Port Leopold & Prince Leopold Island

The weather has finally turned. Today we woke to overcast skies, rain and temperatures befitting a freezer - 1 degree, lower with wind chill. It was raining but more like fine hail. It’s the Arctic after all. Strangely, fewer people did today’s landings- given that most on board are either from the UK or Europe, you’d think that they would be use to these conditions. Joyce informed me that it was the rain that convinced her to stay on board - not much fun being in the rain apparently. The first group of kayakers certainly did it tough out on the water as the wind increased and they had to deal with the‘stinging hail’ in their faces. The wind made it too difficult so the second kayaking group was cancelled. The landing was also more difficult because of the weather. The slope up from the landing site became icy and trudging between the artefacts also became harder as they were some distance apart. Although guests were given 70 minutes on shore, most returned early. However, some intrepid souls did both the kayaking and the landing.
In the afternoon, the captain did a sail by of the cliffs on Prince Leopold Island as there are hundreds of thousands of birds nesting here. The weather was vaguely better - no rain just mist. The cliffs were certainly magnificent and we did see several different types of birds. However, the constant jostling for position on the deck finally drove me inside plus my little inside shoes (which are great inside and on dry decks) were soaking up water from the water on deck.
Dinner was an Italian buffet/feast where we all over indulged. There are certainly no complaints regarding the quality of the meals on board. After dinner and our evening briefing, there was a ‘name the song and movie’ competition on deck ten. We didn’t win but we did get the prize for the best group name - white dot = polar bear.Read more