Photos
Well, we knew with the time change that it would be a short
night. So, I planned to sleep in and have breakfast at 8am and gentle yoga at
9am and maybe chair yoga at 10:15am. Serenity had other plans. Clay said
sometime after midnight he noticed the message light on the phone had started
flashing but he didn’t want to wake me by turning a light on to work the phone.
When I got up to pee about 4:20am, he checked the message. We had won the
lottery of unscheduled adventures. We had tickets outside our door for an
8:15am zodiac excursion in ice. We decided we’d go and hope for more than just
ice for $149pp plus the lost sleep and disrupted breakfast. At 6:30am we both got
up again after we received an e-alert for sea ice. We showered, dressed and went
to Bistro for coffee and pastries. Back to the cabin to finish gearing up.
Since we wouldn’t be going ashore, we didn’t need boats but at 34F and staying
in the zodiac for our scheduled hour, it would be cold. We both wore our enormous
parkas today. They definitely kept us warm. We were really lucky with our draw
today! Shortly after our 2nd group of zodiacs headed out we received
a radio call of where to head and to report what we saw. We saw a polar bear!
He was a most cooperative bear and sat on a large ice berg for over 3 hours. He’d
get up and walk from one end to the other and then sit or lie down again, but
he didn’t jump in and swim away. We parked about a football field away from him
and sat and just watched him for about 20 minutes. What a relief! After no
polar bears in Svalbard last summer, I was worried about spending this much
money again to not see any. So we got lucky and got our trip in with perfect timing.
We left him with time to go look at other sea ice and to hunt for the numerous
seals we kept seeing around. We found an ice berg with seal poop on it but we
didn’t get a good look at any seals. Just random heads popping up and down at a
distance. While we were parked and ice bear watching, a zodiac with 2 big urns and
a number of crew approached behind us and offered hot chocolate. A nice touch!
Back onboard, we stripped out of the heavy gear and dressed
for our first late breakfast at Tastes about 10am. They have some different
food than the dining room or Lido. For example, they had blintzes which I had
not seen elsewhere. I had chocolate chip pancakes and Clay had fried eggs. We
crossed the pool deck and went to Palm Court to check things out. Before
leaving the cabin, we had the TV on 82 and had seen the Cineflex view of the polar
bear. Evidently they had lost track of him. We waited for a turn on the big
mounted binoculars but couldn’t find him. They were doing knitting on one side and
cross stitch on the other. The sample cross stitch kits were out on display on
a counter and Clay picked one he’d like to try as a tablet cover. He asked me
to ask for it. I did and she had me sign for it before asking if I had already
gotten one. I pointed out the one I am working on now and a little over half finished.
She told me when I have finished it that if I bring it to her, then she will
give me the one Clay picked out. The pressure is on now! According to the navigation
map outside the Palm Court, we are just port side of the channel in Vitoria
Strait. There is a kind of bay there on the east side of Victoria Island. We
are at 69N 110W. Oh, while we were having breakfast, Clay checked his tablet and
while we were out bear watching there were 2 e-alerts sent out about the polar
bear. Hopefully everyone got to at least see it on Cineflex.
We came back to the cabin and brushed our teeth and Clay got
some photos uploaded and I cross stitched while watching the Cineflex. At one
point, the camera panned around until there was what appeared to be a white
cruise ship with a reddish funnel in the distance. He did stay on it or display
it clearly enough to tell what ship it was.
There is an Asian themed lunch today. Clay says there is
nothing for me for dinner tonight again. Not to worry, I could probably live
off my own body fat for months! Clay found the day’s movie channel schedule on the
TV and said there are 2 we can watch this afternoon. We still have the DVD for
this evening. We have no other plans today except the recap at 5pm before
dinner.
The orange-funneled white cruise ship is back and Clay has
ventured out to see if he can spot it again. You mostly can’t tell where that
Cineflex is pointed. It is too bad they didn’t send their aerial photography drone
out again today. Clay says the other ship is approaching from forward on the starboard side.
If we sit here long enough, we may be able to read it. The captain’s noon
announcement today did not come through the TV and by the time we figured that
out and got the door to the hall open we had missed most of it. He did say we’d
stay here at least another hour. The orange funneled white cruise ship had dark blue characters on it but it was beyond Shackleton and we couldn't read it. We learned later that it was the Bremen.
So, the unexpected adventures today were only by zodiac.
When we requested them, we could choose kayak, helicopter, fast boat or zodiac.
We chose only zodiac and fast boat. It sounded this morning like they will do 4
more days of unexpected adventures before Pond Inlet. We’ll see.
This afternoon we started watching a movie only to learn there were a lot of polar bears in ice in front of us. We spent at least the next 2 hours slowly turning the ship to see them all as we drifted and the ice drifted. It was amazing once we could get enough clothes on to stay out there. We saw at least 3 individual bears on ice or swimming and sometimes one of each. But the most amazing thing was a mother with 2 cubs swimming and then standing, walking, hugging, snuggling on the ice for hours! The last thing we saw was a polar bear with a dead seal bloodied all over the ice. About 4 pm the captain came on the intercom and announced that the teams' plan from 24 hours earlier had been successful beyond their dreams and it was time for us to get underway again. It was a great day! Ice Bears!
I want to say that even though I don't like requiring everyone who wants viewing opportunity e-alerts instead of say shipwide announcements, the team has done a good job with them. If you're willing to always carry a phone or tablet, the e-alerts will keep you informed in a fairly timely manner.
This afternoon we started watching a movie only to learn there were a lot of polar bears in ice in front of us. We spent at least the next 2 hours slowly turning the ship to see them all as we drifted and the ice drifted. It was amazing once we could get enough clothes on to stay out there. We saw at least 3 individual bears on ice or swimming and sometimes one of each. But the most amazing thing was a mother with 2 cubs swimming and then standing, walking, hugging, snuggling on the ice for hours! The last thing we saw was a polar bear with a dead seal bloodied all over the ice. About 4 pm the captain came on the intercom and announced that the teams' plan from 24 hours earlier had been successful beyond their dreams and it was time for us to get underway again. It was a great day! Ice Bears!
I want to say that even though I don't like requiring everyone who wants viewing opportunity e-alerts instead of say shipwide announcements, the team has done a good job with them. If you're willing to always carry a phone or tablet, the e-alerts will keep you informed in a fairly timely manner.
