We awoke this morning to an awesome surprise - there was a polar bear on the beach! Our ship, the National Geographic Explorer, had cruised to the eastern end of Hornsund Fjord in southern Spitzbergen, where a eagle-eyed naturalist spotted the bear from miles away. By the time we were all dressed and out on the deck, the ship had approached close enough to the lone bear for us to clearly see it walking on the black beach. We watched it as it walked, sat, and even laid down on the beach. The bear was close enough for us to see its eyes looking at us, the hair on its feet, and the scar on its leg.
Later in the morning, we anchored in the northeast end of Hornsund Fjord, with tall jagged peaks all around us. The five-mile-long Storbreen glacier face surrounded us as we did kayaking, Zodiac tours, and swimming. The kayakers paddled around icebergs, listening to the booming sound from the glacier, as well as the crackle of ice in the water as the pressurized bubbles popped. The Zodiac tours took guests amongst huge blue and white icebergs on the way to the glacier front. There was some calving, when a huge piece of the glacier fell into the water with a loud noise, a splash, and a wave. Zodiac cruisers were warmed up by a hot chocolate drink provided by a boat of Swedish “Vikings.”
Before lunch, many of the guests did the “polar plunge.” One at a time, these courageous folks jumped into the freezing cold ocean water. We had to stop occasionally in order to move small icebergs out of the way. Some guests jumped into together, and others jumped in multiple times. They were all rewarded with a towel, a warm shower, and a certificate of bravery.
We spent the afternoon cruising the west coast of Svalbard. The program for young explorers finished the week by finalizing their journals and completing their Arctic-themed crossword puzzle, which earned them a special National Geographic Explorer patch. We ran across several fin whales and humpback whales feeding in these rich waters. The humpbacks were quite a show, because there were hundreds of kittiwakes feeding when the whales dove with their flukes in the air. We all enjoyed the group photo show during recap, when we saw everyone’s photos of this amazing week in Arctic Svalbard.
