Ask Dave, April 21st - Churchill 2011

Ask Dave, April 21st
'Ask Dave' week ten… I get tons of questions each week, I respond as quickly as possible, and this is week number ten of answering them here too. If you have questions you can email me at Learn@DaveShumway.com.

Question:
From Pete...
Can I go with you to Churchill in the fall?

Answer:
YES you can...

I am going to Churchill with Dr. Jim Halfpenny, Professor Kayhan Ostovar, and some college students in October of 2011 to photograph Polar Bears, Snowy Owls, Arctic Fox, and more. *

I am not leading the trip, I am not being paid to go, I am actually paying to attend and paying to earn college credit on the trip (you never know when having a few extra Environmental Science credits will come in handy). The cool thing is that you can all go too.

There are thirteen spots total and a handful left open for auditors.

All of the details are on the RMC site:
http://rocky.edu/academics/programs/environmental/Churchill.shtml

Here are some of the key details:
October 12th - 18th, 2011
We will spend 4 days on the tundra, in vans, not the big, crowded, buggies.
We live at the research center, studying and photographing bears each day with lectures each evening.
Cost for RMC students is $2980
Cost for auditors is $3400 (this includes a private room en-route to Winnipeg)**
Initial deposit of $500 due April 30th. (I know that is coming soon)
Final payment due August 1st.
Travel insurance is required and can be purchased from Rocky for $13.50 (this is not trip cancellation insurance).

* (Hopefully all of them each day; but RMC and Dr. Jim Halfpenny would like to stress that polar bears are never a guarantee :)
** Auditors must also pay the standard course audit fee of $105, or $62 if you are over 60 years old.

As the RMC site says:
"RMC staff photographer and instructor of photography, Dave Shumway, will be joining the trip as a member of the class, so there will be chances for some photography instruction (when the teacher in him outshines the photographer in him)."

I really like the Naturescapes.net article about Churchill trips.