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Published: August 8th 2018
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Happy birthday Nick!
We arrived in Lilliehöökbreen around 7am this morning. I decided to have breakfast at La Terezza, which is a buffet with lots of selections!
At 10:30 I was scheduled to go on a Zodiac cruise to glacier. We were going to be on the water for 1.5 hrs so made sure I was suitably rugged up. We got to see lots of icebergs and bergy bits and it is always fun to tey navigating the zodiac around them. We got closer to the glacier and was just taking in the size of it when we heard some really loud sounds like thunder cracking and then we started to see some parts of the glacier 'carving' off. Then we heard a really loud sound and a big piece of the glacier carved off - I was lucky enough to photograph this!
On our way back to the ship, our guide spotted a seal relaxing on an iceberg so we headed in its direction for a closer look. The seal was a Bearded Seal and he was quite huge! Only a Elephant Seal is a bigger piniped. We didn't want to get too close as he was
a bit skittish and he was the only seal we have seen so far, so we wanted others who were behind us to also see him.
Once back on board I headed to the Pool Deck to have some lunch and the Silver Cloud set sail for 14th July Glacier (Fjortende Julibreen).
We arrived at 14th July Glacier around 2:30pm and once again, people were scheduled to land on shore in their colour groups. My group was scheduled for 6pm so I spent my time walking around Deck 9, trying to get my steps up ☺️
The plan had been for there to be two walk options with today's landing - a much longer, more strenuous walk up to a good lookout right near the glacier or a shorter, easier walk to the Hanging Garden. In the end they had to change to the plans to only one walk (to the Hanging Garden) but they made it a bit longer as they changed the landing spot AND because reindeer had been spotted not far from the Hanging Garden.
The Hanging Garden was quite a fascinating place - most of the landscape in Svalbard looks very bare
and almost desert like but it's not until you look closer at the ground surface do you actually see the plant life - often moss with little flowers. The Hanging Garden however has an abundance of plants and flowers and is quite a beautiful little spot.
This was quickly ignored though as my attention was drawn to the herd of reindeer grazing just above the Hanging Garden. They were still a fair way away but my Nikon lens was very handy with being able to zoom in and get a good look at them.
The Svalbard Reindeer are different to other reindeer I have seen before - they are short-legged and have a relatively small, rounded head. They have adapted to survive in the variable climatic conditions and high degree of seasonality in Svalbard. They are sedentary and thus have low energy demands and they have an outstanding ability to use their own body reserves when access to food is limited. In summary - they are so cute!!
One of the guys next to me then spotted an arctic fox, which was in the area above the reindeer. We were so lucky to see this little fella
and were wondering if he might be there to attack the reindeer but he didn't seem too interested in them (or they he).
Around 7:30pm we headed back to the ship in our zodiacs. I had dinner with Greg and Anne in The Restaurant. Fun night - they have a real appreciation of fine wines and the staff at the restaurant knew this, so the sommelier bought over a very good bottle of red from Chile.
After dinner I stayed up with my blinds open until around 1:30 - it was like the middle of the day outside. Messes with your mind. Eventually shut the blinds to go to sleep.
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