Swimming with Polar Bears

Under Thin Ice

In the fall of 2018, I was shooting a film called Under Thin Ice for the Nature of Things on CBC. My colleague and fellow filmmaker Mario Cyr, suggested that we work together to get a shot of a polar bear swimming in the open water. As the icons of climate change, these amazing animals normally hunt on top of the ice, but climate change has forced them into the water to find food – a sevenfold increase of time in the water over the ice. Polar bears can swim 10 kph for 10 days without stopping for food or rest. A plan was hatched.
Once we found “the right bear” we would roll out of our Moosehead canoe and use it block the view of the polar bear. We were wearing a significant amount of lead weight to ensure we could escape by descending deep if we had to. When we were ready with two cameras in the water, our skilled guide Solomon Maliki backed up the boat so the bear could see our heads on the surface. They bear was quite distant, but as soon as he spotted us, he quickly turned and bolted full speed in our direction. I suppose our heads looked like seal heads bobbing on the surface. I waited with a racing heart until Mario yelled “DIVE!!!” I plunged beneath the surface trying to get a shot of the bear as it swam overhead. In the rushing tidal currents, this proved to be quite difficult.
I came home with some marvellous shots of the polar bears closing in and if you want to see the video footage, check out our film or download the app “Discover the Arctic,” which is free and available on both Android and Mac platforms.
My dear friend Amos Nachoum claims that a polar bear chased him to a depth of 60 feet. I shudder to think about that. When you see them on the surface, it is abundantly clear that their only intent is to eat you!