mumandpoo

Poo’s Polar Plunge

When on this ship in Antarctica Poo didn’t attempt to try the waters. He tells me this time that it was a regret so when the time came for the Polar Plunge he was all in. Don’t really feel he did Qantas proud in their pyjamas, but I forgot the swimmers, so they were the next best thing.

Only Poo would be stupid enough to stop in that cold water and wave to the crowd before the return

I.m sure they all go into that freezing water for the nip of vodka they are rewarded with when they get back up the gang plank. Poo was given two nips, they reckon his swim deserved it.

Our Up Close and Personal Bear

When an announcement comes over the speaker “Bear on Ice” you would not believe how fast forty-five people can jump out of bed, on with the yellow parkas and make it out on deck or to the bridge. That’s what makes this ship so great. Whatever time day or night, a bear is spotted from the bridge its all up.

This bear was lying on the ice at three in the morning. During the next half hour he amazed us. He walked around,looked at us, came a little closer, went back to lying and rolling, then slowly made up his mind he would take a look. Absolutely out of this world stuff.

The number of times he had to cross over onto ice and he still wanted to have a look at us

Bears, What We Came For

Bears were high on the list for this trip, and you can never be sure you are going to find them, but its what makes a trip here to Svalabard so wonderful. With a Captain who just delights in finding bears on the ice, we were so lucky. Twenty-one bear sightings in all and to see these creatures in their natural habitat makes it even more special.

Our first bear sighting, a lone bear walking along the shore. We watched this one from the zodiac. He was wearing a GPS collar, part of the tracking program up here. The only bear we sighted in the program.

Our second bear, we nicknamed “Salad Bear”. Sadly eating green grass on the side of a hill. Really not the food to keep her alive till the ice comes back.

The wonderful sight of a mother bear on the ice with two babies we will always remember. We saw two of these threesomes.

These babies were so cute as they jumped across the ice. Baby 1

Baby 2

Ooops, didn’t quite make it

They continued to roll on their backs, to cool off

This was one of my best moments. After entertaining us for quite some time,mother bear turns off and takes her cubs off into the distance to do what bears do best. And after being woken by the captain at 2.am we also went back to bed.

One sad moment, we came across a recent kill. Actually the bear was still eating as the ship came out of the fog. We know the bears have got to live, but sadly another seal has died. One thing most noticeable, very few seals lying on the ice. No doubt they have learnt that to survive here they have to keep themselves hidden from the bears.