Thursday, June 28, 2012

Sneaking up on Wildlife: Day 5 Part 3


6/21/2012 Thursday

Walrus on Ice
When we entered the fjord in which we engaged in the water sports, Lomfjorden, we came across another walrus haul out.  This time, they were on ice.  I was able to capture many close-up pictures of these big guys.  The ship just keeps sneaking up on wildlife.
Walrus haul out on ice.

Big ones are gonna take the plunge.

Splash.


Kaboom.

Checking out the ship.

He has something to say.  Look at the big one to the right.

Hello.


The Bear Hunt Continues
We spent a lot of time on our “bear hunt” with the ship.  It is enjoyable to spend time up on the bridge as the Captain and crew constantly make adjustments to move the ship in out of fjords looking for fast ice (Ice attached to land) to find polar bears.  The naturalists are stationed at spotting scopes or with binoculars searching the ice for bears.  Guests come and go from the bridge as they add their own set of eyes to the hunt.  I just spent a couple of hours there.  It is midnight now.  There were many false alarms as creamy dots on the white landscape turn out to be logs, dirty ice, reindeer, or seals.  We did have an actual bear sighting earlier in the day, but we were never able to get too close to it.  We did see some more walruses, seals, reindeer, and birds.  As I left, a dark, mysterious fog was enveloping our very sunny landscape.  Here is a peak of what it looks like at midnight in the Arctic.



End of Day 5

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