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Published: August 11th 2018
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Around 7:30 this morning the Silver Cloud anchored off Smeerenburg (which means blubber town).
This landing spot is a know walrus haul out so we were hoping to see them today, however when Skulk announced our arrival he also advised that the Walruses were not there.
I was scheduled for a 9:30 zodiac landing so decided to have a quick breakfast beforehand in the La Terrazzo restaurant. Smeerenburg is situated on the island of Armsterdamøya and is surrounded by fjords, tall glacier fronts and steep, rugged mountains.
Even though there were no Walruses, which was disappointing, it was still nice to come ashore and walk around for a while. As always, we needed to stay with our group and we have a guide and bear guards with us. Vik was our guide and she told us a lot about this whaling station. There were still many remenants from those days, including the large cement like remains of the blubber ovens. There was also an old wooden wheelbarrow and lots of timber and stones. Another guide, Uli, was also with us and he started to tell us really interesting things about Walruses - he was very funny and entertaining. I
was talking to Scott & Cathy (from our kayaking group) and we all agreed that we would go to his lecture that afternoon as if this small amount of time with him was this good, then we knew his lecture wouldn't be dull at all!
After our turn on shore we headed back to the ship and eventually had some lunch. I have found that the Pool Bar & Grill has a soup station and everyday there is a different soup. Yum! Just what you need in these cold climes.
At 2:30 the ship set sail for Bjørnfjorden (The Bear Fjord) and it is a fjord in Albert 1 Land. At 3pm the Polar plunge opportunity was scheduled, for those crazy people who think this is a good idea! I rugged up and headed to Deck 9 in time to position myself to take photos of all the crazy people! The crew dressed up as pirates and clowns and a lot of fun was had by all.
I stayed on deck for quite a while, enjoying looking at the difference birds. I was lucky enough to be near Liz who could explain to me every different type
of bird we saw. I was excited to see puffins but the ones that I liked the best was the Little Auk. They are so cute - they are just sitting on the water and when they decide they want to fly, they flap away on the water for quite a way before eventually lifting off and going airborne!
Then, just as I headed back downstairs, the announcement was made that there was a Blue whale sighting! I had a quick look but was pretty keen to go to a lecture being given by Uli - I met Scott & Cathy there and we were certainly not disappointed! It was one of the best and funniest lectures with Uri on Hot Blood - Cold Water: Arctic Pinnipeds.
At 6:15 we had our recap and briefing although Skulk had to hurry up Uli as I suspect he could have talked about Pinnipeds all night!
After the briefing I went back to my room for a while and then headed to The Restaurant for dinner. There weren't many tables available, so I decided to head up to the Pool Bar & Grill. I stepped outside and Greg & Anne
were there so I went to say Hi and they asked me to join them. I cooked myself a delicious steak on the hot rock and enjoyed a lovely glass of red wine. It was a fun night just chatting with them as they are both very interesting people.
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