We all o-o-o-ed and a-h-h-h-ed and photographed to our hearts content. It was a precious moment to be savoured.
After a late night, the 8:00 wakeup call came all too soon. We were happily surprised to find that we were going to go exploring the pack ice in our Polar Cirkle boats! How exciting! The ship was drifting right on the edge of the dense ice pack.
There was not a breath of wind. Ice was everywhere. The sea was like a mirror. Canada lay on our left. Greenland on our right. Soon Polar Cirkle boats were zipping us through the open pack ice. It was a summer/winter wonderland.
By noon, we had all had our cruise in the ice. It was time for lunch and more scenic cruising.At 15:00 we were visited by Neptune. Many lucky people were chosen to be baptized by Neptune with Arctic water and ice for the privilege of crossing the Arctic Circle by sea. Who knew that Neptune was so cruel?
Throughout the day we saw many seals including Harp and Bearded seals. We all saw lots of seabirds including: Little Auks, Black Guillemots, Northern Fulmars, Ivory Gulls (some say the Ivory Gull is most beautiful of all gulls), Black-backed gulls, Glaucous Gulls and Kittiwakes.
Now it’s more scenic cruising with a constant bear watch!
