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Polar Expedition Day 10

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I woke having had very little sleep, finished my packing and heaved my bags out the door.   We had a quick breakfast, and sent Kellie up to ask the captain if we could leave our bags on the ship, rather than schlepp them around town until we have to check-in.   Kellie has been visiting the bridge every day to talk to the captain about where we are and what the sailing plan is for the day, so we figured she had bonded with the guy and had the best chance of getting his agreement re the luggage.   The plan worked, and we can leave our bags on the back deck.   I said bye to a few people I thought I probably wouldn’t get the chance to see again, and hot-footed it into the town of Longyearbyen.   I had spotted a couple of things I wanted to get, and my roomie Belinda had decided she wanted a thermos mug, etched with a map of Svalbard (it is very cool).   The shops didn’t open til 10am, and it was only about a 20 minute walk from the ship to town, so I spent so...
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Polar Expedition Day 9

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Last day.   Sniff.   Today we are heading back to Longyearbyen via the East fjord, and we will stop and go ashore for the last time in the zodiacs, this time hunting for reindeer. The artic has a very dull earthen landscape, and from a distance, it looks very brown.   However, when there are birds nesting on the cliffs above, the bird poo washes down and fertilises the land below.   From a distance, it looks green rather than brown, but it’s not until you get up close that you realise just how much colour there is.   We are surprised at the variety of plants growing, even willows, but they never grow much higher than the ground.   It looks quite dull from a distance close up the colours are brilliant We walked out to a piece of land jutting out that gave a nice vantage point of the sea, and looking up to the cliff above.   The rock here looked like lots of compressed layers that were quite brittle, grey rock.   Onc...
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Polar Expedition Day 8

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I woke early this morning, we are on the move and the ship was rocking and rolling.   I have obviously acquired my sea legs because it didn’t bother me and I actually enjoyed it, nodded off back to sleep in fact.   We had a relatively quiet morning, a few snaps from the bow with more great scenery, and it was snowing for a while. Position as at 7:52am     Then Rinie gave us a talk on polar bears, lots of really interesting stuff that I tried to note down, however it is all in his book, which he has co-written with Louis Beyens, another polar bear expert.   We can get the book autographed, what a cool souvenir, and I was really glad I brought some USD cash with me on a whim. Here's some of the interesting stuff I noted down (hopefully correctly): male bears are sexually mature from about 6 years old but don't mate until they are about 12 years old, they are not fully grown until they are 10 and can't compete with the adult males until fully m...
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Polar Expedition Day 7

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This morning we start by returning to the spot where we saw the bear last night, just in case she has moved closer to the ice edge.  She hasn't, but she has been joined by another bear.  They are both deep in the ice and we can't get close to either, and both are females with a collar and transmitter (only females have transmitters, the males necks are too thick and the collar won't stay on) so we decide to abandon them and try and find another bear.  We increase the total bear count by one, because Rinie is pretty sure one of them will be the one we saw last night. But just to prove the bear count, here's a picture of them both. We change course and head for the Brasvellbreen glacier, the 3 rd largest body of ice in the world.   Here we hope to find a polar bear amongst the ice.   We start the day cruising along mirror flat water with chunks of glacial ice floating by.   It’s pretty cold once we start moving and I’m back to wearing all my war...
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Polar Expedition Day 6

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We woke this morning to fine weather, cruising down the strait between Svalbard and Nordaustland with chunks of glacier ice floating by.   We were just finishing breakfast when whales were spotted from the bridge.   Another flurry of activity as everyone put on warm clothes and headed on deck. Blue whales, you can tell by how far back the fin is, and how small it is, relatively speaking.  There may be two of them, it’s hard to tell.   I really wanted to get them blowing the spout just out of the water.   Chris’s advice from last night about anticipating where the whale will go definitely paid off, and I managed to capture some of it. I am cussing not bringing a monopod, the big lens with camera are fine to hold and use, but to hold it in position waiting for a shot is a killer on your arms.   I whipped downstairs to get my tripod to use, but I find it awkward and it’s going to take some practice.   You’re supposed to get it off the dec...
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Polar Expedition Day 5

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Today we woke to better weather, the fog has cleared and visibility is good.   I’m wearing my lucky polar bear sox again.   We spent the whole day, up and down the coast, through the chunks of sea ice, saw nothing.   It was really cold on deck, two down jackets cold, and by afternoon it had started raining.   Belinda and I had a sauna straight after lunch, that was really good. We went inside and Chris gave us a quick lesson on Lightroom.   Unfortunately I have the wrong version of Lightroom on my laptop (mutter mutter), so I wasn’t able to follow the lesson with my own pictures as he did it.   But I took notes, and it was great to see how he enhances his pictures and how stunning they look from something not so special on the camera.   I have hope that I will be able to get something decent from my haul of photos. After the lesson it was still bitterly cold, but Belinda and I went on deck anyway, snapping pixs of birds and ice.   I hav...
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