Polar bears and Polar plunge
PolarQuests guides are blogging from the ship Sea Endurance. Here you will find an excerpt from the trip 17-25 May 2017.
Far into Hornsund we suddenly see big tracks in the snow from the bridge. We follow the trails for a couple of kilometres towards Samarinvågen and as we reach the fjord ice we see a polar bear on the slope. We quickly jump in to our Zodiacs and on our way towards the bear we see that it's not just one bear, but two! We approach slowly and watch for a long time when the bear eats the remains of a prey, a seal. After a while, one of the bears was curious enough to follow us along the ice.
After lunch, several of the travellers choose to take a cool swim amongst the ice floes. The water measured minus 1.8 degrees, but it didn’t stop them! The sun was shining and everyone was happy.
Destinations
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Since 1999, we have taken travellers on once-in-a-lifetime trips to Svalbard. From May to September our three small expedition ships, carrying only 12 and 50 passengers, explore this magnificent Arctic archipelago. Unpredictability and flexibility are the main keywords when you travel with PolarQuest as the exact route depends on weather, ice conditions and wildlife encounters. Sometimes you might be woken up in the middle of the night if a polar bear has been spotted on the ice.