Storfjorden Region
Nine-year-old Evie – like many of the 145 guests aboard National Geographic Explorer this week —bolted out of bed at 5:30 a.m. this morning and scrambled into layers of warm clothes. Since Evie comes from Texas, she was putting on more layers, she said, than she ever had in her life.
This was no onboard emergency, but something just as significant to the Lindblad Expeditions guests exploring these Arctic waters… a polar bear just 90 feet from the ship. “I got a picture of him with his tongue out,” said Evie proudly. She’s here with her grandparents, and was using a camera loaned by her grandfather, William, an accomplished photographer.
What a Fourth of July celebration! We had burgers, fries and potato salad for lunch, and sausages and beer served on the ship’s back sundeck later in the afternoon. We learned about Svalbard geology and ice forms from onboard geologist Jason Kelly. We listened to National Geographic Photographer Chris Rainier describe his work for the Society. But what we really “feasted” on during this day devoted to exploring in the pack ice were the five polar bears we saw – swimming, eating a seal, and lolling on an ice floe on a spectacularly beautiful sunny day in the Storfjorden Region, the body of water separating Spitsbergen in the west from Barentsoya and Edjoya to the east.
Yes, we’re only on day two of our Arctic expedition cruise and we’ve already seen six bears! “Very cool,” said Evie, the youngest on board who declared she wasn’t a “girlie girl” and therefore not “grossed out” by the seal’s blood in the white snow after the polar bear was done with its dinner. Our last polar bear of the day enjoyed dinner as we watched, oblivious to the audience. Birds swooped in for the leftovers. What an amazing sight!
Evie declared—as did other guests on board —that she didn’t mind getting up at 5:30 a.m. on vacation to shiver in the cold, not when she could see a polar bear (her favorite animal) so close in the wild. Some of Evie’s terrific photos from today accompany this report. She was helped by Lindblad & National Geographic Photo Instructor CT Ticknor who aims to engage children and teens on board by using their cameras and their imaginations to create stories to share with others. “Everyone sees something different in an image,” Ticknor told Evie and 12-year-old Henry later in the day. “That is the magic.”
And that is the magic of this Expedition because each of us—and we range from age nine to 86— is experiencing this pristine wilderness in his or her own way, whether on deck with a long camera lens, in the open bridge with binoculars, sitting in the sunshine on the deck, or chatting with the staff and crew.
“It takes a lot of waiting and a lot of patience,” Evie acknowledged. The bears don’t pop out on cue. They may dive into the water behind an iceberg just when we’ve got our cameras ready. They may appear when we’re in the shower.
But that unpredictability adds to the adventure. “I’m having a lot of fun,” Evie said. “I’ve been telling my grandparents thank you a lot.
We’re all thankful to be here, I tell her – a Fourth of July none of us will ever forget.
SPECIAL NOTE: We’re pleased to welcome syndicated columnist & creator of www.takingthekids.com, Eileen Ogintz, on board National Geographic Explorer this week. She teamed up with nine-year-old Evie, the youngest guest on board, for today’s Daily Expedition Report. This is the first time both have visited the Arctic.
