The wake-up call normally happens around 0700 or 0730, but this morning was a little different! One of our fellow guests had ventured onto the bridge early, and with the 24-hour daylight had asked the bridge officer “Is that a polar bear swimming?”…and yes it was! So we were gently awoken from our slumber by Stephanie at 0430, and raced to get warm clothes on and cameras and binoculars and run up to the bridge and bow. There about 80m off the bow of the ship was a large polar bear swimming in the water! Wow! We watched it weave between the sea ice, paddling quite quickly through the cold water and peering up onto the flat ice in search for seals. But unfortunately for him there were none in the vicinity and he was soon disappearing into the thick pack ice. Having had a pretty good view of our first bear, the captain pulled the ship away from the bear and continued along our course through relatively open pack ice in search of slightly thicker ice.
It was decision time…back to bed, or stay up? Many decided to stay up, and this was the right decision, with another bear being sighted briefly swimming near to the ship, and then a third bear just around 0630. This bear was walking through slightly denser pack ice, then dropping out of sight for periods of time as it swam and hunted for seals. We had quite good views of it dropping into the water, swimming, and peering up onto the ice, sometimes hauling out and walking for short distances over the ice. But these bears were all clearly on a mission with one thing in mind—food! And unfortunately there was not a lot of it around with only a couple of ringed seals being seen all day. We got closer to this third bear, but with it taking to the water and swimming and hunting, the captain gave it plenty of room, and after some time watching it, we again edged away to leave it to its hunt for prey.
And it wasn’t even breakfast time! After breakfast many of us spent more time out on the bow in glorious sunshine with almost clear blue skies, stunning ice and just incredible scenery. Kittiwakes and ivory gulls had put in an appearance, and the kittwakes were our constant companions through the pack ice today, sometimes dropping to the water to catch polar cod disturbed by the movement of the ice created by the ship. A real sight to see!
During the course of the morning we also had a talk from David Braun our Global Perspectives guest speaker on the National Geographic Society, and Magnus Forsberg gave a presentation on polar bears, very appropriate considering our morning! We also had the opportunity to join the photo team for another breakout session to learn more about photography tips and tricks.
Other wildlife seen during the day were two bearded seals and a walrus, all hauled out alone on the ice, and obviously carefully keeping a watch for polar bears, and we got great views of these from the ship as the captain expertly maneuvered the ship in to the animals, and away without disturbing them. There was a constant watch from the bridge, with officers, staff, and guests all putting in a lot of time searching with binoculars and telescopes, but alas, no other bears were sighted despite a large number of bear tracks being seen across the ice. This was even despite the hotel department putting on a chili and beer afternoon tea on the back deck—not even the smell of beef chili could bring in a bear, but it did bring out some beer!
After a superb Filipino buffet dinner we then cruised alongside the glacial face of Bråsvellbreen, part of the Austfonna icecap. This icecap is the third largest in the world, and we cruised along several miles of the sheer face, with the captain taking the ship very close for awesome photographic opportunities. But after such a long day, it was clear we were all tired, and with a big day to follow we headed to bed.
