The North Pole - 90°N!
Friday 26 August 2022 (6:15pm):
90°N, 66°22’44”E (MAP LINK)
Air temperature: minus 6.3°C
I was about to hop into the shower at 6am when I realised that the ship had stopped. Since it was way too early for the scientists to be doing their water testing … maybe, just maybe there was a “furry-4-legged” reason. Moments later the Captain announced that there was a polar bear about 300m off our starboard bow.
The shower would wait, and I was soon watching the bear, still quite a distance from us. She was very aware of us, but was focused on nosing around in the ice, then scraping the surface with her claws to try to get deeper and closer to the seal she could smell below. Sometimes she’d rear up on her hind legs and use her weight to try to punch a hole in the ice.
We watched this behaviour for about 40 minutes while the captain “inched” the ship closer. The bear seemed to be unsuccessful in her hunt, so we left her to be alone. Some of the crew later saw her with a seal – it was good to know that she was not going to be hungry, at least for a little while.
Then it was back to the cabin for a nice hot shower, followed by another delicious breakfast on Deck 9 while I gazed out over the Arctic.
While I knew that the Captain was looking for open water leads, there seemed to be relatively large expanses of these. The temperature was dropping, and we had certainly seen the texture of the ice change as we sailed further north – the thickness increased, and we could see areas of ocean starting to freeze. However Sue and Ian, as well as many crew, confirmed that there was significantly more open water than they had seen 12 months ago.
At 9:30am a mother polar bear with 2 cubs was spotted ahead. From Deck 5 (the one that goes right around the ship) we watched the family walking on the ice. The mother kept her cubs moving in parallel to the ship and away from us – she was not happy with our presence, so we kept our distance.
She would move away from her cubs and then look back to confirm that they were following. One had a problem with its left front leg, and both the mother and its brother or sister would wait for it to join them before they moved on. She took them towards open water, and swam away from us across to an ice-pan. Once back on the ice, the cubs rolled around to squish the water out of their fur.
The mother’s behaviour was beautiful to watch, as it had been with the bear the previous morning. These fierce animals are very caring about their young and seem to teach their young to be the same, at least when they’re together. Ultimately they’ll go off to live solitary lives in this huge white icy expanse.
The Captain confirmed that our likely ETA at the North Pole would be late this afternoon, giving us time to attend interesting presentations through the day.
Visibility was changing from clear to high cloud to foggy, and back again. I was watching the latitude measurement moving slowly towards 90°N and with 3 minutes of latitude to go, put my warm gear on and went to the heli-deck (deck 6 on the bow). The helicopter that had been “parked” in the middle yesterday, had been moved to one side, giving us all plenty of room to congregate.
Bit by bit most passengers and crew came here – others remained on the Observation deck (deck 9) high above us. The Captain had closed the Bridge to all but a few invited guests so that he could concentrate on getting us to 90°N. And while he was doing this, I was following along with my iPhone’s compass.
It’s not easy to manoeuvre a ship of this size to such a specific point – but he did it! And I think we heard his and his crews’ cheers from the Bridge without the need for a microphone.
[The compass reading on my phone was 89°59’59” – the 1 second difference is likely to be because I was on the bow, and 1” away from the ship’s navigation system].
The French certainly know how to celebrate! It began with flares around the outside edge of the helideck, music was heard across the ship, and soon we were shepherded away from an area in the centre of the deck. Some ropes were put around this space, and a part of the deck opened up like a giant door folding up and then back horizontally – very James Bond like! Then a large table covered in bottles of champagne and glasses, rose up through the opening.
A soprano who performs some evenings, sang a magnificent song, and then the Captain joined us on the deck, took a very large knife and with a flourish that only he could muster, cut the top off a magnum of Veuve (the French name for this is sabrage). It was then champagne and macarons for all.
There’s no doubt that it was an achievement to get to this northernmost point on our planet – and celebrate we did, even if we were simply the passengers along for the ride!
Of course, the next exciting moment is for us is to walk on the sea-ice at the North Pole. This meant moving the ship to sea-ice that is suitably thick and stable, and ideally within 1 degree of latitude of the Pole. Afterall, when we stand on the ice in this part of the world, there is 4,000 meters of water below us!
Saturday, 27 August 2022 (5:00pm):
89°55’37”N, 30°09’22”W, drifting with the sea ice (MAP LINK)
Air temperature: +2°C and varying between 0 – 4°C
It’s time to walk on the ice at the North Pole! Even as I write this, it sounds a little strange – but this is where we are, and what we did today.
Early this morning we moved to a new location with the co-ordinates above. The ice looks strong, and as I enjoyed my morning cuppa in the Observation Lounge, I popped outside to see what the crew were doing. First the “bear watching” team were deployed to set up a safe perimeter. Then flags were draped across the ship, and all kinds of tables, sign-posts and even a post-box, was brought onto the ice.
By 10am-ish, I had my little Aussie flag and Scrat (the squirrel in the Ice Age movies) in my backpack with my camera, had pulled on my snow boots and was walking down the gangway to stand on the ice at the North Pole. It is relatively warm today – around +2-3°C, so I’ve not needed my gloves most of the time.
My first stop was to post some mail at the North Pole mailbox, then I made my way to the “Float Boat” location (see next para), and then found my way to sit on a chair in front of the Charcot, to reproduce a famous 1904 photo of “Le Francais”, Captain Jean-Baptiste Charcot’s ship.
[Float Boat – www.floatboat.org: the boats have been designed by Norwegian school children and are used to track ocean currents across the globe. My boat is number 5161, feel free to track it too.]
From there I walked to the “N Pole” sign, where Sue and Ian joined me to take my photo and have our photos taken together. The next photo opp was in about an hour – this was of all passengers in a 90oN “formation”. I’ll be sure to send copies when I have these!
It felt very good to walk on the ice today and to think about where I was. Here I am on a massive pan of sea-ice drifting with the winds and ocean current, and with approx 4,000 meters of ocean below us! As a fellow passenger once said to me as I was crossing the Drake Passage with 7,000 meters of ocean below us: “it’s the first meter that counts”.
This has been a very interesting journey so far, and I know there is more to come. I’m reading a book about Sir Hubert Wilkins, who’s activities and experiences in the Arctic are legendary, and the absolute obverse to mine.
How hard it was for them to move from place to place in the Arctic. And how easy it was for us to get here – there has been no effort whatsoever. I have never travelled on a ship with so much capability and luxury, and as much as I’ve enjoyed reaching the North Pole, I feel like a passenger in the true sense of the word.
The people, including the ship’s senior expedition crew, have deep knowledge and capability, my cabin is a delight to be in no matter the weather outside, the food is delicious and plentiful, and the information provided is good. For those who want to be entertained, there’s live music and dancing, movies on my in-room screen (I’ve yet to stay awake for more than the first 10 minutes), and opportunities to be involved in some of the science activities, although so far these are somewhat elusive – but that’s ok too.
The impact of the changing climate is evident. While we’ve had some very cold days on the way here and now on the way south, the amount of open water and the relatively warm temperature are unexpected at the North Pole. I worry for our planet, and I worry that boys will not see ice at the North Pole should they ever decide to come here.
What I do know is that we have lots more to experience, and our journey is all south from here!