First Day in the Tundra Buggies - Morning - WOW!

Today we spend 8 hours in the Tundra Buggy®. It is a specialized vehicle built by Frontiers North and now poorly copied by the other carriers up here. The copies are prettier and less functional. Our buggies are hand built by guys with cases of beer.

Not long out we hit the mother lode. We have lucked out. All operators tell you that your group is special. In this case they didn't tell us, they were telling each other. The cab of our buggy was next to the observation platform of another. Our driver, Marcus, began a conversation with a woman who works at Tundra Buggy Lodge. She is rarely allowed time off to go sightseeing. 

He told her she picked a very special day. The first sighting of the day and we find 11 or more polar bears. They have not eaten since leaving the ice in March. One has killed a seal and the feed has attracted all nearby polar bears. In his discussion with his lodge colleague and fellow driver, they used terms like "all the stars have aligned today", "it doesn't get better than this", and "you picked the perfect day to take off work."

There have been sightings of a mom plus three. Once commonplace, due to climate change factors, most females bare only one or two pubs if they bare at all. Here, in one place we have a mom plus three, mom plus two, and this mom plus one tearing apart seal skin.

This small pond and the nearby shoreline are thick with polar bears.

On the way to find a good place to park for lunch we pass Tundra Buggy Lodge. We would have stayed here but it was booked out for the season when we booked. With large community rooms with hostel-like over and under bunk beds and limited bathrooms and showers, there would have needed to be a lot of polar bears to make it enjoyable.

Not far from the lodge, we find a mother and cub. It is a good time for lunch,

Mom and cub settle down while we're having lunch. Lunch is a hot soup, sandwich, cookie, soda, and coffee/hot chocolate with Amurillo.