Icebergs at last! (day 7, 6-15-12)

Hey Everybody,

I'm getting an early start on this tonight....it's not quite 11pm. I came down to my room around 9:30pm to wash a few items of clothing in the sink and decided to stay here in this quite spot and catch you up with the day's activities.

We had two zodiac excursions today. The first to a mining camp at Ny-London, which was walking or hiking only because there wasn't much snow. Ny-London has "marble" that has metamorphosed from old limestone. But it turns out it cannot be mined because it breaks so easily.

The second stop - a massive glacier (Lilliehook) was the highlight of my day and far too short, but we have roughly 18 hours at sea before we get to our next stop, which is often referred to as a "polar bear highway". I'll let you know if we find any out there. Hope so!

During the first excursion at the old mining camp we had our closest viewing opportunity so far for reindeer. And at the second zodiac outing we had our best opportunity yet to see a Bearded Seal. We were so close we could see the curl of his whiskers!

But the ice was the star of the show! For those of you who eat (or remember) Rice Krispies cereal that's the easiest way to describe how the ice sounds. We were surrounded by ice and the sound is constant. It gets a little louder after the glacier calves because the fallen piece creates a wave that then triggers the ice.

This big blue iceberg is what I've been so eager to see. We've mostly been limited to seeing them in the distance if we see them at all. Not today! This afternoon the ship cruised 28 miles into the fjord before we hopped on the zodiacs to get a closer look. The glacier itself has about a 3.5-4mi semi-circular front.

How cool is this iceberg?!!!!!

One lone zodiac in front of the glacier....and not as close as it seems.

We saw no bears, but did spot several Minke Whales. This is an area that Beluga Whales sometimes frequent, but we saw none today. Of course we were distracted by blue ice, calving, and a bearded seal....and belugas tend to stay near the shoreline to rub themselves on the land. We just weren't watching.

It was so warm today....nearly 6* Celsius later in the day. We didn't need parkas, hats or gloves for walking. Even the afternoon zodiac trip was warm. Speaking of Celsius.....I really need to brush upon my conversions! I can manage well enough in the metric world, but it still feels like a foreign language. I think it's time to make it automatic.

I have made some brief videos on the camera because I know that photos cannot do this place justice. If I figure out how to post from the iPad app I will add a couple to the blog later.

It's beautiful here & everyday brings some variation to the sky and mountain ranges. We never know what sort of animal tracks we might find in the snow. This afternoon we saw a TINY jellyfish while we were out in the zodiacs to play in the ice. And we saw an Arctic Cod. It's just a fish & no big deal except that we've been on the water for a week now and it's the first fish we have seen even though we know the birds eat them.

Today I found myself wondering if it will be strange to see night again after a month of solid daylight..... That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by. More soon.