Chapter 5: Cody Bear and Junior

After dinner that night we went up to the main deck as usual, looking for wildlife. It was a bright, peaceful evening with just a small breeze. As it always happens with whales, we suddenly spotted a blow and a fin way off in the distance behind us. A few fellow passengers and I scanned the horizon with our binoculars. There were at least 3-4 of them, and our guide identified them as a pod of orcas. We were excited, because orcas are difficult to see in the Arctic--they're only migratory. But our ship kept progressing forward, and it soon became clear why: our crew spotted a polar bear swimming in the water near the shore dead ahead.

I wrenched myself from the rear deck and hurried toward the bow. There he was, our first bear up close, playing in the water with a sea log as if it were a pool noodle. We laughed gleefully as we watched him for nearly half an hour, grabbing the log with all four paws and using it to float in the water. He also partially climbed up a nearby rock and then launched himself backward back into the water. It was like he was performing a show for us, and yet you could tell he was simply happy, simply playing for his own amusement, playing because he could. Our expedition leader proclaimed him the most charismatic bear he had ever seen.

Cody getting out of the water for the first time

We watched him climb out of the water onto the shore, shake himself dry like a dog, then investigate various patches of snow. There was hole in the snow slightly up the slope, and we inferred he had probably created that. He flopped down in the hole and rolled onto his back, stretching his legs in all sorts of directions while grunting and snapping at the air. Again he was just having fun in the moment, for the sole purpose of enjoying life. It was at this point I named him Cody Bear, because he appeared this goofy, happy-go-lucky bear that enjoyed Svalbard to the fullest. We watched him lazily slide down the snow slope and then start walking to the left down the coast.

As we followed him down the shoreline, we saw another smaller boat approaching us. Our captain said they were following a bear too! We didn't believe them at first, thinking they were trying to swoop on our position (an unfortunately common occurrence in Svalbard). But then... we spotted a smaller bear, a male juvenile, walking in the opposite direction, toward Cody. What was going to happen?!? We waited with bated breath. As they got closer, the smaller bear picked up Cody's scent, and fearfully headed up the slope away from the shore, trying to avoid Cody. Being upwind, Cody carelessly plowed onward on his same track. We watched the smaller bear, who we named Junior, watch Cody and continue on toward the direction Cody came from, higher up on the hill. Cody seemed completely oblivious until he reached the spot where Junior diverged... then the chase was on.

Cody turned around and began following Junior's scent. Junior realized he was being followed and picked up his pace, quickly outpacing Cody. Our guides explained that energy conservation is extremely important to polar bears, because they don't know when and where their next meal will come from. Cody's swimming, and this extended chase, was abnormal behavior. But Cody kept coming. Junior looked back and saw he was still being followed, so he got into the water and started swimming across a small bay to the next piece of land. It was incredible to watch him urgently swim, his head barely visible as we maintained our distance in the ship. There was no way Cody would follow, our guides said, because it was too much energy. Yet Cody did! We watched both bears swim toward the opposite shore, astounded.

Junior reached the faraway bank and continued to walk away, slowing his pace a bit, assuming he had lost Cody. But Cody continued to make his way across the channel, and eventually turned up on the same bank. We started to become worried for Junior, because Cody was much bigger, and our guides stated this had now become a chase to the death. As Junior continued to slow down and become less perturbed, we urged him on silently. And then they both saw each other for the first time. Cody had caught up, and he saw Junior below him on the shoreline. Junior broke into a run, obviously terrified, and Cody pursued him in his same lumbering wake. We were all shocked and amped up as we watched Junior get into the water for a second time! Then Cody got there, and incredibly... followed after him! A second swim chase was on. We couldn't believe what we were witnessing.

Cody Bear pursuing Junior across the bay

It was at this point that we had to leave our two bears, because it's not allowed to follow bears in the water with a ship (for fear of disturbing them or altering their natural behavior). Before fully turning the ship around though, we lost Junior. We could still see Cody swimming in his straight line after his original direction, but couldn't find Junior. Then we spotted him crossing the larger channel, in a perpendicular direction--a long swim! We deduced he was circling around Cody and attempting to double back. Cody reached the opposite shore completely unaware, and as we turned away, we assumed Junior had successfully evaded the confrontation. Three and a half hours had passed, and it was all of a sudden past midnight. We staggered to bed, trying to sleep, processing all we had seen. We witnessed the majesty of polar bears, and their unpredictable nature. It was hard to believe we shared this Earth with such magnificent creatures. How lucky we are.