30.06.2011 – 30.06.2011  2 °C

Bit better weather today (still overcast but not too bad) so at 8.30 we had our usual announcement “deck 2 to the mud room” (although mud room is pronounced mar-room) and we then zoomed off in our zodiac for “reindeer flat” (the plan being to see plenty of reindeer).

The walk itself was quite nice from the view point that we were outside and able to wander around. The downside was that reindeer flat has only recently had the snow melt and so was largely one big swamp with very few reindeer!

Pretty funny because on our way back to the zodiac two people from the other group got stuck in the mud in a really big way and ended up to their waist in mud! In fact, one lady actually fell into the mud and was covered in mud all over her back and also from her waist down! I really felt for them! The ground was pretty slippery and really boggy so unfortunately we spent the whole 3 miles (or whatever the distance was) mainly focussing on where to put our feet and not really on the scenery. Other big downer was the fact that we really only saw 3 reindeer that were all pretty far away.

Our day hotted up after lunch. One of the expedition team on the bridge saw a polar bear and we spent the afternoon watching the bear. We were fortunate that the bear came relatively close to the boat (maybe 200m away) which meant for me, the best polar bear shots so far!

Dinner was really lovely as the restaruant staff had set up our dinner on the back deck of the boat! We all donned our polar gear to sit outside for about an hour eating our dinner. Pretty awesome to eat your dinner in the heart of the polar region! The only draw back to eating in temps just above zero is the fact that your glass of water is pretty damn cold and you have to eat your hot food immediately or it becomes luke warm v quickly and it isn’t easy to juggle a knife and fork with gloves on! But I do have to say, that it is pretty special though to have your dinner in broad daylight in temps just above zero with mountains, glaciers and an ice field all around. Great way to finish a pretty great day!