Arctic Cruise - ice bear, walrus, whales and dolphins
Since my last update, we got on our cruise ship in Tromso and have been to Bear Island and spent three days around Svalbard (if you google map it, you'll see it's a long way North of Norway at around 78 degrees latitude). The cruise has been a lot different from our trip to Antarctica last year - not least because we are on a luxury cruise ship this time rather than the
basic ship we were on before. Additionally, the wildlife in Antarctica was a lot more abundant and fearless. Because there are predators (the Arctic Fox and the Polar Bear), the birds and mammals are all a lot more shy and hard to see. As such, we had not seen much. We were lucky and saw one polar bear (which one of the crew spotted from over 3 miles away!), but only saw
one walrus on an island where there are normally hundreds. It was a bit disappointing, but then today made up for it. In the afternoon we were called to the bridge and decks as a whale and some dolphins had been spotted. I dashed up to the bridge, and for the next hour we watched between 50 and 100, or possibly more white-beaked dolphins jumping out of the water and
stirring up a giant bait ball of fish to feed off of. Some of the dolphins broke off and started playing in the wake of the ship and swimming ahead of the ship.
30 minutes after we had left the bridge, we were called again, a sperm whale having been spotted. I got up to the bridge in time to see it dive, and then we were treated to several dozen fin whales breaching all over the sea around us. Fin whales are the second largest whales in the world (the largest being Blue Whales), and these were large whales that we saw.
Backtracking, we had had a few disappointing days as the fog had set in fairly heavily and stopped us going ashore in various places, but as I said earlier, the whales and dolphins today were fantastic.
We are now at sea and are heading for Jan Mayen island - very remote and apparently it only sees a hundred or so visitors a year, so we are very privileged to be able to land there. On from there around Iceland.
basic ship we were on before. Additionally, the wildlife in Antarctica was a lot more abundant and fearless. Because there are predators (the Arctic Fox and the Polar Bear), the birds and mammals are all a lot more shy and hard to see. As such, we had not seen much. We were lucky and saw one polar bear (which one of the crew spotted from over 3 miles away!), but only saw
one walrus on an island where there are normally hundreds. It was a bit disappointing, but then today made up for it. In the afternoon we were called to the bridge and decks as a whale and some dolphins had been spotted. I dashed up to the bridge, and for the next hour we watched between 50 and 100, or possibly more white-beaked dolphins jumping out of the water and
stirring up a giant bait ball of fish to feed off of. Some of the dolphins broke off and started playing in the wake of the ship and swimming ahead of the ship.
30 minutes after we had left the bridge, we were called again, a sperm whale having been spotted. I got up to the bridge in time to see it dive, and then we were treated to several dozen fin whales breaching all over the sea around us. Fin whales are the second largest whales in the world (the largest being Blue Whales), and these were large whales that we saw.
Backtracking, we had had a few disappointing days as the fog had set in fairly heavily and stopped us going ashore in various places, but as I said earlier, the whales and dolphins today were fantastic.
We are now at sea and are heading for Jan Mayen island - very remote and apparently it only sees a hundred or so visitors a year, so we are very privileged to be able to land there. On from there around Iceland.
Labels: dolphin, ice, polar bear, walrus, whale
posted by Ken at 11:37 pm
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