Ice!

15 Jul 2010

Ice!

By Blog.Admin

After breakfast this morning we went to an informative lecture by the glaciologist, Robert Gilmore on sea ice and what we can expect on our trip to the North Pole...Date: July 12, 2010
Time: 1900
Location: 81 degrees, 58 minutes North / 51 degrees, 14 minutes East

So much has happened today! After breakfast this morning we went to an informative lecture by the glaciologist, Robert Gilmore on sea ice and what we can expect on our trip to the North Pole. He explained that the ice is "sea ice" and relatively young compared to glaciers. Glaciers are fresh water and are rarely seen up here.

Well guess what?!? Right after the lecture a glacier floated past us on the starboard side - 80 degrees, 29 minutes north. Robert was really shocked when we showed him the picture. Cara instinctively thought it was an iceberg, but checked with the expert just to be sure. We really enjoy having conversations with Robert in the bar over some drinks. The expedition staff are always around and up for conversation.

In the afternoon we went to another amazing lecture: this time by Kara Weller, the biologist, on polar bears. We learned about polar bear behaviour and biology. Hopefully we will see polar bears but Kara explained that they don't usually travel as far as the North Pole. Probably we will be out of luck until we get to Franz Joseph Land.

Before dinner, we hit the ice and we were out on the bow to watch the approach. We are really into the thick ice and can see it as far as the eye can see...which isn't that far as it's pretty foggy! However, we know it's out there for miles. The ship is amazing. We haven't slowed down at all since breaking through the ice. Other than the ship shaking and the noise the ice creates it's like the ice isn't even there!

We were excited to find an invitation in our cabin to go to the captain's quarters for a pre-dinner drink. We thought he was great before but meeting the captain in such a small group was an even better way to be acquainted. He is quite funny and Cara wrote some great quotations. We really liked the Russian translator as well. She is filled with information about the ship, is incredibly friendly and always has a smile.

Being the last ones to leave his quarters (Cara always seems to be the first to arrive to a party and the last to leave), we were on a high going to dinner. We met our match though, as program coordinator Conrad Hennig sat down to join us for our meal. He is hysterically funny, witty and filled with stories of African safaris and northern Canadian expeditions. We are so grateful getting to know him.

We ended the day by seeing 3 polar bears. I was standing on the bridge and someone ran in and yelled "polar bear!" It was a mother and her 2 cubs. They started to run away and disappeared into the fog. I was really upset that Cara didn't get to see them, but hopefully we will see many more.

Guy

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