Spitsbergen
It was another glorious day of expedition out amongst the broken ice flows of Svalbard today. We woke to perfectly clear skies with no wind and plenty of great potential for sighting Arctic wildlife in the Storfjorden region east of Spitsbergen. The early risers on the ship had already enjoyed a close viewing of a swimming polar bear, so everyone was primed to get out right after breakfast and scan the ice flows for more wildlife. All parts of the ship's bow had folks out with cameras, binoculars, and spotting scopes, ready for anything. Today, the Arctic lived up to our hopes.
Our first significant sighting was a giant ice flow dotted with some fifteen Ring Seals that had heaved out for a rest. We quietly approached the ice flow and spent a half hour amongst these quiet creatures before we pushed forward again. Guillemot birds and Fulmars seemed to be everywhere out on the water and flying around the ship. Everyone went inside the lounge to watch a lecture by one of the naturalists, but just as they were sitting down for the presentation, the call was announced to come right back out and see a polar bear that was sighted from the ship's Crow's Nest. The bear was walking along the flows, and then would occasionally splash into the water to swim to the next one beyond it. We slowly approached and enjoyed the distant view of this large female bear before turning towards more open water for the second part of our day.
After lunch, we hopped in our Zodiacs for an afternoon among the loose flows of broken ice. The water was tranquil and smooth, and here we could see Little Auks swimming in the water like little rubber duckies in a bathtub. Fulmars also swooped by with their usual flap-flap-glide flying patterns as the Zodiacs slalomed and weaved between the flat chunks of ice. After the ride, we all returned back to the ship for a fantastic evening of sights from aboard the ship and lectures given by our photograph specialists on board.
It was another glorious day of expedition out amongst the broken ice flows of Svalbard today. We woke to perfectly clear skies with no wind and plenty of great potential for sighting Arctic wildlife in the Storfjorden region east of Spitsbergen. The early risers on the ship had already enjoyed a close viewing of a swimming polar bear, so everyone was primed to get out right after breakfast and scan the ice flows for more wildlife. All parts of the ship's bow had folks out with cameras, binoculars, and spotting scopes, ready for anything. Today, the Arctic lived up to our hopes.
Our first significant sighting was a giant ice flow dotted with some fifteen Ring Seals that had heaved out for a rest. We quietly approached the ice flow and spent a half hour amongst these quiet creatures before we pushed forward again. Guillemot birds and Fulmars seemed to be everywhere out on the water and flying around the ship. Everyone went inside the lounge to watch a lecture by one of the naturalists, but just as they were sitting down for the presentation, the call was announced to come right back out and see a polar bear that was sighted from the ship's Crow's Nest. The bear was walking along the flows, and then would occasionally splash into the water to swim to the next one beyond it. We slowly approached and enjoyed the distant view of this large female bear before turning towards more open water for the second part of our day.
After lunch, we hopped in our Zodiacs for an afternoon among the loose flows of broken ice. The water was tranquil and smooth, and here we could see Little Auks swimming in the water like little rubber duckies in a bathtub. Fulmars also swooped by with their usual flap-flap-glide flying patterns as the Zodiacs slalomed and weaved between the flat chunks of ice. After the ride, we all returned back to the ship for a fantastic evening of sights from aboard the ship and lectures given by our photograph specialists on board.
