June 10. Svalbard - a morning of animals.

 JUNE 10 2025, TUESDAY 

Svalbard Northern Region - Norway - Lloyds hotel, morning trip.

So first an update on yesterday, the scuttlebutt is that 3 people had to be recused from snow holes yesterday, so a lot of folk not understanding stay on the path.

Today we chose not to do the 3 hour hike up a mountain, surprise and chose to be a beach walk.  We lucked out and saw a seal on a rock, waiting for his butler to bring him his caviar.


Then our guide saw a family of reindeer on the cliff side.  Again I apologize for the pic had to do manual zoom as they were about 1 km away.  Still great to see in the wild.

Then as we were getting on at shore I saw a lady with a white plastic bag going through the rocks on the beach, I asked her if sh was collected garbage, and bold as brass she says “I am collecting sea glass as that is not protected or old”. Cue Merc and Josh getting angry.  Within seconds a staff guy was there saying dump it and then I walked away.  She was still on the beach talking to 2 staff while we moved away.  You know i love to get rocks from my trips but some places it is forbidden and these historic sites as some of them.  Just like we are asked not to walk on the moss as it takes 10 years for these lovely flowers to grow to this size.

A lovely morning.

A light lunch and then off for a zodiac trip around a glacial bay, Lisa our new NYC friend arranged for just 6 of us to be in the boat for this one.  It was lovely as there was lots of room to take pics etc.  We saw puffins, “murder birds” and even little jelly fish swimming in the water.  As we went into the ice field we sat for a few minutes to just enjoy the view is silence.   Bliss.








Back on board and played bingo and trivia, came in 3rd in trivia, Janice we needed you as phone a friend, lots of geography questions.

Then captain's farewell celebration, tomorrow is the one from the expedition team.  Then the big event POLAR PLUNGE.



Comments

  1. Janice HattJune 12, 2025 at 12:35 PM

    I wouldn't be a great help on geography, I'm afraid, so can't knock your 3rd place finish. That moss is worth preserving for sure!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May 27 Sea day

Image
 MAY 27 2025, TUESDAY  Foula, Shetland Islands, Scotland - United Kingdom this got changed due to weather So now we have a sea day to relax and learn about what is coming up.  This morning we meet the excursion team and hear about the next few days.  Then a zodiac briefing to learn how to get in and out of these “wonderful” modes of transport.   We got our boots and waterproofs and walking sticks yesterday and they all fit so don't have to go to the equipment exchange.  Also I am very excited that I got a jacket that fits so don’t have to go for jacket exchange.   I am sure there is a glass of something to keep me occupied. Then Bob is going to the kayak briefing as he wants to do this, I will not be doing this as we heard you have to get on these from the zodiacs so a strong no from me. 4:30 is trivia so that is booked, crazy group of New Yorkers but they have travelled the world so know a bunch of answers.   What a day.  Attended the mornin...
Read more

June 12 disembark in Longyearbyen and fly to Oslo

  Longyearbyen, Norway We are the last group to leave the ship so hanging out in the observation lounge while we wait. We get an hour long tour of Longyearbyen then they will drop us at the airport to sit around again.  I am sure there will not be much to do there.  It should be interesting as it looks like we are a small plane, we think about 100 people, to fly to Oslo.   I had hoped we would have more time to look around there but….   Depending on how we feel when we get there we will head into the city to see the sights.  Our flight to London is at 11 so we don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn.  We are excited that we will see night time again.  24 hours of light is lovely but it does a number to your sleep cycles.
Read more

June 3 Tromso

Image
 JUNE 03 2025, TUESDAY  Today some folks get off the ship and others join us as we head even further north. Tromsø - Norway  Today the program was changed since the cable car to the top of a mountain was under renovation.  So we got on the bus in the rain and headed off to a botanical garden, I had low expectations but it was lovely. Then back on the bus and off to a look out, did i mention it was raining, but along the way we saw reindeer so that was good. Then back on the bus to the Polar museum, which was heavily hunting which was a problem for some in the group as it was so cruel. But that was not the problem for Bob and I.  Bob and I had most problems with a “pride” presentation about “queers” in the exploration past,   WOW is all we can say.  Hopefully it was a translation problem.    We move on to the Arctic cathedral, it was lovely, they had glass angels but no way they would make it home in one piece. Back to the ship for a quick lun...
Read more