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  Tuesday 23rd of June 2015 and they woke us up by a message on the PA at 7 thirty. As you understand the message started with a Good Morning. Then it continued with where we were. We  had reached the North West corner of Svalbard during the night. And in the English message they had the Swedish word for today “Bredslahsbergs what ever” I had never heard the word before.
I passed the white board with today’s activities on my way to the restaurant and the breakfast.  Warm clothing recommended for today's excursion. No surprise there and I was really happy that the bag with my coat, jeans and Polar Bear had had made it to Longyearbyen. There was no way I  would have found a “Flabby & Porky” clothing shop in Longyearbyen.
Restaurant was full when I came down, well, not full, but I would not feel comfortable to sit there so I returned to my cabin and at 8 thirty I was back for breakfast. I had some kind of meatballs formed like rolls and smoked salmon. As I had two pots of Earl Grey yesterday for dinner the Stewardess brought me a pot of tea without me having to ask. That's the spirit we're looking for. We were anchored in the  Hamilton Bay when I was ready with the breakfast and the Zodiacs will take off at 9 thirty.
I spent the time waiting enjoying the views of Hamilton Bay and I also took some pictures of the bay and the crew preparing the Zodiacs. We will do a Zodiac safari and we will not go ashore. But I decided to wear my new boots to try them out even though we would not walk in water. Or as they call it here, wet landings. When we go ashore and we have to step in the water getting off the Zodiacs    First I thought it was a seal making racks in the snow, but it was a rock
 Launching the Zodiacs
 Waiting to pick up passengers
 Boarding the Zodiacs
 Boarding the Zodiacs
 Leaving M/S Quest behind
 Leaving M/S Quest behind
 Leaving M/S Quest behind
5 Zodiacs and 47 passengers, first Zodiac leaving with German seaking passengers and the second Zodiac leaving with Swedish speaking persons. #3 to #5 with people comfortable with English, or as  they called it “International”
A quick calculation on top of my head and I decided to go with #5 as there would most likely be the least numbers of passengers. And I was right, we were only 6 passengers in my Zodiac and we were soon leaving m/s Quest behind us. We have a 2 hours Zodiac safari in front of us. After about 5 minutes one of the Zodiacs called on the radio. They had spotted  something white and fluffy, a Polar Bear and we steered towards the action.
We had just passed a glacier and I just started to interrogate our Guide about the glacier when we got the call about the Polar Bear. We  started in full speed and we passed my first ever ice berg, or as I call it a “MINI” ice berg
So what is the difference between ice and a “MINI” iceberg? Ice is frozen sea surface and an ice berg is ice from a glacier All Zodiacs were on the way with full speed but we had to approach the Polar  Bear slowly not to annoy the bear. So we were sneaking up on the Polar Bear. Well, sneaking, he  was well aware of us approaching.
Polar bears have an extreme sense of smell, or they would die out on the ice looking for seals. The Polar Bear was just lying there in the snow and it wasn't very exciting. Reminded me about the lions in Africa. But I have seen my first Polar Bear. And what a start tis was on our Polar Bear quest, a few minutes in to our first excursion and we see a Polar Bear.  Old hunter's cabin and a Polar Bear
       The Polar Bear didn't move very much, just like a lion. We spent some time with the Polar Bear before we turned back and this time we went to check out the glacier. A small glacier comparing to the  Bråsvell Glacier on the Eastern main island on Svalbard called Nordaustlandet.
And this glacier is nothing compared to the one I will visit on Greenland. Well, the Hamilton glacier is a small one, but it is calving and there are plenty ice and “MINI” ice berg in front of the glacier. This is exactly the same as the huge  glaciers on Greenland giving off the gigantic ice bergs, just much smaller
We could hear loud bangs from the ice when the ice was cracking and we saw two or three calvings when tha glacier gave away some small ice bergs. Not many years ago the glacier was covering all the rocks in front of the glacier. The glaciers are shrinking quickly, one of the reasons for me to go to Greenland to see yet another thing that won't be here for the next generation to see.  Hamilton glacier
 Hamilton glacier
 We can see that the ice is quite thick
We're not allowed to come closer than 200 meter if the glacier start calving some huge ice bergs
 Plenty ice from the glacier
 Plenty ice from the glacier
 Picking up some ice that we study
   Our Guide and Zodiac driver
 Exploring the glacier
 Birds on an ice berg
  Is this here for the next generation to see?
     m/s Quest waiting for us
 Svalbard Reindeers
 Svalbard Reindeers
 Svalbard Reindeers
 Arctic Fox
 Arctic Fox
We were exploring the glacier and time turned quick. Time for lunch and to return to the ship. We were approaching some mountains with a vertical side facing the fjord. The birds, we could hear them and it looked like a mosquito swarm. They were busy with their eggs. And as there are eggs  one of the Zodiacs were soon spotting an Arctic Fox running away with an egg.
We called the ship and we told them that we would be late for lunch. I didn't saw any Arctic Fox, we saw a reindeer high up on the glacier. Suddenly we saw two reindeers coming down from the glacier and they  looked really beautiful. What a day this had turned out to be. Polar Bear, a calving glacier and two beautiful reindeers
Just when we were about to leave we spotted the Arctic Fox high up on the mountain. Now we were going back to the ship, no, they called us on the radio and now the Polar bear was up walking. A second call to the ship that we would be even more delayed for lunch and we took off towards the Polar Bear. The Polar Bear had moved hundred meters and he was lying down when we arrived. OK, let's return to m/s Quest for some lunch. A 2 hours Zodiac safari had turned in to a 3 and a half hour Zodiac safari and I had enjoyed every minute of it. Yes, we had seen a lot of very nice stuff and I think I liked the glacier the most. The Polar Bear was nice, but I had expected more than a sleeping Polar Bear. But this is our first excursion and there are many more to be done before we leave Svalbard.  More pictures of the Polar Bear
 More pictures of the Polar Bear
 Back at m/s Quest for lunch
 Waiting for the next Zodiac
 Waiting for the next Zodiac
 Waiting for the next Zodiac
It was nice to get back on board and I went straight to the restaurant and we had an excellent lunch while the crew heaved up the anchor. We started to move back out in to the Raudfjorden (Red Fjord) where we will make our next stop at 15 thirty. And this time we will make a landing, a wet landing so now I really get to test my new boots. And you just need to click HERE to find out how it turned out with my new boots.
    
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