In Search of Isbjørn.

[Dewi]

Thanks Nan & Jill.

Jill, although the bears can swim long distances, they need to be able to get to the ice to feed on their main prey, Ringed Seals. As the ice is retreating so far North, the distance becomes too great for them to make it. The ice is melting earlier each year, so the bears that are still in their dens wih cubs emerge after the break up. They have not been able to adapt to the changing conditions yet as it is happening too quickly to give them a chance to evolve new strategies to deal with this. In the past, the seals would pup on the ice that remained around Svalbard all Summer, and move North on the ice. Nowdays the whole archipelago is ice free during the Summer.

With the group pic, I had to press the shutter and run back to get into the pic. I just stood on the end thinking I was closer than I actually was.

[Jillinflorida]

Makes me sad that, yet again, man is responsible for the destruction of our planet. However, thanks for the explanation. Makes perfect sense.

Group shot is fine - your a league unto your own. The others should have moved right.

[Bush Brat]

Awesome installments! It looks to be getting colder and colder as you progress through your TT
The skull was quite something and especially those teeth, and I thought lion teeth were big!!
Great pics , MORE PLEASE!!

[Richprins]

Don't like humus, but the cod and prawns sounds excellent How was the curry!?

Does one take ice along for drinks on these trips?

I think you missed reporting on a breakfast and lunch here!


Maybe the bears will find a way through his global warming? They are very adaptable and clever...maybe start snacking on tourists?

Excellent pics and feedback, Dewi!

[Flutterby]

Great pics of the ice formations and colours! Poor bears...so sad!

[Dewi]

Thanks Jill, Bush Brat, Richprins & Flutterby.

BB, the coldest it got was -3 centigrade, so it was not that bad. More pics to come.

RP, the prawn sauce was excellent. I didn't think I liked humus until I tried this one. The curry was also spot on. Ice was available from the freezer. Breakfast was the same everyday, lunch I forgot to make a note of, but it was excellent again if I remember. In fact the food throughout was always first class, plenty of it and the best way to desctibe it would be gourmet home cooking I think.

Hope the bears adapt somehow. There was a program on Svalbard and the Arctic last night. They predict that the Arctic will be ice free as early as next year during the Summer months.

Thanks Flutts, more ice pics to come later.

[Richprins]

Are there going to be more food pics or not...?

[Dewi]

Possibly

[Dewi]

Kvitoya, or White Island, has a large ice-cap, but this is melting and receeding rapidly. Mats told us that when he was here a year ago, the ice was much closer to the beach than it was on this visit.

Rivulets of meltwater streaming off the ice-cap.



The rivulets join together to form streams and everywhere we went you could hear running water in the background.









Colourful mosses grew in clumps in the middle of the streams.



I liked the pattern of colours in the rocks here.



We listened at the monument as Mats gave us the history of the Andrée Ballon Expedition.





On returning to the ship, a young Polar Bear followed one of the Zodiacs back and attempted to join us on board. Mats said that it was a three year old that had just been weaned or possibly abandoned by it's mother. We were a bit worried that it would use up valuable energy swimming out this far from shore. Even at this young age, the bear is capable of dispatching a person with one swipe of those powerful paws. The following two pics are clips from a short video I took. More pics to follow in the next post.

[Richprins]

Not good!

All of it!

How habituated are the bears to tourists? Maybe even feeding?