Friday 6 July 2012

Ytre Norskøya

Reclining Bear
Outer Norway Island certainly describes the northernmost point we have reached to date in our Svalbard travels.

What a day!

A glimpse out the window in the early hours revealed a large polar bear [aren't they all large?] ambling through the very ruins we had walked around the afternoon before. The glimpse was brief and, from our anchorage, far away but we managed to snap off a few fuzzy pictures. ... it turned out to be only a preview!

We headed out of Virgohamna to explore a bit to the north and east. On being presented with the option of staying inshore to see yet another tidewater glacier or, alternatively, heading out around the outermost seemingly uninteresting island, Mary Anne chose the latter. "It's calm today; we may not get the chance again."

While passing the outer shore of this outer island, Linda sighted a bear. We brought the boat to a stop and eased her inshore as far as we dared in order to get a better view. Thus for over an hour we were entertained with swimming, climbing, sniffing, rolling in the snow, examining driftwood and a myriad of other "bear behaviors" exhibited by this intelligent, powerful and intensely curious creature.

During this long pause off the island, Mary Anne got seriously busy with the camera so we could give you a look at our day.

We can't get much further north, but every mile of our northing was rewarded today in exceptional measure!

Swimming Bear



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