All good here – well, I say good, sadly another migraine day for me today and with the addition of fuel stench from my rookie rear seating on the morning RIB trip, accompanied by a visit to the toilet very ill!! Spent the afternoon sleeping after paracetamol, then finally can converse happily, partake in dinner and hopefully sleep well later (though truth be told, already dreading another day of such a pain..!). It seems the brightness (which of course never lessens as never night time dark here in the Arctic!) is uncharacteristically bright and positively warm at 2 degrees today, sure I would be better if cloudy though photos not as amazing set against a bright blue sky!
So last night saw a bearded seal who resembled Father Christmas and had me smiling to myself as he seemingly bowed his head to check whether the big ship before him was infact a mirage, to then look up and say ‘oh sh*t, it’s still there …!” – this went on until sadly we needed to leave him with his frozen whiskers and confused state …..
Today a RIB boat out to the rocks and watch the molted father birds encourage their young to JUMP – neither able to fly until feathers regrown and fledglings matured! Apparently this performance (60,000 pairs approx) only happens over a few days each year so it seems again we were witnessing a splendid, rare sight.
FACTS:
Had a very informative lecture about the rock formations and ice melts from a chap highly knowledgeable about his (and many other!) subjects which he regurgitates into words we actually understand! I wondered why animals would live here, but of course they have evolved to cope with extreme temperatures (arctic fox can cope with minus 30!) and would die in heat; Arctic algae grown best in extreme salty ice waters (more salty than our seas) which is an incredibly rich food source for fish, which in turn feeds seals, crustaceans abundant for walrus and polar bears loving life! If ice melts, algae non existent etc and so the downward spiral would continue….. not even thinking about the floating ice needed for seals and bears to rest on, a vast melted expanse far to great for most to swim between …. worrying but fascinating….
We saw an arctic fox in his summer (grey) coat then I spied one in winter coat – WHITE! Thankfully got a great piccy of his not so hiding face…
In the afternoon we went out again and were meant to land and walk about on land but a polar bear walking about meant we couldn’t so sailed about on RIB watching an enormous walrus and the bear from a distance …. truly lovely.
Tonight (in the land that never gets dark!), one of the chaps we have met (Roger) is playing drums in the band – some of the crew members apparently become a band in the evening and play in the bar …. to be continued …
