“Nobody who has lived to prove it,” was one response I got when I asked on Facebook if anyone had ever gone swimming with beluga whales. Another reply: “I’m figuring you’d need a really crazy dry suit for that. They’re super cold water ghosts, yeah?”

One friend said his family had a sleepover with belugas at Vancouver, BC’s Vancouver Aquarium. They preferred to stay on the dry side of the glass, but I’d heard that if I wanted a more up-close-and-personal experience, I should get on Google Earth and check out Churchill, MB.

I’ve always associated this frigid frontier seaport with a less cuddly species of wildlife—the polar bear. But these days Churchill is recognized as the best beluga-watching spot in the world.

Every summer, thousands of these graceful, inquisitive, snow-white whales migrate from the Arctic to bask in the relatively balmy waters (we’re talking a few degrees above freezing, so you’ll need a “really crazy dry suit for this, yeah?”)  around Churchill.

There are tour companies like Sea North Tours, Lazy Bear Lodge and Seal River Heritage Lodge that offer guided snorkelling adventures. Anyone with strength enough to climb out of a boat can experience what it feels like to float between a baby beluga and her blubbery mama, to become part cold-water ghost, being towed slowly by the feet behind a Zodiac, serenaded by whale song, a symphony of other-worldly sounds.
http://travelmanitoba.com/