Itinerary: Longyearbyen – Hornsund – Boltodden & Negribreen – Wilhelmoya – Texas Bar – Monaco Breen – 81 Nord – Ny-Alesund Glacier – 4 July Glacier
We were woken at 07h30 by the Captain making an announcement that there were two polar bears on the land ahead of us!! YIPPEEE!!! One was feeding on a seal and you could see all the birds trying to steal their share. You could also spot other seals lying on the ice… this poor fellow had come up through a breathing hole and met his end. HIGHLY exciting but quite far in the distance as you can see in the photos below.
It was really interesting watching the two bears give each other a wide berth. The one moved off and allowed the other to come and feed. AMAZING!!!!
The original plan was to double back on our journey so far and to view a walrus breeding area but due to good weather the Captain made the decision to do the west coast of Svalbard instead – which was great news and resulted in our fortunate polar bears sighting … BUT even more fortunately for us, by pure chance we also got to see a small family of walruses resting on an ice pack! HOORAH!!
The next excursion was amazing. A young seal pup surfaced next to us.
A kitty wake was mobbing a gull to steal fish.
Very reminiscent of Balsetarus in Peru – millions of sea birds nesting
– the noise and the smell quite spectacular! Fantastic.
Headed back for a cocktail and a delicious meal.
I stepped out on deck at 12h05 and scanned the horizon – SO exciting as spotted a whale blowing! What a great end to a wonderful day!!
Go Back to: Longyearbyen
Go To: Arctic Cruise – Day 3
Go to: Arctic Cruise – Day 5
