Polar Bears & More Ice! (day 8, 6-16-12)

Hello again from the Arctic!

It was sort of a lazy morning as we continued to cruise to our day's destination (Hornsound). Well, lazy for people like me who ditched the birding presentation and opted for the nap. It's very hard to close my eyes and go to bed because I don't want to miss any scenery, but for a while after breakfast it was just a good nap time.

Anyway, this particular Fjord is quite beautiful due to the jagged peaks that teased us from behind the clouds. Our first excursion was a shore landing at Isbjornhamna just after lunch for a two hour walk over mostly rocks and boulders. The highlight for me was getting to see the best set of polar bear tracks yet; you can still see the toe prints! This was a stop focused on a colony of breeding birds (Auks) - you know, the lecture I skipped....one thing I do know is this: each season each bird contributes 1/2lb of natural fertilizer to the earth.

The weather was great for just above freezing. We saw many arctic flowers blooming. We watched a gull hunt the Auks. I was more interested in the amazingly beautiful rocks left behind after the glacier receded. But it was nice to get off the ship and stretch the legs a bit.

About 90 minutes after this excursion we jumped back in the zodiacs for another glacier cruise at Burgenbukta.

Here is the biggest blue iceberg so far. The little black spot on the right is a zodiac! Each day we zodiac through the ice I grab a small piece of glacial (or sea) ice to suck on. Water probably doesn't get much purer than this.

For just a bit of history: Wanny Woldstad was the first woman to overwinter in Svalbard from 1932-37. And yes, her children joined her.

We returned to the ship a few minutes late for our 7pm arctic bar-b-q dinner, which was good but quickly getting cold due to changing conditions. And not too long after dinner - AT LAST- the announcement came that we might have polar bears ahead....and that we might get close enough to see them with the naked eye. Our first glimpse....

I assumed two meant a mama and a baby, but it turned out to be a big male and a female on an iceberg. Polar bears are pretty solitary, so even though it's late in the season for breeding we assume that's why they are paired. However, both bears were pretty lean & the female doesn't appear to have the necessary resources for the cubs. I have to tell you that at some point I turned off the camera and stared at them.

She's yawning....not yelling.

PS I still want to see a baby polar bear, a Beluga whale & a Narwhal, but I think I'll be okay if that doesn't happen. We are too far south at this point for a Narwhal as we've reached about 77* North. Beluga whales show up about once every 5 trips, so it's unlikely to happen this early in the season. But we could find more bears in the next day or so. Frankly, I'd be satisfied with more blue ice; love that stuff!

Wish you were here to see all this too!