The last day ended
with lots of sun and our morning started with nice sunshine again. The time of
the midnight sun is just gone but the nights are still very bright, especially
under this good weather conditions. In the morning we have been focused on ice.
MV FRAM found a good position in front of the amazing Monaco glacier and from
here we started with a nice PolarCirkel boat cruise. For ½ hour we were
cruising boat group by boat group through the icebergs in front of the huge
calving front. The glacier was very active and the scenery changed constantly
during the whole morning. That was
also nicely to be seen from the open decks or MV FRAM’s Observation lounge.
During lunchtime we
were cruising through a spectacular landscape. It was always worth to be
outside to make nice pictures. Around 16:00 FRAM reached Jotunkjeldene in
Bockfjorden. Here we had our contrast program for the day – instead of glaciers
we visited hot springs. Over a very rocky terrain of gneiss we climbed up the
hill to see the different hot springs. The water has 20°C all year around as there
is still volcanic activity in the underground. The warm water washed out a lot
of carbonates. That was the reason why the whole slope was covered with a grey
layer of hard carbonates. In the opposite side of our landing site we had the
rock formation of the very well known “Old red”, a sediment stone colored red
by iron oxide out of the Devon.
After dinner we
reached Moffen. The captain brought the ship in a perfect position so that we got a good view over the walruses lying on the beach. Even
it was already later in the evening the light was good enough to watch them and
to take some good photos for nice remembering at home.
