1:00pm we had a live video conference airing on National Geographic’s website where the three scientists answered questions asked of them by people who are part of NG’s forum. Afterwards we saw a mom and two cubs and then drove out to where a caribou had fallen through the ice and the bears had got it.
It was also really windy and snowy for part of the day but also sunny this morning.

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday we saw a mom and cub which was super cool. We also saw a bear break through the slushy ice on the bay and then swim for a really long time, all the time trying to get back up on the ice. Today was less busy as our day’s coming up. Tomorrow we have a live Q & A with National Geographic and the three scientists on board (Dr. Andy Derocher, Dr. Steve Amstrup, and Dr. Don Moore) as well as a live Polycom conference with Australia tomorrow night. Yesterday we also had a Japanese TV crew on board interviewing Andy about how the bears have been affected already by climate change.
Today we saw the mom and cub again and saw a mom and two cubs off in the distance as well as quite a few big bears. The picture above is of a bear that came by the lodge last night.