Zoe is 15 today. 

It is a balmy 8 degrees C (47 degrees F) with a brilliant blue sky. We are shocked at the magnificent weather we are having. There is no wind and the seas are absolutely calm. We are basically in the same position as last night. There is sea ice nearby and two polar bears were seen but they are so far in the distance and hardly discernible even with a telescope. We did not bother going to try to see them. The game plan for today was wide open -see what we might see and hope for more animal sightings.

Ella, the self proclaimed “Princess of Whales” started a presentation on whales when suddenly the bridge announced over the PA system that a bear has been seen near the coast line. Well, that sure ended the presentation as even Ella left the podium to join the rest of us outside looking for the fairly close in bear. Sure enough we got to see one, even without the aid of binoculars. It was on the move and often went behind small hills, but we got enough views to at least satisfy ourselves for awhile. Once we were convinced the bear was gone we returned to the lounge for more morning lectures (Ella planned to finish hers at a later date).

There was an excellent presentation by visiting lecturer (Matthias Breiter) who is an expert on polar bears. He told us about the habits of the bears and shared stories of his interaction with them in the field. Several of the stories were pretty scary.

Our on-board guest lecturer, Tony Wheeler, the founder of Lonely Planet books, shared  stories of some of his travels and places visited in the past thirty years. He really enjoys going to relatively unknown historical sites and given his notoriety he seems to be able to gain access to places you and I probably could not go to, like North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria. 

Suddenly it was lunch and because the weather was so good, the staff set up another outdoor luncheon on the aft deck. When the sun hits you no jacket was needed but if you moved in the shade you got chilly very quickly. It reminded me of Colorado weather in the winter.

All morning long we cruised slowly along the east shore of Spitsbergen, looking for animals.  No luck, but the surrounding scenery was so spectacular no one really minded. The captain had hoped to proceed north to go through one of two gaps to get to the east side of Edgeoya and Barentsoya, the other major islands in the southern part of the archipelago where satellite imagery showed open water.  Unfortunately the ice was still too thick for us to penetrate either of the channels separating the islands. We had to turn back and go back the way we came.

In the afternoon it was decided that because the weather was so good and the seas remained calm the kayaks would be offloaded for those interested in doing some kayaking amidst the floating ice and icebergs, of which there were few relatively large ones floating nearby. For those not interested in kayaking the staff offered Zodaic rides in the same general area. Yvonne and I chose the Zodiac rides while Steve and family decided to kayak. We lucked out by having a local Danish naturalist, Kasper Jaeger, as our guide, for he is very conversant about the area having lived and worked here for many years. He took us over to a walrus sleeping on a patch of ice and clarified and added to what we had heard about walrus yesterday. He also explained a lot about what life was like living and working in this area, when there is total darkness for several months during the winter! It was a stunning hour ride on the water.

We no sooner returned to the ship to hear that the “polar plunge” would be occurring later after the kayakers returned. This seems to be a tradition with Lindblad as they did the same thing when Steve and I were in Antarctica in 2013. I had considered doing it then but did not as Steve said maybe it would be a bit much for a 72 year old. Well, I am 78 tomorrow and felt it was time! Besides Steve, Julie and Zoe were going to do it. Yvonne said she really wanted to  go BUT someone had to photograph the event and she sadly volunteered so the rest of us could go.  The water temperature was around 36 degrees, the ship’s physician was standing by along with the bar staff with shots of hot soup and vodka so what could go wrong! We were some of the first to jump in, figuring the longer we waited the better the chance someone might chicken out; at this point Julie seemed like the most likely candidate as she was wavering. Steve and Zoe went together and Julie and I followed. I was surprised at how deep I went; it seemed like a long time before I broke the surface and reached for the helping hands of staff members who were there to help pull people out. I quickly wrapped myself in a towel and downed both the hot soup and vodka.  I had done it and I have an embroidered patch to prove it! Furthermore I believe I was the oldest person on board this trip to do the polar plunge.

The evening wrap up included two short talks. Dennis talked about his love of flowers and Peter Webster, a dive specialist, showed some video that took while diving on one of our stops. He did admit to wearing a dry suit during the dive in the frigid waters.

It is summer solstice and that is a reason for a big celebration by the Swedish people. Sara, our Swedish chef, appeared at the lectern wearing a garland of flowers to tell us about the special Swedish dinner she has prepared for our dinner, starting with aquavit and pickled herring made multiple ways. We were apprehensive about the herring. I tried the herring and it was not bad; washed down with aquavit made it palatable, but it still does not make the list of my favorite foods.