Svalbard in the Arctic - June 25, 2013

 Glacier

Polar Bear devouring the seal it killed

In the morning, we worked our way over to Russebukta on the west coast of Edgeoya island. While we had had stronger winds the day before, we found an area with little wind so we were able to get off the boat to kayak. Following the kayak expedition, we went on a long walk on the tundra. It is very squishy, like walking on sponges. There were lovely purple saxifrage and willow trees less than an inch tall. A herd of reindeer walked in the area though we were fairly far away from them. Upon return to the ship, quite a few people did the polar plunge from a zodiac and the kayak platform on the side of the ship.

After lunch, we had a presentation by Jared Diamond, our global perspective speaker on board. He talked through the entire history of Norway in 36 minutes. It was quite impressive – he didn’t skip a beat and had no notes to refer to. During this time, we had traveled up to Sundbukta Freemansundet, between Edgeoya and Barentsoya islands. Before dinner, we saw our second polar bear on the ice followed by another bear with its two year old cub. After dinner, we happened upon our fifth polar bear having just killed a seal. The light was gorgeous as we watched in raptor for quite a while as the bear devoured its kill. The arctic gulls arrived rather quickly to take part in the meal.