Featured Image Credit: Nancy Zydler
By Kira Krall
Four Americans, who were sailing from Georgia to the icy waters of Labrador, Canada, were relaxing in their bunks one night, when they heard bubbles stirring up against the hull of their cabin. The vessel swayed back and forth and then the bubbles were quickly accompanied by a scratching sound and heavy rocking. Fearing a run-in with ice, one of the crew members sprinted to the deck and came face-to-face with one of the largest carnivorous mammals on Earth.
The Zydlers have been on five previous trips to the Canadian coast with their sailboat and it was not uncommon to see polar bears in the water. After Nancy Zydler’s husband confirmed a bear was on the boat, they decided the best plan of action was to make a lot of noise. The other couple that was traveling with them joined them on the deck and began banging pots and pans together, waving their arms, and blasting air horns in an attempt to scare the bear away. During the cacophony, they all noticed the bear’s cub swimming in the water nearby.
After making as much noise as humanly possible, they finally scared the bears away but not after leaving the crew unsettled and shaken up. Polar bears are huge and they are also naturally very curious. That curiosity can be deadly when an animal is 7 feet long and weighs over 700 pounds.
The crew may have been concerned with the damage done to their sailboat, but they understood that running into large predators is a real risk when exploring the wilderness. Nancy Zydler urges people, especially those looking to travel the seas, to be very careful in the untamed wild.
Read more about the experience from our source here.