5th – Cuddly bears

Just because you are on vacation the weather doesn’t need to be good. We have been experiencing all day with a slight mist and low-hanging clouds, but fortunately only the occasional drizzle.

I got up early in the morning (at 0300!!) to try and see if I could get anything constructive out of the sunrise. The colours were nice but there wasn’t as much as I had hoped, but despite that it did make a nice background for the birds flying around.

Sunrise.

Blue whale.

Back to bed an hour later and up with the rest of the ship at 0700 for the usual morning schedule before finding us in Hamiltonbukta where we took the zodiacs out in two groups: one landed and had a walk near an old whaling hut while the others zoomed about among the ice. After an hour or so we switched and coming out we got to see a young walrus up close resting on a small piece of ice, not doing much else other than keeping a careful eye on us. The group that started in the zodiacs had seen it circling the boats and climbing up onto the ice, showing that seeing wildlife is all about being at the right place at the right time.

Territorial fights and fighting over food was not uncommon to see among the birds.

Young walrus.

Back on the ship for lunch we relocated and in the process we spotted two more polar bears – a mother and her fairly large cub. They were quite far away and they were clearly just lying down resting and cuddling up to each other. That combined with poor visibility and the “must see a polar bear”-stress being over it seemed only a few people came out to look.

So far away.

Having relocated we landed at around 1600 for a walk; there were short, medium and long walks available and the latter would bring you up onto a summit of a nearby mountain/tall hill. It was according to our guide 300 meters and a bit and had the weather actually been nice with good visibility the view would have been spectacular.

 

We were back on the ship at 1845 just making it for dinner and skipping briefing. Dinner was followed by a trip to the bar, and at several occasions we rushed out trying to photograph the dolphins and whales that were in the water around us, all with varying success – mostly very little.

Just a hint of sun came out towards the end of the day.