Would you like a Beluga with your Reinde

Today was a classic example of how good it can be when things don’t go to plan.

Last night, when I last wrote to you, we were in a blizzard and the boat was bouncing about. When we woke this morning the blizzard had passed and we’d moved into a fjord on the north of Spitsbergen. (I can spell fjord now - apologies to those who I tortured with the misspelling in previous blogs). It’s called Mushamna Woodfjorden. The water was calm but the temperature a balmy minus 3. Plenty of snow stacked up on the decks and low cloud.

The morning plan was to go out by zodiac and kayak to the shore and do a hike, but just before we started getting organized a polar bear was spotted. A gorgeous big male romping about the place and moving at impressive speed. Hiking and boat activity there had to be abandoned as they can swim very powerfully and take out a kayak with ease.

So we moved on. And then three Beluga Whales appeared! They looked like giant cream colored dolphins. Very hard to spot at first as they release almost no plume and mix with the floating ice. I am very grateful I carried my good binoculars all the way here. Magic.

Walking plans were shifted to after lunch. BUT who should be there to meet us at our new destination but yet another polar bear? He was particularly entertaining jumping into the ocean and wrestling with something- seal? Kelp? Fish? before clambering ashore and patrolling our walk zone. Two reindeer made an appearance at the same time but at a wise distance.

So we didn’t get off the boat today, but for good reasons. As compensation our expedition leader decided we would head north until we reached the pack ice. First we popped into a little island with a pile of walruses. They were lying on top of each other so they looked like a giant brown log with tusks.

We have just arrived at the edge of the pack ice and we are now surrounded by a mosaic of black and white. 550 nautical miles from the North Pole.

While I think of it, if you’re using the Find Penguins app I recommend you play with its very cool map function. It will show you where we have been with some excellent graphics. Also if you’re following Grants blog and wonder where he’s gone, his Wix app can’t deal with so little internet so you’ll get a deluge once we return to civilization.

The ship is full of experts who do great talks. Today we had one on Polar Bears. Did you know that the word Arctic came from the Ancient Greek Arktus which means bear? Lots of sad stuff as usual but also hope, as the polar bear is very intelligent and seems to be working out ways to adapt to the changes in its environment.

Just before we reached the pack ice we had a talk from a geologist explaining how it worked and its importance for controlling world ocean temperatures and climate. It’s a message I knew to a degree, but sitting in the middle of it has a different impact. Again, not a happy tale.

As I wrote that the ship hit a big piece of sea ice and had a good wobble in agreement.

I am so grateful to have the chance to see this remarkable phenomenon while it’s still around.

It’s now minus 4 with a belting wind. I’ve popped outside to take a pic to add to this post but think I’ll hunker down with a nice cocktail before dinner and watch the ice float past the window.

Thank you for traveling along with me - I’m enjoying your comments and feedback
XRead more