This gallery contains 11 photos.
The ship had continued its journey North – we were now about 30km North from the polar bear sighting yesterday in the Palanderbukta (Palander Bay – named after a Swedish admiral and Arctic explorer). The fog had lifted, so visibility … Continue reading
Fog had been our companion all day after the aborted shore landing in the morning. The expedition and bridge teams eventually decided to continue North – to make it up to Nordaustlandet … a trip of ~130km that took us all afternoon.
Our destination here was Torellneset – a bay where walruses were to be expected. The plan now was to make use of the midnight sun and have a zodiac cruise in the late evening – after dinner – to (ideally) get a glimpse of the animals. Zodiac groups were swapped this time, so the ones who did not get ashore in the morning were now allowed out first.
While dinner was pulled in by an hour (now starting at 18:00), it still turned out a bit hectic for folks to be ready in time for the cruise. I ended up in the ship’s smaller specialty restaurant tonight, indulging on Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine – and as I now was in the second group to go, there was plenty of time to enjoy the food and drink.
The time came – and it was out and onto a zodiac. As we made our way through the fog we eventually could see the outlines of the small walrus colony – and a white dot a few hundred meters from it … that white dot was polar bear – indulging on his (or her?) dinner … possibly a serving of walrus (no cilantro here). We could not believe our luck – what a great day!
This gallery contains 14 photos.
This morning was greeting us with thick fog once more. Over night we had made the 440km from Bjørnøya and were now in Svalbard proper, sitting in front of a barely visible Barentsøya (or Barents Islands). Fog directly translates to … Continue reading
After another insomniac night we had reached a foggy Bear Island (or Bjørnøya). The ship had stopped near a natural harbor just South-East of the island (74°21.4’ N
19°11.7’ E) – and the zodiacs were let to water the first time for this trip for a zodiac cruise around the harbor – to get a close-up view of the high cliffs, old red rock face – and its avian inhabitants (various kinds of both guillemots and gulls, as well as puffins).
Several lectures were offered in the afternoon, as we continued our journey North.
