Our second full day of the expedition started out with a slight change in the weather and a small change in our plans for the day. This is not unusual for Svalbard, or the polar regions in general. A quick decision by the expedition leader and Captain led National Geographic Explorer to an inlet further north for our morning’s activities. This gave us a chance to have a little more leisurely breakfast, and to have a briefing for the kayak operations that we hoped to do once the ship arrived at Fuglefjorden, our new destination on the northwest corner of Spitzbergen, the largest island in the archipelago.
Once the ship dropped anchor, things happened fast, Zodiacs and kayaks were launched, leading to an explosion of activity for the guests. Some went for a kayak in the waters near the ship, others boarded Zodiacs, and went for about an hour-long cruise to explore the area for wildlife, and get a closer look at the large tidewater glacier which filled the head of the fjord. There were ringed seals, an assortment of Arctic birds to capture our attention.
Just about lunchtime everyone returned to the Explorer, the boats were returned to their berths, and we again got underway, heading further north in an attempt to reach the pack-ice edge to look for more wildlife, particularly polar bears! It took about three hours of cruising, but we finally started seeing the ice ahead of the ship, and turned all of our attention to looking in and around the floating sea of white for subject of the search, the bears!
After a short while, with all eyes scanning in every direction, the call rang-out on the bridge “Polar bear,” and it was Captain Oliver doing the shouting with great enthusiasm! Unfortunately, this particular bear made the decision to slip into the water and start swimming, so we kept our distance so as not to push or stress the swimming bear, hoping it might return to the ice and haul out again. But after a while it became clear that this bear had another idea, continued swimming, so we left it in peace, and continued onward to look for more wildlife, and hopefully a bear that was going to stay on the pack-ice. Another exciting day in the Arctic!
