A magical landscape of ice

Today we woke up to the sound of sea ice sliding along the ship's hull. When you opened the curtains, there were big chunks of sea ice as far as you could see. I have seen my share of sea ice, both around the coast line of Svalbard but also on the North Pole & South Pole. But I simply never get tired of it. This type of landscape has its own energy, its own, almost magic atmosphere.

From here on - there is nothing but ice until you reach the North Pole.
An exciting but also a scary thought. Up here you are truly exposed to the rough elements, both the wind and the cold. But today we were lucky, again. The sky was as clear as crystal and there was not even a tiny breath of wind. We spent a couple of hours on the water in the Zodiacs, surfing between the sea ice sheets, just taking in the view.

 After that, all the guests got to experience what swimming in 0,5DC feels like, since we organised the famous “polar plunge” at 80,30DN. Since we did the plunge in the pack ice, Zodiacs were continuously busy to clear the gangway area of ice, at least so the guest had some space to swim around. 
We got to see a lot of funny faces, and a lot of brave souls embracing the challenge to jump into such cold water.