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(from 22nd August) After sailing all night, we made it into Konigsfjord, and past the scientific research station of Ny Alasund just before breakfast. The sky was clearing. Well, quite a bit of it was blue, and that gave everything…
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Blue ice, land bear
(from 21 August) The trip to Liefde Fjord, overnight was lumpy and the boat rolled quite a bit. Good to be rugged up in one’s bunk, asleep. In the fjord was flat, but the weather had come in again: limited…
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Walrus hunt
(from 20 August) We woke for breakfast to discover that we had parked quite close to a haul-out of upwards of fifty walruses. It was cold and misty, but not raining, and the water was calm. No wind to speak…
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Bird cliffs
(original from 19 August) By morning we were in calm waters, but the skies were leaden and there was light rain. Still, that was no impediment to a zodiac outing to see the bird cliffs, straight after breakfast (9:30). Got…
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Birthday cake
(from the 18th, of course) The day really didn’t start very well. I had a migraine that had come on around three AM, and the weather was bleak and the water lumpy and uncomfortable. Cath found me some aspirins, which…
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Midnight Bears, 3AM bear and seven islands passage
(written 17 August) Martin woke us around midnight to say that the bears had come back to near the boat. Got back into all of the thermal gear and headed out to have a look. At first it seemed to…
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There’s a bear out there
(written on 16th August) We were in the ice by about three this morning, but it was foggy, and no-one was making a fuss, so I stayed in bed for a couple of hours more. Got up a bit after…
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Away on the billowy ocean
(written on 14th August) The plan is to steam hard north for a day or so, to make it to the pack ice. Yay! Last night we steamed up the west coast while we slept, inside the protection of Prins…
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Boarding day
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,…
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Svalbard placeholder
Yesterday was as close to a lay day as we’ve had so far. Mostly poking around the local gear shops, worrying if we have the right jackets and trousers. Met some of the folk at the Wildphoto gallery and confirmed…