Late in two ways - Svalbard in the Spring

[Athene]

Lovely blue and white pictures again @pomkiwi

My favourites are the flying geese

[vikramghanekar]

Stunning shots of the bear in water. 

I was there probably around the same time you were there, but on MS Freya.

Cheers

Vikram

[pomkiwi]

14 hours ago, vikramghanekar said:

Stunning shots of the bear in water. 

I was there probably around the same time you were there, but on MS Freya.

Cheers

Vikram

Thanks @vikramghanekarI think we did see the Freya somewhere on our travels. Very disappointing to hear of the difficulties with your trip and I do hope that a more practical offer is made to compensate - Svalbard is not to sort of place that many people can just to decide to stay a couple of days extra on a whim as getting there is so complex.

[Kitsafari]

what a really super experience with the bear! and well captured too! looking forward to more.

[pomkiwi]

Day 4 - Two bears

 

Once more our sleep was unfortunately undisturbed. However on going for a wander around the decks at 6.45 am I was excited to see a polar bear in the distance:

 

 

He was making steady progress but was a long way away and seemed to be going parallel to us:

 

 

The team on the bridge had of course already seen him but I can clam the credit for spotting a second off white smudge on the ice:

 

 

The first bear had also noticed another bear (probably by scent) and continued to march steadily towards the sleeping bear. As he got close he started to run and the sleeping bear leapt up:

 

 

A short chase followed and I assumed it would end with the second bear disappearing:

 

 

That is whatt happened in the end but before then there was a brief episode of apparently friendly contact:

 

 

 

 

We speculated why they seemed so tolerant and wondered if they were siblings or possibly mother and grown cub. Whatever the reason they parted within a minute and walked off in opposite directions:

 

 

Apologies for the variable quality of these images - they were taken using my D500, 500PF and 1.4 TC - followed by some severe cropping!

 

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by pomkiwi

[Galana]

More than good enough images and a nice story.

EBC rules. Every BEAR counts.

[janzin]

4 hours ago, Galana said:

More than good enough images and a nice story.

EBC rules. Every BEAR counts.

I like that. Every bear DOES count! And great to see some interaction between the two adult bears, even if they were bear "blobs" (actually much more defined than the bear blobs we saw.)  And so exciting to actually spot one oneself!

[TonyQ]

Superb photos. It is great to see the bears in the environment as well as your close ups.

I really love the Barnacle goose in flight shots

[pomkiwi]

Day 4 - Passing Time in the Zodiacs

 

We had breakfast and waited for either of the bears to decide to approach the ice edge. Two hours later not much had happened and he decision was made to jump into the zodiacs and cruise round the ice edge knowing that the crew would keep an eye on the bears.

Although the weather was closing in, sunshine still broke through on occasions:

 

 

We examined large groups of mixed ducks:

 

 

A pair of long tailed ducks tried being bookends:

 

 

Further along a bearded seal was suckling her pup:

 

 

Unfortunately our zodiac was at just the wrong angle to get a clear view but we couldn't move our partner boat out of the way!

 

 

The pair separated and I tried some high key photography:

 

 

Eventually mum disappeared and the pup was left on its own:

 

Our ice edge cruise continued with a pair of king eiders:

 

 

The ice was not yet melting here:

 

 

Finally we spent some time amongst flocks of birds as they flew:

 

 

 

We returned to the Sjoveien after an hour and a half. As the bears hadn't moved it was decided that we would.

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by pomkiwi

[Kitsafari]

wonderful close-up shots of the bearded seal and pup! and good shots of the king eiders. 

you were quite close to the common eiders in flight and nice sharp shot of the black guillemot in flight too! there are definnitely advantages of being on the zodiac and you have real steady hands on the camera. 

 

[pomkiwi]

@KitsafariThank-you. The perspective from the zodiacs was nice and we often felt very much part of what was going on. They are generally stable platforms and all the photos are taken when stationary or just cruising gently. I’m not sure how much it is that I have steady hands or more a testament to the image stabilisation of the 500PF lens! The Z6ii partnered with the 100-400 lens is amazing - the combined sensor and lens stabilisation allow me to shoot as slow as 1/50 at 400mm.

[janzin]

Ah so envious of your zodiac time. And the seals! Although we never passed any large groups of ducks like that, and had no Long-tailed ducks at all...again, it just shows how a few weeks can make such a big difference.

 

[pomkiwi]

Day 4 - No bears but....

 

We headed over to a neighbouring small fjord with the now obligatory large glacier wall at its end while watching the light shift and change. The effect was mesmerising at times and I stood and watched it for hours

 

 

 

The birds in flight practice was provided by kittiwakes on this occasion.

 

 

For lack of better things to do we climbed into the zodiacs again and headed for a hike along the edge of the glacier. It was really cold at this point mainly due to the wind falling down the glacier and across the bay. We disturbed big groups of ducks:

 

 

 

We landed on a fairly bleak beach almost surrounded by ice:

 

 

We climbed up over the morraine for an hour or so but saw very little of interest. The thought of warmth, coffee and cake on our base in the the bay became increasingly attractive

 

 

However on the way back the bridge came on the radio to tell us of an animal on the snow a few minutes away and we changed direction. It was a diversion that was definitely worth while even as we shivered:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An encounter I remember as lasting the whole afternoon but in fact lasted only 10 minutes before the fox headed away.

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by pomkiwi

[pomkiwi]

Day 4 - the first stormy journey

 

We headed back to the Sjoveien almost as elated as when we saw the polar bear (well at least the photographers did). Dinner was early as we were headed north overnight and strong westerly winds with an accompanying swell was forecast. We knew that this was not an idle forecast when all the glasses, mugs and bottles were packed away and cupboards stuffed with cushions and towels. I headed to my cabin and ensured everything was safely on the spare bunk resting against the wall and covered with the spare duvet. 

I then headed out on the aft deck where there were two benches to sit on. The light was brooding and the sea rough:

 

 

The fulmars and kittiwakes seemed to relish the sport of almost touchig the waves in the high wind:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However it was getting rougher and after a wave came right across the deck where I was sitting I decided it was time to head inside

 

 

The night was spent in a rather disturbed sleep not helped by the waves sloshing against and sometimes over my porthole:

 

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by pomkiwi

[Soukous]

super stuff @pomkiwiYou got some great images from the fox encounter, which I imagine (knowing little about the area) was a rarer sighting than the polar bear. 

Some very moody shots of the rough seas too.

[MPS]

Great fox encounter, @pomkiwi, fantastic shots!

Which focal length did you use when the fox got so close?

I also really like the U-Boat shot of your porthole 

[pomkiwi]

17 minutes ago, MPS said:

Great fox encounter, @pomkiwi, fantastic shots!

Which focal length did you use when the fox got so close?

I also really like the U-Boat shot of your porthole 

Thank-you. Some of the images of the fox are cropped. They were taken with my D500 (crop sensor) and a 500mm lens. The fox was not that close - we were in the zodiacs just offshore.

[Atdahl]

Yes, those are great fox photos especially hand held from a moving zodiac.  Well done!

[pomkiwi]

3 minutes ago, Atdahl said:

Yes, those are great fox photos especially hand held from a moving zodiac.  Well done!

Thank-you. It was helpful that because of all the snow the shutter speed was 1/2000 sec even with cloud cover.

Edited June 18, 2022 by pomkiwi

[shazdwn]

Gorgeous fox photos

[Kitsafari]

fabulous shots of the fox, especially those with its wide open eyes staring into your camera! the foxes are just so beautiful. 

errr, I felt seasick just looking at those choppy waves

[pomkiwi]

Day 5 - Bird Cliffs and Ice

 

When we woke it was much calmer and we were once more sailing into a fjord with a glacier at the end. This glacier terminated directly at the water and there were high cliffs on one side that were home to a variety of birds. After breakfast we climbed into the zodiacs and headed over to the lower cliffs threading our way through lumps of glacier ice.

 

 

 

 

Little auks were cramming in to every available ledge:

 

 

 

There were a couple of puffins around but not yet looking to nest. We moved through lots more ice with a lovely variety of colours and textures:

 

 

 

 

Birds were flying in all directions around us:

 

 

 

High above kittiwakes and glaucous gulls circled noisily:

 

 

We made a landing and some of us made a steep hike up the edge of the glacier. Again there was a cold wing blowing off the ice and the snow was pretty deep in places:

 

 

The views from higher up were spectacular and the varieties of ice forms interesting:

 

 

 

 

As we headed down there was a loud crash a small section of face tumbled down:

 

 

This was the foretaste of rather more drama a little later.

Edited June 20, 2022 by pomkiwi

[pomkiwi]

Day 5 - It all comes crashing down

 

Once we had slid down the hill to the zodiacs we travelled slowly across the face of the glacier. Kittiwakes were resting on most horizontal pieces of ice:

 

 

Close views of the terminal face of the glacier were impressive:

 

 

It was a challenge to photograph the many birds flying with the glacier as a background:

 

 

The proportion of king eider ducks in the mixed flocks with common eiders seemed higher here in the north:

 

 

Our gentle cruise was interupted by a loud crash behind us. We swung round to see a sizeable volume of ice falling into the fjord, creating quite a large wave:

 

 

This fall progressed to a larger fall moving across he glacier towards us:

 

 

 

 

The waves passed under the zodiacs and were only a few centimetres high but when they reached the shore where we had landed were more than a metre - a practical lesson in wave mechanics!

[michael-ibk]

Stunning photos, the ice in all its variations and colours is breathtaking. Love all the Seabirds - and the Fox of course. Wonderful stuff!

[pomkiwi]

 

 

 

Day 5 - Calm Again

 

 

Within a few minutes the waves had settled and all was quiet again. We turned back and cruised through the lumps of ice that had fallen:

 

 

The birds were flying again and taking opportunities to land on new territory:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we turned away I spotted something moving on the slopes between the snow patches:

 

 

 

The only thing that alllowed the fox to be seen was movement - the piebald pattern made it almost invisible amongst the rocks.

As we headed across towards the Sjoveien the was a small ice floe with a good number of kittiwakes:

 

 

One in the hole in front of the boat looked briefly like an ivory gull but as it turned around I saw that I was mistaken. In any event they seemed completely unmoved by our company:

 

 

 

As we setlled for lunch the weather closed in and rather spoilt our afternoon of scenic cruising and wildlife spotting:

 

 

We went across the fjord to Ny-Alesund which is now a multi-national research station. We wandered around in steady wet snow for an hour or so after visiting the most northern shop in the world but to be honest nobody was really keen and we were happy to get back on board and sail north hopefully to the pack ice:

 

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by pomkiwi