Svalbard in the Arctic - June 27, 2013

Overnight, we sailed to Storoya island in the upper northeast of Svalbard.  Here, we were above 80 degrees and only 600 miles south of the north pole!  It was a gorgeous day with crystal clear blue skies and calm water.  In fact, unlike Antarctica, this trip was incredibly smooth sailing.  No need for anything for sea sickness avoidance.  In the morning, we went for zodiac rides with the traditional stop at the Hot Chocolate zodiac with homemade hot chocolate spiked with peppermint schnapps – yummy.  The ice in the Arctic is much different than Antarctica.  There are no large towering ice sculptures that typically break off from the coast.  Here the ice is flat and smooth.  Sometimes, there will be some height to the formations which comes from sheets smashing together.

After lunch, we saw some interesting polar bear behavior.  From our vantage point, we had two different polar bears in view.  One traveled quite far towards the other one by swimming and walking across the ice.  As they approached each other, we wondered if there would be confrontation but in then, they mostly avoided each other.  Later in the afternoon, Jared Diamond spoke again, this time recounting the story of the Ice Balloon, the explorer Salomon Andree's attempt to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon in 1897 which ended up failing in Svalbard/Kvitoya island.