Polar Expedition Day 7

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 warm clothes.  I’m wearing my lucky polar bear sox over my wool sox, they worked yesterday and I’m not going to take any chances today!  It gets cloudy and the wind gets up, and then it’s time for lunch.  After lunch we continue towards the glacier, it is 165 miles across and appears as a white strip on the horizon.  
Then we hear that Rinie has spotted a bear.  Frantic assembling of gear and jostling for position.  We spot it, asleep on the ice between a couple of ice bergs.  

spot the sleeping bear

The ship edges closer, pushing it’s way through the thin ice, and eventually the noise of the ship crushing ice wakes the bear.  

wakey wakey

It looks our way and sees us, gets up slowly and has a good stretch.  We are edging closer, very slowly and with the engines barely turning over.  It’s a very young female, Rinie estimates she would have weaned from her mother in April this year.  She is beautiful.  Fat and fluffy and clean and perfect, with a fat score of 3.5+.  She is curious, so starts walking over towards the ship.  We can’t believe our luck.  She does a few jumps over gaps in the ice, shutters clattering away.  

She plays at the edge of the water, breaking off a piece of ice with her teeth, and tossing it up onto the solid ice next to her.  

She lies on her back and rolls, sticking her feet in the air, just like you see in cartoons.  The backdrop is perfect, different colours and textures of ice, puddles of water in between that she plays in, reflects perfectly in, or jumps over.  The shutter clicks are off the scale.

  

I’m sweating buckets, because the ship has stopped and it’s sudden really warm out of the wind.  My feet are like blocks of ice because they have been fixed to the deck.  My arms are burning from holding my camera and big lens, my glasses are fogged up, as is my viewfinder, and the picture display at the back.  

I stop clicking and just watch, seeing it with my eyes rather than through the viewfinder, soaking it in.

But she is just showing off, so we keep clicking.  At one point the ship crushes in to some ice and makes a huge racket, and she jumps back a bit, uncertain.  But that doesn’t last long and she carries on performing for us, picks up more ice and tosses it.  

She squats and poops, and I wonder why I am still clicking, but I can’t seem to stop.  I’m in a clicking frenzy.  And it’s good to know how she manages not to get poop stuck in her fur.  

pooping

Then eventually when she’s had enough, she turns her back and wanders away.  But it’s not over just yet, she tries to climb on to an iceberg, and slips back, more shutter clicks.  

She wanders back to the spot we first saw her and has a wee lie down.  We can wait another half hour to see what she does, and she rests for a while, and then does another little pilates display, rolling on her back, paws in the air.  

This is a bit dark, the sun had come out and I overcompensated for the brightness, hopefully I can correct later in Lightroom, it will have to do for now

We start to back the ship out, it’s time to go.  She comes back over, as if to see us off, and then loses interest and wanders off.  We say goodbye and wish her well for the coming winter.  She won’t breed for another couple of years, and then she will either be pregnant or have cubs to care for.

We hi-five amongst ourselves, because it feels like we just experienced some magic.

Chris arranges for a group photo while we are all on deck.

 

Photo credit Chris McLennan

Front row from left to right, Dan, Rinie the bear whisperer, Chris, Belinda, Danette, Aurora, Neha, Esther and Mick.
Back row from left to right, Kellie, Craig, me, Dave, Reed, Peter, Barbara, Jaime, Natalie Shikar. 

We are all ecstatic, such an amazing experience, and we go inside to start checking what pix we got.  I have taken 1305 photos of this bear alone.  The ingredients for the photo are so insanely good, it’s hard to get a crappy shot.  The landscape is amazing, the bear is beautiful, she was engaged and playful.  I’m ecstatic and I just can’t believe my luck.  I have seen a polar bear, on the ice, in the artic.  So good.

We were all inside frantically downloading our pictures, when we heard Rinie on the intercom, saying we had arrived at the glacier terminal.

The glacier front is 100 nautical miles long, and it is the third largest ice cap in the world, behind Antarctica and Greenland.  It goes on as far as the eye can see, and is so thick it looked like a land mass or a cloud on the horizon as we approached.  Unfortunately there is loads of really thick ice in front of the glacier, and it is too tricky and time consuming to navigate our way closer.  So we make the most of what we can see, which is plenty, snapping away furiously.  

That is a LOT of ice

Then we are done, it’s time to turn and head back up north, back the way we came.  It is too rough to sail around the bottom of Svalbard, so we go back up through the strait and we are heading for Magdalena fjord.  Rinie has arranged for breakfast to be a half hour later, since we had such an epic day today.
We head out on to the deck one last time, and I spot whale spouts in the distance.  I go back inside to spread the word and get my camera.  Most people have already gone to bed, but the few of us still up grab cameras and head out.  There are a few whales and multiple spouts, and then one surfaces right next to the boat.  Much excitement !  We initially think it is a blue whale, but later we check the "Animals of Svalbard" guide and realise it was a fin whale. 

Meals:

Lunch: cod brandade with lettuce and pana cota for dessert

Dinner: fish soup, spicy chicken with paprika sauce and vegetables with brownie and caramel sauce for dessert

Bear count: 6

number of photos taken today: 1600+  Just as well I am not paying for film !!

This is our location at the end of day 7, before we head back north.