Birding at Bear Island, and meeting the midnight sun
The state of the sea ice and current state of the weather gave us a unique opportunity to make a special little detour on our way to Svalbard - heading off east to Bjørnøya, or Bear Island.
While I was in the middle of some morning yoga, announcements were made about whales and dolphins being spotted, and I cannot tell you how cold it is running out to the exterior deck barefoot in shorts and a t-shirt at 74°N in May. Despite the wildlife and scenic sea ice, the ocean was so calm this morning, I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to go from standing crane to warrior 3 without being thrown sideways onto the floor as we rolled through 5 metre swells.
After yoga, it was the perfect morning for a second slow coffee in the panorama lounge while we slowly forged our way through the ice to the island. Once there, we again jumped into zodiacs for some scenic cruising along the cliffs.
A humpback whale
White beaked dolphins
Squeezing through the pearly gates
Through all of my travels, for all of the time spent in polar regions over the last 20 years, so little of it has been in the summer, let alone outside the darkest depths of the winter.
Even living in Yellowknife, and for a few years the Yukon, I was always just a little south of meeting the midnight sun and 24 hours of sunlight. And then halfway through this cruise, the sun would just no longer set. I was excited, it was something I really looked forward to. I dreamt of staying up all night on deck bathed in low orange sunlight as we cruised past snowy mountains. There was a little of that, but our days were so full and I was so exhausted, there was just no hope of the all-nighters I was fantasizing about. But that was okay. These special moments of waking through the night and seeing sunlight on the curtains at 1am and 2am, and just taking some minutes alone out on the bow of the ship were enough. It was magical, and for a reason I don’t understand, the midnight sun just meant so much to me. I’ll never forget it.
The midnight sun
