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| Our route to Svalbard albeit not a straight line |
Yesterday we reached the fringes of the sea ice. The ship gave a few big shudders and we reckoned we’d hit ice. Sure enough when we peered outside through soft blanketing fog we were greeted with fragmented ice floes - voila. Very exciting! The atmosphere on board stepped up a notch to a heightened sense of expectancy and quiet excitement. We went to bed with the hope that the next day we would disembark for a look see.
Just after midnight we were awakened by the Captain announcing that a bear had been spotted (it was still light). Most of us dragged on clothes and went out on the helipad or up to the Observation deck and watched as he wandered back and forth across a large patch of heaving sea ice.
Having seen the bear we were concerned we may not we get off the ship today. In the meantime there are lectures planned. For me the array of lectures is marvelous; I sit in the front with my notebook in hand and camera at the ready.
This will be the first time a ‘cruise’ ship, a beautifully disguised icebreaker, has crossed the poles so everyone is excited. And another milestone for us - this morning we reached further north than we have ever been - 80 7’ and it’s -2.5C (but with the wind it feels like -10C). The Charcot has been creeping along through increasing ice and I am amazed how ice just 20-90cm thick can jostle a huge ship like ours - 30,000 odd tons. The power of nature!
And we did get off the ship callooh callay! The first time off the ship was exciting. mid-afternoon we struggled into our polar gear - thermals, parkas, wet pants, hats gloves neck warmers and life jackets and shuffled down to the boarding station to don our clumping great boots. Then we disembarked through a hole in the side of the ship and climbed into zodiacs to explore the ice edge. It was wonderful to be out on the water and the ice was stunning. This is sheet ice, pack ice, sea ice which you might imagine is fairly flat but up close there is amazing texture and wind-sculpted surfaces. Lots of places for bears to hide so only the guards and scientist were allowed on the ice where they collected lots of samples.
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| We embarked and disembarked through that hole in the side of the ship |
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| Lindsay |
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| We saw one Little Auk but no other wildlife |
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| The textures were beautiful |
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| Bears can hide behind these lumps of ice and snow |
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| Drilling an ice core to measure salinity, density etc |
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| Only the scientists and guards were allowed on the ice |
It was a magical afternoon and we returned to the ship feeling exhilarated and full of expectation for the days ahead.
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