How to write about an experience that is so raw and pure that it is too overwhelming to describe in words?

Lucky I am a photographer and I can try to capture my experience in images that will speak for themselves if words should fail.

We booked this trip with Big Animals Expeditions as a duo, Michael Maes (wildlife cinematographer) and I. We would be accompanied by Tom, our polar bear and safety guide and by Amos Nachoum (owner of Big Animals Expeditions), who scouted this trip the year before.

A visit to the breeding grounds of the Pagophilus groenlandicus, Harp seals close to the Magdalen Islands in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is a cold but enchanting experience.

We boarded a vessel: the ‘Manon-Yvon’, an icebreaker, and went out to the breeding grounds where the boat stayed for 3 days. Every day we could walk the ice floes and let the harp seals get used to our presence. The wind can be very harsh but once the pups look you in the eye, you forget the cold.