September 22 Walruses and ice galore!

Such remoteness was exhilarating yet humbling - we landed on a beach on Nordaustlandet  

This morning was very special and a wonderful surprise. We were off to find walruses - my favourite Arctic marine mammal! At the briefing last night our leader had mentioned the possibility but everything always depends on the wildlife and the weather. Today it all came together! We set off from our beach landing at one of the beaches of Nordaustlandet and walked a couple of km over gravelly tiers, past washed-up timber, animal scat, feathers (with attachments sometimes) and moist depressions growing communities of algae and mosses. It looked desolate but we saw evidence of Arctic Foxes and Arctic Hares, Svarlbard Reindeer and migratory geese as well as other birds - but fortunately not bears although one was spotted in the distance. I also saw evidence of a campfire, how old we couldn't determine. We had to be very quiet so as not to spook the walruses who were hauled out in the next bay. Have you ever tried walking quietly on gravel?

Of course we were walking in big gumboots wearing our life jackets - we didn't move quietly 

This speaks for itself in terms of remoteness - glorious

I have no idea what causes these diverts but they pockmarked the beach

This was a small body of water completely frozen over

At the edge of the water species of algae grew providing a nutritious food source 

And finally we came upon them! A magnificent huddle of Atlantic Walrus, Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus, flopped on the beach sunbaking and generally smooching. These magnificent creatures are thigmotaxic meaning they gravitate to cuddling, seeking out skin contact with others. We watched and watched and watched until we had to drag ourselves away. In the meantime, small groups of mainly youngsters had bobbed, roiled and tumbled towards us in the water popping their heads up to check us out. Soo very curious. One group would tumble past us rolling over each other only to be replaced by another group of mainly young curious ‘cuddle sacks’. One large animal was further along the beach and we reckon he was on lookout duty - he just kept popping his head up to scan the beach. My pix aren’t all that great but they embellish the memories I have of those magnificent creatures. Quite a few of our group climbed a hill nearby, presumably to get a better view, but we reckon we had a ringside seat! 

In case you don’t know walruses spend time in fairly shallow water usually close to land where the food is. They eat mainly shell fish sucking the ‘contents’ out of the shells with probably the most powerful mouth suction of any animal. They locate of their food with stiff whiskers which they can move independently - they are very tactile creatures. But enough! I could go on and on about these darlings.

I took a few videos and will post them on YouTube once I am able. Suffice it to say it was a fabulous morning.

Let me tell you about the beach tiers I mentioned. These are believed to have emerged as the ice from successive ice ages melted and, without the weight of the overlying ice, the land rose. It is still happening across the entire Arctic and subarctic regions (we encountered them in the NW Passage last year). Global warming indeed but in an almost inconceivably large time frame. We are not seeing anything new in the history of our wonderfully watery planet as it cycles through successive ice and hot-house ages. We have ‘living’ proof of a warmer Arctic period in the form of a fossil that Lindsay found in one of the mountains of Svalbard 5 years ago.

I love this photo because it looks like our ship is parked on the gravel

We came back to the ship very happy only to be treated to a wonderful brunch - seafood galore, every imaginable little temptation, suckling pig - and then you could order something extra from the menu, as if we needed anything more - but we did anyway! It was a marvelous finale to what for me had been an exceptional and special morning.

Oysters with a vinaigrette plus foie gras with truffle and apricot

The smoked salmon station

Lobster, crab, periwinkles, snails, prawns 

After that wonderful morning, our late afternoon zodiac cruise to the glacial front of Brasvellbreen was a wee bit of an anticlimax. But that’s perhaps a bit harsh as this forms part of a glacial front which extends for 160 km on the south and west coast of Nordaustlandet, part of the ice cap which is the third largest in the world. Our guide was a little nervous so we didn’t get within at least a kilometre of the glacier but the sky and sea cast a rather glorious glow as the light started to fade. The weird and fanciful shapes of the little icebergs were intriguing particularly back-lit by a sinking sun. Finally as we chilled out over dinner, the sun set leaving a glorious blood-red slash across the horizon. I will leave you to browse.

The pale green undercut on the glacier's front is where it has recently calved

It is a might impressive glacier

Fanciful patterns

Wonderful striated patterns created by glacial moraine

This doesn't do it justice but in a world with little colour, this sunset was a spectacular blaze.

Every evening before dinner we had a recap of the day and a briefing for the next day - I have included a couple of pix from that. Firstly an image of where we are currently travelling and second a lovely photo of walruses taken by the ship's photographer. Such amazing creatures. 

This is the Svalbard (with a few heads at the bottom!). Nordaustlandet is on the right