Arctic Adventure: Part II

This is the second of a two-part blog post about my trip to the Arctic (see post 1). Here are 370 of my favorite photos from the trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/traveltt/sets/72157656798461721 

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On the fourth day aboard the MV Fram, our ship sailed by Alkefjellet, a huge cliff with thousands of birds' nests. Most of the birds were guillemots.

We docked at Torellneset and took zodiacs to shore, which allowed us to walk within 50 feet of a pack of walruses. Two walruses hopped in the water and swam right by us (only 15 feet away). They were showing off and playing. One even stopped in front of all of the cameras to pose (or, more likely, to scout and see whether we were a threat).

In the afternoon, we came upon a field of ice. Since our cruise was early in the summer season, the ice hadn't completely melted yet.

The ship shook as it hit icebergs straight on and plowed right through them. Some icebergs were pushed away while others sank below the ship. I spent hours watching the ship break through the ice. We also spotted the largest glacier in the world in the distance and the sun highlighted it beautifully (see photo above). We ate dinner and watched the icebergs float by our window. The sunlight hit perfectly and the water created mirror images of the icebergs. I left my dinner behind to take photos.

An hour later, a polar bear was spotted at about 1000 feet away. It sauntered across the ice as everyone on board rushed to take photos.

After following the polar bear with my camera until it walked away, I went up to the panorama room on the 7th floor to watch the ship break through the ice. I was in the middle of looking through the photos on my camera when I spotted another polar bear really close by. It was walking right alongside the boat. I grabbed my camera and ran outside to snap some more photos. The bear stopped every so often and stared directly at us (great photo op).

My dad and I went to the back of the boat to watch the polar bear walk into the sunset (well, at least as close as the sun actually sets in the arctic). It was a scene that I'll never forget. We spent the evening watching the ship break through the last bit of ice and into the open ocean.

The ice edge

The next day, we were treated to another polar bear sighting. This time we spotted a young male polar bear eating a seal. It got spooked by the cruise ship and grabbed it's meal and dragged it across the ice. Then it swam away.

During the final two days of the cruise, we had hurricane force winds and rolling waves. We had to skip a few landings. We stopped in a bay with three 200+ foot tall glaciers. Dad and I took the zodiacs to shore and hiked in rain, hail, and snow up to a view point. Then we slid/walked through a giant snow patch to get back to the boat.

On the last day, in the middle of the windstorm, a rainbow appeared right next to our boat. I ran outside to take a photo and could barely standup in the strong winds. The rainbow seemed to flow deep into the water. It was an incredible sight!

We spent dinner next to a glacier and then landed back in Longyearbyen at 1am. Luckily, it was still light out since we had to disembark and catch a plane to Reykjavik.

Our first stop in Iceland was the tourist trap Blue Lagoon. Apparently, you need to make a reservation online, otherwise, there's a waitlist and they charge you more to walk-in. We waited an hour and were finally called to pay to go in. We quickly changed into our swimsuits and hopped in the wonderfully warm water.

The water is a mix of fresh and salt water with many minerals. It is brought up from a pipe that goes 2000 meters into the ground. When it is first brought up, it is 500 degrees Fahrenheit, so they cool it down to about 90-100 degrees for the blue lagoon. We put on mud masks, relaxed in the water and under the hot waterfall, and then headed to Reykjavik.

Hallgrimskirkia Church

View from the top of the Hallgrimskirkia Church

Reykjavik is a cute town with a harbor. Our hotel apartment was located two blocks from Hallgrímskirkja, a tall church that towers over the city. The first night there, we met Michael and Vivian, our Australian friends from the cruise, for dinner at Ban Thai, a popular thai food restaurant. Michael captured stunning close-up photos and videos of the polar bears and other wildlife during the cruise and I showed him how to edit it together as a movie using the iMovie app.

During two of the days in Reykjavik we did a puffin tour and whale watching tour. We saw many puffins, as well as beaked dolphins, minke whales, and a humpback whale.

Humpback whale

We also spent a day driving the famous golden circle. We drove across the countryside past many farms with Icelandic horses. We stopped at the Kerio crater and hiked around, then we went to Mika cafe for homemade chocolate, and stopped at the Fridheimar greenhouse for lunch.

Kerio Crater

Eating in a greenhouse was a unique experience. We ate right next to the 50 rows of cucumber plants. We had unlimited, delicious tomato soup, homemade bread, and cucumber salsa. And, of course, we had to finish it off with tomato and apple pie (yum!!).

Eating in a greenhouse

Next we stopped at the geyser. We saw it erupt from a distance and then the crowd of people started leaving, so we thought we missed it. It turns out that the Stokkur geyser erupts every 5 minutes, or so. I wanted to get up close to take a photo of the bubble that forms right before it explodes, so I found the perfect spot. I looked around and pointed out that no one was standing even remotely near us...strange. The bubble formed, I started snapping photos, and the geyser shot 100 feet into the sky and then it came down right on top of us, soaking us head to toe in hot sulfuric water...now we know why no one was standing near us :)

After a quick stop at the beautiful Gullfoss waterfall, we drove to Thingvellir National Park to snorkel between the two continental plates. We spent an hour putting on dry suits (the suit needs to be as tight as possible without you fainting). Then we hopped into 38 degree water for a 40 minute snorkel. It was so so so cold! It was truly a test of mental endurance to see if we could make it through the swim without writhing in pain from the freezing cold water. I focused my efforts on taking photos and videos underwater. The visibility was spectacular!

We survived the snorkel, had some warm hot chocolate, and headed back to Reykjavik. Then I headed back to the states, while my dad went to Switzerland for a trekking trip.

Needless to say, this trip was quite an adventure!!