On our last full day of the expedition, we awoke to rays of sun shining through the cloudy skies. National Geographic Resolution headed east into Bellsund in the very early morning, and then farther east to the southernmost of two fjords, called van Keulenfjord.
The temperature was minus 10°C or 14°F, and there was a slight wind of 8 knots from the west.
A scout team was sent ashore to establish a landing site among the big pieces of ice pushed against the shore by the wind. We walked along the scouted route to a moraine hill to get a nice look at the Recherche Glacier.
After a well needed lunch, we navigated past the narrow island of Akselöya into van Mijenfjord for a ship’s cruise. Even though it was a bit foggy, we spotted two polar bears on the ice close to the north shore. The bigger of the bears tried to stalk and chase some reindeer, a rare and unusual sight!
