The ice is mostly white, but lots of blue coloring is present. Occasionally dirt covered ice, brown or black, broken off from glaciers, looks like a whale for a moment, especially when a wave hits it and makes a big splash. There are lots of little pieces of ice and big ice floes of a couple acres in size and everything in between. It’s cold outside on the deck, but tolerable if you find a spot in the lee of the wind. I got some decent bird pix of northern fulmars, kittiwakes and a couple guillemots. There were no bears after lunch, and then we napped. Judy was disparaging our chances of ever seeing a bear.
Dinner was interrupted with news of a bear sighting!
One of the naturalists with a spotting scope found a sleeping bear on an ice floe make five miles away. We all dressed for the cold and headed for vantage points on the bow or upper decks. It was far off and hard to find. It looked like a buttery lump on the snow covered ice.
Silence was the rule, as the crew edged the ship closer and closer until we were quite near it. The bear stirred in its sleep a few times but didn’t awaken. There was a red stain on the ice a few yards away from the bear, and it was speculated that the bear had caught a seal. The consensus, however, was that it was just reddish ice. We backed away from the bear and continued on southeasterly.
Above 80° N. Latitude. The pole is 90° - for the navigationally naive.
The polar ice pack.
Black-legged Kittiwake.
Common Guillemot.
We glide through the ice.
Northern Fulmar.
Bear in the distance.
Closer to the bear, red ice visible.
Bear stirs...
Stretches...
Goes back to sleep in his icy bed.
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