A day in the pack ice

Below you can read an excerpt from the expedition on board M/S Stockholm, the 21st – 29th June.

Pack ice, Lady Franklinfjorden & Brennevinsfjorden
Even though it was an early wake-up call in the middle of the night, it was more than welcome, since one of the crew members had found a polar bear at Ytre Norskøya. The trip’s first and a most wanted was ticked off. Happy smiles and relief soon dominated the atmosphere on the ship…

We continued our quest passing the Island Moffen in the early morning and continued to the area around Lågøya. We found a good place to stop in Lady Franklin Fjord, where we spotted a polar bear in the distance. After some time it found its post at a seal’s breathing hole and didn’t move for many hours. We soon jumped in the Zodiac and headed out in the total calm weather and scouted along the coast and the ice. We found a beautiful blue iceberg and watched its fine details in the beautiful light. Soon after we also saw a bearded seal on the ice and we ended our Zodiac trip by landing on the sea-ice and enjoyed some chocolate.

Back on the ship we steered in direction of Brennevinsfjorden, breaking some fiord-ice on the way and enjoying the hills that mirrored themselves in the water and some low clouds that made the landscape even more dramatic.

In Brennevinsfjorden we discovered a female polar bear with a cub and followed them through our binoculars, but they didn’t look as if they were interested in getting closer to us. We watched the female having some attempts to catch a seal, but didn’t succeed because of the cub’s playful appearance…

When the Captain decided to sail out again the two bears suddenly started to approach us and we ended up having a stunning encounter, since they came very close and because we could watch them for a long time. We couldn’t believe how lucky we were!

Please note: Depending on the lens used for a photo or video shot an animal may appear to be closer than it is. We always follow strict wildlife guidelines to ensure that we do not cause any disturbance.