Arctic Adventure - Day 8

Reflections

Today's challenge is to finally see if we can be the first vessel to circumnavigate Spitsbergen this year and to do this we need to navigate between the two islands of Barentsoya and Edgeoya through the Sundbukta Freemansundei an icy strait which may not be thawed sufficiently for the ship to pass through.

Greater black-backed gull

As we breakfasted the weather was bright and calm - so calm in fact that fantastic reflections of the coastline and icebergs appeared in all directions.   As the ship created a bow-wave there are two reflections of the sun.   Nearing Edgeoya a polar bear is sighted but too far away for good views.   Several Brunnich's guillemot, kittiwakes, fulmar and seals are spotted as we enter the strait but in nowhere near the numbers previously seen.   Ice and water are constantly sucked back and forth in the strait and therefore the sea here is of little food value - hence the lack of visible wildlife.

After a warming coffee and comfort stop it's back to the bow for some more iceberg bashing.   As the day wears on and lunch time beckons we tentatively venture on towards Spitsbergen ahead of us.   Hopefully as the ice gets more solid there will be more scope for polar bear sightings!

Pomarine skua

The bird of the morning were two pomarine skua which gave us a couple passes before disappearing off into the distance, another unexpected sighting was a greater black-backed gull, not usually seen in this area.   During lunch we were disturbed by a couple of walrus and before we  had finished our post-lunch tea a bearded seal delighted us - lying out on an iceberg which floated by.

In the afternoon, our guide Rinie gave a lecture on Polar Bears then later we had an update on tomorrow's plan.   The latest ice chart shows that the ice we had expected today has actually moved south (hence our easy passing through the strait) and we should now pass through it tomorrow morning instead.   This means a re-working of tomorrow's landing for a little auk colony.  

Fulmar (blue morph)

The late afternoon was spend on deck trying to get a decent photograph of a flying fulmar - over 400 shots later and there was still room for improvement.   After dinner we passed a Russian ship only the third vessel we had seen during our trip.   We continued through impressive sea and landscapes.   The sunlight glowing on the ripples in the wake of the ship.   Went to bed at 10.30 pm, tired but thrilled at having passed through such amazing scenery, and a little sad as we only have three more nights on board our cruise.

Sunlight on the icebergs