Cruising Franz Joseph Land
The day would be spent cruising, albeit slowly, either by ship or Zodiac as we continued to explore the Franz Joseph Land archipelago. National Geographic Explorer had reached 81 degrees and 48 minutes north earlier in the “night.” This is a ship record just short of 500 nautical miles from the North Pole. Our morning search yielded a friendly polar bear that approached the ship. This is the kind of encounter we always hope for. It is predominately a younger animal that will walk towards a ship. They tend to be scavengers from larger bears and are curious about their environment and can smell delightful odors emanating from the vessel.
The afternoon was spent approaching Apollo Island towards a known walrus haul out. There was a significant amount of sea ice near shore, which tends to displace the walrus; walrus prefer an open access to the beach instead of having to move over sea ice near shore. There were several dozen in the water including mothers and calves. These would be the youngest walrus seen so far due to the fact that young walrus are rarely seen in Svalbard, where the species was hunted extensively. One group of young and a few older males were seen making their way between the Zodiacs to see what all the fuss was about. The Zodiac ride was cold, wet, and windy, but well worth the time as an interaction with a curious 3,500lb animal is not soon forgotten. Once on board we were treated to dramatic scenery and ice cruising.
