Arctic Adventure - day 6

The good news was that we didn't get a wake up call at 4.45 am, the bad news is that we weren't rudely awoken as a previous kill had disappeared and there were no polar bears or arctic foxes in the area - the ship therefore sailed on.

Anchored in the fjord

We reverted to our usual routine, breakfast and then a trip in the zodiacs for a rather laborious uphill trek to see mountainous glacial landscapes.   It was actually fascinating, amazing and sobering in its grandeur, but more of that later.

As we climbed up the hillside, once again we were walking in several inches depth of boggy tundra - each time one foot went down the other rose with the pressure - when we were on terra firma it was scree and loose rocks.   All this completed in wellington boots!

Ptarmigan

Nearing the top of the first summit with the main group ahead of us, a call from behind drew my attention to movement next to me and as I slowly turned and reached for the binoculars a ptarmigan was feeding between the rocks on the hillside just a few yards away from me.   Most of us were spellbound by finding this male so close to the group, the white plumage and the red marking on the face were brilliant and we just wanted to stand and watch.   Our interest drew the attention of the rest of the group and we then had to warn them not to backtrack too quickly so they didn't scare him off.   Luckily there were a few experienced birders in the group and they realised what our hand-signals meant and everyone who wanted to, got good views.  

Soggy Tundra

This was a long but very productive walk where lots of flowers were seen and the huge landscape made for great photography and as we looked back to The Antarctic Dream it was dwarfed by the mountains and glaciers all around.

When we finally got to the top of the hillside we were climbing we had views of the fjord beind us and of a retreating glacier with terminal moraine behind us.   As we all appreciated the landscape and watched with binoculars and took photographs our guides called us together.  

On top of the World

They asked us to sit for five minutes in perfect silence and just look, hear, taste and smell the environment.   Whilst at first there were a few askance looks, everyone took part and the longer we sat the more we heard.   The whistle of the breeze against the land, and the distant running of the meltwater far in the valley.  

Soon, it was time to break the silence and make our way back to the ship for our lunch.   As we dined we sailed back to the fjord entrance so that we could visit a Brunnich's Guillemot colony - where there are said to be 100,000 pairs - lucky the person who had to count them all!

Brunnich's Guillemot Colony

So, our afternoon was spent in zodiacs cruising along at the base of their colony set high up on the cliffs, we spent over two hours enjoying these superb little birds as they protected their territory on the ledges and flew back and forth for feeding and washing in the sea around us.   They showed absolutely no fear of  us and at one stage as I photographed the birds in the sea around our boat one actually came up to the camera and pecked at it.   Absolutely fantastic!   I took far too many photographs, but it was hard to resist trying to capture these great sights.

Nosey!

As we watched we realised that the kittiwakes had taken over the higher parts of the cliffs, there were also odd glaucous gulls watching for an possible weaknesses to exploit.   We did see a gull eating a dead guilliemot by pecking at the abdomen as it floated on the sea.  

Finally, we had to drag ourselves away - even the non-birdwatchers in our boat were amazed at the size of the colony and enjoyed the activity and sounds of such a large colony.  

Back on board and there was just time for tea and biscuits before dinner - then it was (hopefully) off to see some walrus.  As we prepared for dinner several seals were spotted lying on icebergs, seemingly unmoved by our presence.



The one plant I found on the Polar Desert



As we dined the ship carried on down the strait towards our next stop and by the time dinner was finished we had dropped anchor and it was time to put on the thermal layers again and climb down into the zodiacs for another shore trip.   This time we were to split into two groups.   The first would go for a walk in an polar desert and the second would go to see the walrus, then the groups would swap around.  This way the disturbance of walrus was kept to a minimum and the regulations for watching them were maintained with regard to noise and distance.   It was agreed that if anyone wanted to spend further time watching there would be a late departure by agreement.

Jostling and grumbling

We were in the second group and went to see the walrus first.   We had a briefing on the beach so that everyone was absolutely sure of what we had to do before we moved towards the animals.   Basically move slowly forward as one group until our two armed guides indicated that we had reached the point where we should fan out slowly.   We were reminded to keep quite and if we wanted to move away to quietly move behind the group and await further instructions.   At no time were we to move away from the safety of the group and more importantly the armed guides.   If disturbed or frightened the walrus would simply move off into the sea and that would be the end of our viewing session.   So off we set.  

They're soooo cute

We moved forward towards two large groups of males who had hauled out onto the beach.  This is a well known site for them and they were happily piled up in a huge heap with their flippers around each other, lying top to tail, some even across or on top of each other and with tusks digging into each others bellies.  They pack together closely to keep warm and move around so that the outer ones eventually end up in the middle and then gradually move back to the edge again when they get overheated.   Every so often one would move and dig a neighbour in the belly with its tusk, the disturbed walrus would then have a dig at another walrus and so on - after a few minutes of wrestling and grumbling they would all settle back down to their grunting, groaning, burping and farting, jostling and squabbling, all completely oblivious of the fact that 40-odd homo-sapiens were watching from a few hundred yards away.   Their whiskers were magnificent and their cute faces were enhanced by their open nostrils which accentuated the shape of their heads.   Despite their lumbering size they were enigmatic and totally cute and if you haven't guessed already, they were one of my surprise highlights of the trip - I want to be a walrus!

A heap of walrus

We estimated that there were around 80 in one heap and 30 in the second.   The males feed and loaf in this area whilst the females and calves use a more easterly area of Nordaustlandet.   After about 2 minutes it was time for the groups to swap over and we moved away to the desert area.  This was an area created by uplifted glacial beaches.   There is no rain in this area and therefore very few plants.   After viewing the tip of the world's third largest ice cap (that on Nordaustlandet only beaten by the Antarctic and Arctic ice caps) we were offered the chance to view the walrus for one last time before we had to go back to the ship.  Standing by the ice cap was cold and although it was tempting to go straight back, I couldn't resist one last look at my new found favourites, so it was back to the beach for another 15 minute session of bliss. . . . .

What more can I say, it was love at first sight.