Breakfast and pack-up were fairly leisurely, aiming for a 10:30 check-out, then a taxi ride (for our luggage at least) down to the Wildphoto gallery, where it would spend the day. Unfortunately the first taxi was half an hour away, so we opted to carry/trundle our luggage the few hundred meters down the hill ourselves. No harm done.
Met everyone briefly at the gallery, and had a bit of a briefing about the boarding procedures, and some discussion about photography that we wanted to get from the trip. Selected rental rubber boots, for RIB landings. Then, having a couple of hours to kill, we went off to do some more shopping: tissues, sunscreen, that leatherman tool that had been calling to me from the gear shop. Wound up in the Svalbar, where we spent an enjoyable time slowly drinking excellent beer and eating a very nice peperoni calzone.
Back to the gallery in time for ferrying the gear to the dock, where we loaded it into hand carts, down the pier with it and then onto the boat. We all have separate cabins, but (at least at first) Cath and I are going to share one and use the other for gear storage. Who knows if that will last. Worked OK last night.
Cast off was shortly after five, as expected. First go at photographing birds on the wing before dinner at seven. Bit more photography and then crashed to bed around 8:30.
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