Today, the 16th of July, we awoke to calm seas
with cooler and cloudy weather. This was a full sea day, as we sail towards the
Norwegian owned Arctic Island of Jan Mayen. 
We crossed the Arctic Circle yesterday evening and today King
Neptune greeted us onboard for our polar baptism! This was an ice cold, but
refreshing experience. The Captain and
King Neptune had the joy of baptizing us by pouring icy water down our necks. There
are some new crew members on board for this trip, and we were given very special
treatment as we were showered with half a bucket of icy slush. The toughest of
us even came back several times for the baptism! Brrrr…
Starting in the morning we had the mandatory and serious lectures with information from Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO). These lectures covered safety and behavior in Arctic areas. Later in the day, we had lectures regarding Jan Mayen Island and its weather station plus some photos of the volcano eruption.
Today was also the start of our children’s program and we
had 2 events. The first was a trip to the bridge where the Captain explained
the operation of the ships propellers and the steering system. The second event
was a behind the scenes tour of the FRAM with our guide Uncle Bob. U.B. as he
is known, showed us the Polarcirkle Boats that will take us to the islands then
the ships storerooms, his cabin and our last stop was the ships jail. But there
were no prisoners, just racks of outdoor clothing for the Expedition Staff.
In the evening it was showtime at the panorama deck. Some of
the crew and the expedition staff were models at our fashion show, where they
showed off the clothes we have in the shop on board.
