The plan for today was to enter one of the fjords at the very northwestern side of Spitsbergen Island, and then our activities would be determined by the weather conditions. Clouds hung low over the snow-covered mountains, so only the bottom 100 meters or so was visible. However the water in the fjord was calm – perfect for a trip out in the kayaks (our first of this voyage). 

As soon as all of the equipment was readied, we climbed into the kayaks and started paddling away from the ship. Although the temperature was cool, it didn’t take long for the kayakers to warm up! While the kayakers were enjoying being out on the water, the remaining guests went ashore.

By mid-morning it was time to switch. Those who had kayaked went ashore and those who had gone ashore took to the water and quietly paddled around. It was peaceful and quiet, with the only sound across the cold waters of the fjord being the chattering of the little auks, who swirled and flew above their nesting colonies.

Once the second round of kayakers had finished, we boarded Zodiacs and sped off along the coast to a different spit of land, where a small group of walrus were resting on the beach. We slowed our approach so we didn’t disturb the huge marine mammals. We were quite fortunate to get a fantastic view of these Arctic animals.

Back on the ship, the kayak platform was prepared for yet another activity. This time only a small group of volunteers had decided to take the plunge - the Polar Plunge, that is! The remaining guests watched from the decks as the plungers took a few seconds to muster up the courage to jump from the side of the Zodiac into the cold, almost-freezing water.

In the afternoon the ship sailed further north into the pack ice. On the bridge the crew and staff searched over the ice for wildlife. In the distance, fog threatened to obscure the view but the captain tried to maneuver the ship to stay in fogless conditions. This proved successful as a couple of polar bears were spotted. One of the animals gave us the best sighting of the voyage by walking over toward the bow of the ship. Multiple gigabytes of photos were taken during the amazing encounter!

It was yet another unusual and fabulous day in Svalbard.