The many faces of the Arctic … in 2 days
The strong winds continued throughout the night, ranging from 30-40 knots to gusts of 80 knots. We headed out of the “sheltered” fjord towards Faksevagen, a beautiful area of snow covered mountains, fjords, as well as grey skies and wind. It seems that there was to be no shelter in this area above 78°N.
As we sailed along various fjords, birds continued to follow us – dipping and banking around the ship, and flying across the water. I was out on the fly bridge as we prepared to leave this area. The winds were very, very strong, regularly gusting to 60-70 knots, screaming through the “rigging” on the top of the ship (antennae, radar & communications systems), and flattening out the waves.
Once we turned to have the wind behind us, the ship settled into a gentle roll with the swell, and we headed along Hinlopen Strait to our next location, Lomfjord. This Strait separates the main island in the Svalbard group, Spitsbergen from Nordaustlandet (North east land).
Mike, our resident geologist and glaciologist, provided a fascinating narration as we sailed along the Strait. It’s a wonderful and very practical way to learn about the geology, because there it is, right next to us.
The sun peaked out from time to time, and by the time we reached Lomfjord, also known as Guillemot Bay, it was breaking through the clouds. What an amazing place – large snow covered mountains with glaciers, and huge flocks of Brunnich’s Guillemots on the water and flying by. When we’re sailing like this, I’m often on either the side of the ship or at the stern on Deck 4 where we are closer to the water than the Bridge (Deck 6). This means that I don’t see the “geology” until it is right in front of me.
The bird cliffs suddenly appeared – massive towers of black and brown rock rising high above us and covered with Brunnich’s Guillemots nesting on small ledges on the towers. They were flying in and out, swooping by, landing on the water in the tricky wind conditions, their little black webbed feet out ahead of the splash-down. They are part of the auk family, and when they land and take off from the water, look a little like puffins (they're also auks), although sleeker.
We stayed there for close to an hour, enjoying the antics of these masses of black birds with their characteristic red legs and white feathers on their backs. An occasional Kittiwake intruded on ledges, but wasn't welcome, and didn’t stay long.
By evening, the wind had dropped, the sea was taking on that gentle glassy look and the sun was still visible behind wispy white clouds. This was more like it! I contemplated staying up to see the shadows that the low sun would create. But bed was a priority, and at around 10:30pm I was asleep, with Midnight in Paris playing on the TV in my cabin, and the curtains not fully closed.
At 11:30pm, Annie was on the PA telling us that the Captain had spotted a polar bear swimming towards an island on our starboard side. “It's a long way off.”
I lay there for maybe 2 minutes, then leaped out of bed, put on my outdoor clothing that's always at the ready, and within 5 minutes I was on the deck with camera. People had seen the bear climb out of the water onto the island, then walk up and over a high ridge to the other side of the island. Ever so quietly the Captain moved the ship (he really is amazing) so that we were on the other side of the island.
There it was, a beautiful polar bear walking down the snowy slope, leaving large footprints in the deep fresh snow and a line where it had slid down the slope on its hind legs. It was indeed a long way off, but it was PB-4 (my terminology for Polar bear #4)!
The low sun backlit it, catching the edges of its fur and causing a long shadow to one side, as well as highlighting its footprint indentations. Many photos later (one is now on my PC’s lock screen) including some photos of “lit up” icebergs floating by, and I was at the laptop checking what I’d captured. Not great quality because of the distance, but really, really nice memories!
A great end to a fantastic day.
Today, Saturday 9 June has to be dubbed “Walrus Day.” We started at Wahlbergoya, walking to the end of a snow & gravel covered spit where about 5-7 walruses were hauled out. It’s always fun to see these massive animals lying around, grunting and showing off their tusks. And I took some nice, sharp photos, perhaps even to be changed to black & white to show their whiskers and tusks - but more was ahead!
This afternoon we were on a 1.5 hour zodiac cruise to see what we could find in Brasvellbreen, a bay in Nordaustlandet. Mirrored water, some sun, no wind and herds of walrus lying out on small ice flows. This was also an area with numerous small icebergs, rising high above our zodiac, in various shapes, often with moraine (dirt and rocks) embedded – the result of having originated from glaciers.
It was just gorgeous for photography. I was in Woody’s zodiac as we explored the walruses and icebergs. We went quietly (it’s all relative with an outboard motor) into little inlets, near the fast ice (ice still attached to the land) and around icebergs that might well have been grounded on the shallow seabed. We were searching not just for walrus, but also for polar bear.
Zodiacs can get us in and out of so many places, and the crew is in contact at all times – we can hear the chatter on their radios. When we heard “polar bear” and “close by,” we all turned to Woody. And it was not far away. We abandoned our walrus spotting, and headed towards the zodiac that had seen it. PB-5 was lying down behind some ice, the remains of a seal clearly visible on the ice. It was a sleepy polar bear, so we quietly watched it watching us and made several passes before heading off to a loan walrus I’d spotted on the way there.
Out 1.5 hour zodiac ride was now extended to 2 hours, and then by another 30 minutes – this was an “epic place” for walrus. The Captain had moved the ship away by several kilometres, and as we headed towards it, we saw more and more walrus – on ice, in the water, grunting and growling to each other. This is an animal that has to be taken seriously – tusks and zodiacs are not a good mix – so we kept our distance. Estimates were of several hundred in the area, with some swimming close to the ship.
It was almost 6:30pm when I came back into my warm cabin - time to download the day’s photos before dinner.
Just after the waiter took our orders, we were told that there was a Polar bear with 2 cubs a very long way off. It was on the fast ice, and not visible without a spotting scope – my camera shows a vague dot with 3 other dots nearby (one was a seal). We moved as close as we could – this is one bear we were not going to disturb. Our cameras at the ready, we sat down for dinner, the recap and evening’s photo critique cancelled until tomorrow.
After dinner I went to the Bridge to see her through a spotting scope. There she was, PB-6+2, standing silently and absolutely still above a seal air-hole, her two cubs sleeping on the ice nearby. When I left the Bridge at around 9:15pm, she hadn’t moved since she was first noticed by the Captain about 2 hours earlier. She might still be in that same position in the morning - I’ll be checking soon after I’ve sent this blog post!