WEDNESDAY 2nd of June
What a morning! We’ll let photographer Xavier Cervera from Barcelona, Spain tell from his cabin:
– My alarm was on 08.30, but I woke up 06.15 from a strange sound. It was a totally new sound for me, that I have never experienced before. And the vessel went very slowly. I went to the window, opened the curtains and waow – we were surrounded by ice, he told.
– What did you think?
– I felt like being on another planet. Where am I? Are we stuck? Must we stay here? I thought. I didn’t shower, I didn’t even take off my pyjamas, I just ran out and started taking pictures …
Photo: Camille Seaman
Xavier didn’t know the ice was going to surround us the hole day. We didn’t manage to get into Hornsund as planned , but went into Van Keulenfjorden further north instead. And there, we met the biggest animal so far, a really beautiful walrus relaxing on the ice. We all ran out with our very long cameras, but he walrus didn’t really care. He continued his afternoon sleep, lifting his head once in a while. And about thousand click later we left him, still with our cameras lifted, looking for other animals, some actually saw reindeers on the beach, some also saw seals, but no king of Arctic, yet.
Photo: Camille Seaman
The weather? Sun and no wind, the mountains were actually reflected in the water. And the glaciers – crashing with the fjords, again and again and again. Also the really experienced people aboard were kind of amazed, making really happy noices on the deck.
In the evening we found a nice landing site on the southern shore of Van Keulenfjorden. We saw some whale bones from the hunting of white whales in the 1930s – and even flowers – this summer’s purple saxifraga. After that, the clock told us midnight, even though the sun was still shining. And shining and shining, till the clock told us it was a new morning again.
