Late in two ways - Svalbard in the Spring

[pomkiwi]

Day 3 - Polar Bear Pt 2

 

After dropping into the water the bear swam along the ice edge disappearing and popping up again

 

 

.

 

He would shake himself like a dog:

 

Passing fulmars kept an eye out for potential scraps

 

He then started playing with a piece of ice, climbing on it to sink it:

 

Then attacking it with his teeth

 

 

After a while he seemed to get bored and studied the zodiacs:

 

He ducked under and then started swimming in our direction:

 

At this point both of our guides paid great attention to their outboard motors...

[TonyQ]

A fabulous sighting and great photos 

[janzin]

Very cool sighting! We never got to see a bear actually in the water.

 

[pomkiwi]

26 minutes ago, janzin said:

Very cool sighting! We never got to see a bear actually in the water.

 

It was a great (and at times exciting encounter). In the end it proved to be our only close contact with a bear (which may be why I’m spinning it out - who knows 😂?)

[Atdahl]

Awesome encounter!

[offshorebirder]

Wow!

[pomkiwi]

Day 3- Polar Bear Pt 3

 

For a few seconds the bear disappeared and nervousness increased. Then we saw him swimming quickly along the ice before he ducked under again:

 

 

A few seconds later ahead of where he had been a seal broke the surface:

 

 

Immediately afterwards there was a splash and it appeared that the seal had been hit from below:

 

 (If you look closely the bear can be seen just to the right of the seal)

 

However the seal appeared to go over the top of the bear and swam quickly but calmly away:

 

 

The bear decided that playtime was over and got out on to the ice. 

 

 

After a bit of shaking:

 

 

He headed off purposefully

 

We'd been watching him from the zodiacs for over an hour and decided to give him, and us, a break by heading back to the Sjoveien. There were broad smiles all round!

Edited June 9, 2022 by pomkiwi

[madaboutcheetah]

amazing polar bears @pomkiwi- Thanks for this! 

[kittykat23uk]

Wow! Fantastic! 

[Athene]

@pomkiwi Love the photos of the head-shaking polar bear!

[kilopascal]

 Unbelievable experience! Fantastic photos thank you.

[Galana]

Brilliant.

[janzin]

Fantastic sighting! Love the wet bear!

 

[jmharack]

What a great experience, and so cool that you could document the different phases of the encounter!

[pomkiwi]

Day 3 (Still) - Back into the zodiacs

 

We got back to the Sjoveien about 5.30 and had dinner while cruising west past snow covered mountains:

 

 

We saw a bearded seal pup on the ice and a parent came past:

 

 

Around 9.15 pm another bear was sighted in the distance:

 

 

We put flotation suits back on and followed in the zodiacs:

 

 

Unfortunately the water was very shallow and full of rocks preventing us getting close to the ice edge:

 

 

In any event the bear was not slowing at all turning away from the ice edge and climbing a glacial morraine:

 

 

We called it a night and arrived back at the boat around 10.30 pm.  We then continued sailing west and south overnight towards Bellsund:

 

 

The sea was calm and we slept well.

[Athene]

Our experience in July will probably be different from yours and @janzin's in late winter/early spring. I love the clear white and blue in both of your photos. One question I'd like to ask - did you ever experience any motion sickness?

[pomkiwi]

3 hours ago, Athene said:

Our experience in July will probably be different from yours and @janzin's in late winter/early spring. I love the clear white and blue in both of your photos. One question I'd like to ask - did you ever experience any motion sickness?

We did have two long crossings with quite significant wind and waves. Fortunately both were at night. One had steady 30kt winds blowing across our path and the boat rolled significantly but predictably. This didn’t cause me any issues and I think everyone else was ok. More difficult was a night of 40kt (gale / severe gale) head winds. This gave a very rough ride which was unpredictable, I was pleased to be able to lie down through it and everyone was happy that breakfast was delayed an hour or so!

As @janzinmentioned in her report - keep everything of value secured in a way that it cannot fall - I kept my camera, lenses and computer on the spare bunk, wedged against the wall with a duvet over the top. I always made sure my camera strap was round my neck whenever I moved around the boat.

[Athene]

Thank you for the advice @pomkiwi

[pomkiwi]

A note on our travels

 

It was repeatedly emphasised that our trip was an expedition and not a cruise. By that it was meant that we did not have a fixed itinerary but would go wherever offered the best options for wildlife but was possible in terms of the ice conditions.

@janzinhas described how her trip was in Westfjorden when they had to retreat fairly quickly as the ice was moving south. This is a chart of the ice conditions on the day after we left Longyearbyen:

Essentially only the west coast was free of ice and it was no longer possible to reach the locations to the north reached by @janzina couple of weeks earlier. Although more difficult to see at this scale a good deal of the smaller fjords on the whole length of the west coast were still fast ice. It was therefore decided to explore fjords relatively close to Longyearbyen at the start of the trip and we then moved south. At one point it was not clear that we would attempt to go north to meet the large mass of the arctic pack ice - partly because of the ice conditions and partly due to a weather forecast that indicated a couple of windy days coming in. This was our route in the end:

 

 

 

We left Longyearbyen and went to the north coast of Isfjord spending one night and the next day exploring there. Overnight we went south into Bellsund and its tributary fjords enjoying smooth seas. We spent 2 days and one overnight in this area and the weather closed in on the second evening.

 

We then headed north overnight with 30kt westerly winds and rough seas causing the boat to roll a lot. The next morning we arrived in Krossfjord ad explored there for the day before landing at NyAlesund and then heading north overnight in generally smooth seas to try and meet the pack ice. We got to 80 degrees north but then turned south and west again as there was no way through. We spent some time in the islands to the north west and then had a very rough journey down to Isfjord overnight through winds at the threshold of severe gale. The final day was calm and we explored the north shore of Isfjord again before crossing back to Longyearbyen on our final morning.

Motion sickness was not a real issue most of the time and I took no medication. The first rough journey felt OK as the swell was predictable but the second was unpleasant and I think most felt quite queasy at times - we were all pleased to be able to lie down and sleep.

 

[MPS]

We will be going July 5th with the MS Freya. It seems the ice cover has already shrunken substantially since your trip. Not sure what this might mean for our chances of bear sightings:

[pomkiwi]

7 minutes ago, MPS said:

We will be going July 5th with the MS Freya. It seems the ice cover has already shrunken substantially since your trip. Not sure what this might mean for our chances of bear sightings:

 

I'm not certain but my understanding is that the ships will move further east to the ice in order to maximise the chances of sightings. If bears are known to be in a location (for instance feeding on a whale carcass) this information will be widely known as well.

[michael-ibk]

What an extaordinary Polar Bear sighting you had! Wonderful, thanks for sharing.

[pomkiwi]

We woke up to a magical landscape of blue and white:

 

 

 

 

Fresh looking polar bear tracks came to edge of the ice:

 

In the far distance a small bear shaped dot was moving:

 

We waited for a couple of hours but the bear disappeared from sight so we headed across the fjord and found a spot to land:

 

 

We walked up a shallow ridge that was largely free of snow and encontered a variety of wildlife including reindeer:

 

A rock ptarmigan still in winter plumage but obligingly on the rocks:

 

Pink footed and barnacle geese just beginning to nest and fly as if to emphasise the grandeur of their surroundings:

 

 

 

 

We headed to the Sjoveien as the light changed again:

 

 

Before dinner we went out in the zodiacs again to scout around the ice as one of our guides had seen a bear in the distance. We didn't see any but briefly got out of the zodiacs on to the ice:

 

It was unsettling to feel it flex and move and we did keep away from the cracks (complete with more bear prints):

 

We had a late dinner which was interrupted when an arctic fox was seen at the ice edge. Unfortunately it did not stay long:

 

The light changed again as the cloud came inand we settled down for a sleep anchored by the ice edge, hoping to be woken up for a bear or two:

 

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by pomkiwi

[janzin]

Wow, so envious you got to actually land. And it's amazing how much difference just a couple of weeks means...we saw no geese at all.  Wonderful sightings!

 

[Atravelynn]

Great bear shots from this obliging fellow.  Hunting action and everything.  The fox and fulmars were nice additions as well.

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Atravelynn