Mon
3 Aug
2015

Yes, the ice keeps on kee­ping us busy for some time. The next den­se belt of drift ice is just ahead of us. Sør­kapp Land seems so clo­se. Given the­se con­di­ti­ons, the­re are not many other ships in the area, but we are not the only ones now. The Hur­tig­ru­ten ship MS Fram is north of us, steam­ing south, a fast, strong ves­sel with a fri­end­ly Cap­tain. We con­ti­nue behind Fram, the ship is wide enough to crea­te a nice chan­nel in the ice. Their pas­sen­gers are enjoy­ing the ope­ra­ti­on, and so do we. Not an ever­y­day thing, defi­ni­te­ly.

Pho­to Sør­kapp – 03rd August 2015 – 1/3

After a first, den­se sec­tion, the ice is get­ting more open. Kit­ty­wa­kes are fishing in Fram’s wake, and the wild sce­n­ery of Sør­kapp Land pro­vi­des a sple­ndid back­ground. And as a final high­light, a polar bear is show­ing up. A big, strong, proud male, batt­le-scar­red with many scars on its face and nose.

Pho­to Sør­kapp – 03rd August 2015 – 2/3

The wide pas­sa­ge around the south cape takes most of the night, and the­re are drift ice fields bet­ween us and the coast all of the time. Same now, in the ear­ly mor­ning. Horn­sund is in view, but behind wide ice fields. We are crui­sing bet­ween the ice floes, Pål is enjoy­ing his time on the stee­ring wheel, while I am wat­ching for polar bears and wri­ting this blog in bet­ween.

Pho­to Sør­kapp – 03rd August 2015 – 3/3

We will keep a distance to Horn­sund, let’s see whe­re we end up today, pro­ba­b­ly Bell­sund. A good, safe ancho­ra­ge is the next thing we need, some rest for the skip­per, a landing for ever­y­bo­dy else.

Mon
3 Aug
2015

Ice … we’ve had a simi­lar head­line befo­re, didn’t we? Pos­si­bly. Now we are off Isbuk­ta, sou­thern east coast of Spits­ber­gen. At least, we have not been this far south befo­re, recent­ly, the south cape seems so clo­se.

Ear­lier today, we thought once again that we were through, the ice stay­ed behind, open water ahead … but a few miles later, more ice, the next den­se belt of drift ice. Accor­ding to today’s ice chart, it should have been an iso­la­ted field of „open drift ice“, well, we have heard that befo­re.

Pho­to Ice – 03rd August 2015