Polar Bears !

"It just keeps getting better" were the words so many guests spoke today.

But seriously - how does one improve on the improvement one has just had? An improvement which, incidentally, was an improvement on the improvement just before that? It sounds impossible, unbelievable, even. It's an Ed Moses winning streak "esque" scenario.

Put that on a loop, and it's what guests come to expect from an expedition on Seabourn Venture - every day.

Deep inside the Arctic Circle, where guests are almost captive to one of the planet's greatest and most remote wilderness locations, such a scenario is not difficult to imagine. Here is the convergence of land masses and islands, all within a stone's throw of the North Pole. The ice cap of Greenland thaws just enough during the summer months to allow expedition ships to explore and discover.

But even on an expedition voyage into this area, one also needs some luck and plenty of it. This is especially true for sightings of polar bears, shy whales or the ever-elusive narwhal. Last night, as the Arctic sun moved towards midnight and paused for those few hours of majestic golden light, the call came through: "Bears in the distance! Bears in the distance!" And not just one bear, but two.

Seabourn Venture's bow decks were almost instantaneously bustling, all populated with camera and binocular-wielding guests. Some risked it more than others, wearing just the clothes they had taken themselves to bed in. That shows commitment to improvement. And so it should be.

A show began to play itself out as Seabourn Venture expertly moved closer to the ice shelf, getting closer and closer to what now became four bears. And then five.

A mother and her two well-grown cubs headlined the show with an inquisitive and decisive interest in the ship's presence. Standing on their hind legs, they looked like polar bears guests may only have previously witnessed in the "Planet Earth" documentaries, the simultaneous pronouncement of their elongated necks craning left to right and snouts in the air. The ship was close enough for guests to see the expansion of their chests as they inhaled for a more precise scent.

Then, like any good show, came the drama. From around a mile away, a huge male bear had shown interest, not so much in the ship but more so in the aforementioned three. It is common for male polar bears to eliminate competition by attacking and killing cubs. What was to happen today? With a collective holding of breaths and a subsequent sigh of relief, guests witnessed how the mother and her cubs caught sight of the charging male and decided to run for open ice in precisely the opposite direction. They managed to get away.

And all this unfolded directly in front of guests. No one was in the cheap seats. Watching the scene through binoculars brought it so close that one could see the bristles on the faces and even the reactions in the eyes of these bears.

While guests sipped coffees and hot chocolates, they watched the bears into the early hours until, eventually, the Captain had to make the call for Seabourn Venture to return to its scheduled course. It had been an incredible "start" to a day.

So, let's be realistic; taking this experience up a notch will be hard. Surely it can't get better? Or can it?

Text and photos by Riaan Manser.En savoir plus