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Published: August 8th 2018
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Up at 7am and breakfast was being delivered to my room at 7:30. I chose fruit, granola and yoghurt and had a coffee and juice.
At 8:30 I needed to head to the parka exchange as I wanted to downsize the parka I had been given. Then at 9am I went to the mandatory briefing for those people who want to kayak! I had asked my consultant when I booked this cruise if hiking was an option, as I was keen to do it because I had kayaked in Antarctica. She told me No, so it was a nice surprise to hear that it is available - and included. The only problem is that you go into a lottery whereas in Antarctica I paid to do it and they limit how many people they sell it to, so I could kayak everytime there was an opportunity. The briefing went over most things I already knew butbyou had to stay until the end in order to complete the registration form.
Then I was off to the rubber boat collection point where I tried on a couple of pairs and eventually chose one. Then I needs to get my outer layers
bio checked as they don't want anyone dropping some strange seeds etc on foreign lands.
Next briefing was at 11:30 which was all about tomorrow's schedule.
This afternoon our excursion was a zodiac ride to explore Bear Island. Everyone is split into 6 groups, each decided by a different colour sticker on the back of your access card. I am in the Pink group.
My group was scheduled for 5:15 so there was some time to relax this afternoon.
The weather was still quite mild although a bit overcast. Lucky we all have been given very warm, waterproof jackets to wear. You will notice a lot of red jacketed people in photos!
The island was amazing! It has very sheer, tall cliffs and birds have nested in every nook and cranny. There were thousands of birds flying and many, many also swimming or sitting on the water. I don't know all the different varieties of birds but there were some that are from the same family as penguins - and they looked like penguins except they could fly! They dived into the water in search of fish, in the exact same way a penguin would.
We explored caves on the zodiacs that were quite amazing and deep. We saw waterfalls down the rock face and remenants of a ship wreck on the beach - apparently the Russian captain fell asleep and crashed. Looking at where the ship landed, it would have been terrifying for the crew as there was no where to escape to. You will see this in the photo I have posted.
We spent about an hour and a half on the excursion and it was really enjoyed by all. Our guide (and zodiac driver) was Calle from Sweden, who now lives on Svalbard so was well informed and could tell us a lot about the birds and the area we were in.
We headed back to the ship to freshen up as the captain, Vincent Taillard, had invited us to his welcome cocktail party at 7:15. As we were the last group back in, I didn't really have time to shower so just shooshed myself up and headed to the Explorer Lounge. After the cocktail party I headed to The Pool deck for a Negroni. The Grill (one of the restaurants) is located on the pool deck but you
need to reserve a table. I was chatting to the stuff at the bar whilst having my cocktail and then asked if I could eat here. It was not a problem so they set me up at a table. This restaurant speciality is "hot rocks" where they bring the hot rock to your table and you then cook whatever you've chosen yourself. I chose a steak and the waiter asked me how I wanted it cooked. I advised medium rare and then started chatting to the couple on the table next to me (Anne and Greg from Carolina). Luckily the waiter kept and eye out as I was distracted and he came came turned my steak for me. It was cooked perfectly and I had a lovely meal while chatting to Anne & Greg until they got too cold and had to head inside.
What a great day!
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