August 10
Whale of a Tale, or an EmBEARassment of Riches
We had our first rocking and rolling seas last night as we steamed over to the Smeerenburgfjord to anchor for the night. I awoke around 7 am, well satisfied I would pass on the whaling station archeology walking excursion this morning.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with Brayden, Ralph, Jim and Pam as Brayden considered whether to head to the shore or rustle up a game of hearts. Gary returned to photo analysis and sorting, so I wandered up to the bridge.
Timing is everything, right? There was considerable hub bub, as Capt. Kirk and another passenger were staring, along with Janna, at a teensy weensy white blob. Yep … Polar Bear #20 or #21 is a late entry for Bear Idol. He swam ashore from the sea, landing on a beach not far from the zodiac landing site. Robin, our leader, was on the radio, directing the shoreside staff to quickly round up guests and get them into the zodiacs. Daniil headed over to grab the remaindermen and women, along with the bear guide and spotter. All are now on the zodiacs, and the expedition has moved on to our late Bear Idol entry, arriving via the open fjord waters. He's said to be 3 to 4 years old and recently well fed.
Our captain reported to the bridge, wherein much discussion ensued as to the timing and nature of the remaining morning's expedition activities. Why are half of the officers on duty so absorbed in this schedule? Silly me .. it's the 10:30 REQUIRED Tuesday crew emergency drill. Neither rain, nor snow, nor bears, no whale remnants will alter our emergency drills. Today's episode revolved around a suspect paint locker somewhere in the nether regions of this ship. These drills are more extensive than those I remember on the larger ships .. we get all the way to virtually calling passengers with lifejackets to muster stations (except that doesn't mean us) and crew to the fire stations (except that does mean them). Confused ? If not, I can get you there. We finished up with a non-abandon ship order, followed by a required debriefing by all officers.
The groups are returning from the bear sighting, and group 4 is about to grab the zodiacs. Bear sighting? Late entry to Bear Idol? I had to go see for myself. We're the last to go ashore this morning. We put on our warm clothes and headed down to the boot room. Dang! Forgot my zodiac life vest, so ran back to grab it. We headed out with Robin Aiello, our resident marine biologist.
Our late Bear Idol entry was playing hard to get. He occasionally lifted his head, looked around and then slumped down in slumber. Our semi-finalists have nothing to fear from this entry. We headed over towards the whaling area, coming across a ring seal in the water. I hope that seal stayed at sea, or there was risk the polar bear would decide two lunches were better than one.
The clear sea was shallow in this area, giving us a great view of the sea bed. Robin was in her element, as the jellyfish came out in force. We learned all about the jellyfish, including one jumbo one who liked brown colored algae as part of its diet. We were ordered back to the ship, thinking we would head to Sallyhumna, site of the whale carcass. We did pick up the word 'magdafjord' on Robin's radio but thought little of it.
Expedition leader Robin announced we have exceeded our Maximum Observations of Polar Environments (MOPE) and, in keeping with a need to walk in the arctic, we are heading directly for the Magdelenafjord. I was torn .. this was one fjord I hoped to see but missed on the FJORDS trip in 2007, but who wants to miss the whale and the bears? We moped around during lunch, thinking of the missing whale carcass and its mother and 3 cub resident bears. A further evil thought filled my brain: who says there won't be a polar bear hanging out in Magdelenafjord, disrupting our landing plans?
We steamed around into the Magdelenafjord around 2 pm, and it is a scene of wonder. Some expedition huts are in the area, along with gorgeous skies, beautiful symmetrical peaks, a glacier and some interesting ski run possibilities. A group arrived on a yacht and had landed on a small sand island spit in the fjord. We were waving to them and getting ready to greet them from our zodiacs. Instead, Robin came back on the loudspeaker. Guess what? We'd had yet another polar bear sighted on land, thereby scrubbing our planned walk in Magdelenafjord.. The expedition staff was reworking the plans and they'd advise us shortly. Fine .. so it's time for POOCH. The revised plan was .. ta daaa .. go see the whale carcass at Sallyhumna and hope there are some bears when we arrive. The bear count now stands at #21 or #22, but who's counting anymore?
We reversed course out of Magdelenafjord, with a reputed Polish expedition ship from Gdansk that was, in reality, a Norwegian coast guard cutter entering from the open sea. Brayden swore he couldn't see the gun on the front of the ship (it was there) and there was a cool helicopter stationed at the back of the cutter
We got the call around 5:45 pm to board the zodiacs. We turned a corner and found two satiated bears snoring on the cliffs above the water. It was high tide in the fjord, meaning the whale carcass is submerged. The first group had both snow and hail on their ride; we missed that particular weather event. The dining staff, once again, will have to push back the farewell cocktail party and dinner. I got a few photos that are somewhat clear. These guys win the 'best bear on a cliff ledge' subcategory, but I still think either the ice floe bear or the mother and cub(s) are the favorites for the Bear Idol National Geographic winner, Svalbard Division, Summer 2010.
