The chargers reunited, and wildlife all around us
Waking up in Ymerbukta, a beautiful bay that ends at a glacier, I opened the curtains and off the balcony were reindeer on a hillside. Am I still dreaming?
So they had their breakfast, we had ours, and then it was off to cruise the bay in zodiacs.
Later that afternoon at lunch, a few of us chargers ambushed one another in the dining room to decide if we would go again as chargers or drop back to the ‘medium-fast’ gang for something more relaxed.
Down in the ready room, the chargers did reconvene but we had lost 1 more. Now just 4 of us from our original 6 - but we were eager to head to shore to tackle another hike through deep snow and narrow ridges in search of wildlife and gorgeous vistas.
We hiked kilometres over the most gorgeous afternoon, and ultimately after a few pushes further, we met a small herd of reindeer. Magic. We sat ourselves down on the hill and soaked up every last second we could, promising Tara we’d hurry our little bums back so she didn’t get in trouble.
The reindeer wandered closer and closer to us, just some metres away at one point. It was magical. My face hurt from smiling so much. These were some of the best moments of my life.
On our walk back, we rehearsed our future social interactions with the rest of the ship. No photo sharing until after the last day of hikes, and if anyone asks if we saw any wildlife… “A few reindeer, from a distance” so the next day the chargers group wouldn’t be all 103 guests aboard the ship. We were joking of course, but mostly serious too.
An arctic fox on a mountainside as we approached from a zodiac
Svalbard reindeer
After another unbelievably satisfying day and evening, I and each one of my sore muscles crashed for the night while we sailed up further north up the west coast of Svalbard.
We woke up in Magdelenefjorden, where we would zodiac out to meet a walrus colony. They were sprawled out over a small peninsula just in front of a glacier. It was really like a fairy tale we were living in here, if you take away the smell and sounds of the walruses of course.
Crew scouting
Reaching the Arctic pack ice at just beyond 80°N later that night
Ice obsessions
