The 14th of July on the 19th plus Polar Bears.
The 14th of July on the 19th plus Polar Bears.
By Blog.Admin
Day 3 (July 19, 2010) - Today we are in Krossfjorden. We are going to cruise by and land at the 14th of July Glacier. Before we land and split into our groups, we cruise the shoreline and view over eight different bird species making their nest on the cliffs just outside the glacier - including the Puffin, which was the most popular birds spotted today. After landing on the glacier, a group walked onto the glacier for a look around, and the rest of us explored the shore, looking for plants and flowers surviving this windy chilly day.
After about an hour, those of us on shore climbed into a Zodiac with Graeme Snow (aka “Snowy”) for a Glacier cruise. As we cruised from left to right we spotted a bearded seal on one of the ice flows that had calved off the glacier. The rest of the passengers ashore joined us in their Zodiacs for a further look around, when we witnessed a very large calving that caused a large wave to come ashore. That wave just missed the last Zodiac. Graeme explained to us how the energy from the caving causes a tsunami-like wave to form under the water. When it gets closer to the shore large waves form.
This afternoon we visited the military and scientific post of Ny Alesund located in Kongsfjorden. It was a great place to explore and shop. The general store opened for our group and we all exercised our credits cards, buying maps, shirts and the most favorite item, wool socks. After our shopping stint, we walked through the town and everyone broke off and explored areas of town including an Arctic tern breeding ground being studied by scientists. We saw pens housing Huskies and the bust of Roald Amundsen in the center of town. The town's Museum was very interesting to visit. One of the guests and Expedition Staff cam across the India Arctic Institute, across from the museum.
Tonight we cruised to Lilliehookbreen, where - yes - we saw polar bears! In fact, we were lucky enough to see 6 bears in total, two females each with a single cub, and two males eating a submerged whale carcass. The weather conditions today. Cold, white caps and snow didn’t hinder our group. We went down the gangway with purpose and drive to capture those magnificent animals on our digital cards.
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