During the late winter in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence another of natures amazing events occurs. Nearly a half million harp seals bear their young on vast floating linefeeds just west of the quaint and picturesque Magdalen Islands. These harp seals come from thousands of miles to these ice flows and photographers and wildlife enthusiast do the same for a chance to witness this incredible event.

The baby harp seals, known as "whitecoats" are adorable. Weighing about 20 pounds at birth the babies gain about 5 pounds a day feeding on their mothers rich milk. Different groups will have baby seals in various degrees of development from yellowish newborns to unbelievably fat youngsters about to weaned. With care you can get extremely close to the pups enabling you to fully explore the endless photographic opportunities they offer.

Meanwhile in the same area another species of seal gives birth and whelps their pups on the ice pans. The little known and rarely photographed hooded seal will be the other primary objective of our photographic expedition. Mid March is the peak birthing period of the hooded seal. The pups are about twice as large as a harp seal pup or about 45 pounds. They feed on their mothers rich milk for only 4 days gaining about 11 pounds a day. This is the shortest nursing period of any mammal. Its mother constantly attends the pup so the possibility of mother and pup interactions is high. The baby hooded seals called "bluebacks" are striking. With a lustrous dark blue back, crimson eye ring, and a creamy white belly some consider them the most beautiful of all seal pups.

The large 1000-pound males will also be in attendance. They have a shiny gray coat with patches of black. They’re remarkable nose makes them great photographic subjects. A huge bladder on top of his head is inflated followed by the inflation of a nasal bladder that’s orange red in color. Truly the territorial display of these male seals is one of nature’s most unusual displays.

Our group will stay in first class lodging with 5 star dining and helicopter flights out to the ice pans daily. We’ll be spending ample time with the seals allowing you to explore the photographic potential completely. Full expedition suits will be provided for our trips on the ice.

Itinerary

Day 1

We meet in a Halifax hotel for dinner and orientation. Overnight in Halifax.

Day 2

Fly to the Magdalen Islands, we’ll be transferred to the Chateau Madelinot our base of operations for the expedition. We’ll meet for a discussion about ice safety, photographic etiquette, photographic techniques and seal biology. We’ll also visit the Seal Interoperation Center.

Day 3

We travel to the ice flows for our first session with the harp seals. We’ll spend about 6 hours with the seals. A warming hut will be available for our group.

Day 4

Another day with the harp seals similar to yesterday.

Day 5

Today will be our first attempt to photograph the hooded seals. Our experienced helicopter pilot knows where to find them and will search the likely areas until we find a promising area. Again we’ll spend six hours photographing the seals.

Day 6

Our second day with the hooded seals and it will be very much like yesterday.

Day 7

We leave this day open. If some of our helicopter flights to the ice were canceled or shortened by weather conditions we’ll make up for what time we missed. If we have completed all of our scheduled helicopter trips we can take an island tour or perhaps even another helicopter flight back out to the ice pack to photograph the seals yet another time at the participant’s expense. Evening flight to Halifax.

Day 8

Participants depart for home.