A Whale of a Good Time

Sunday, 8 September (Part V)
Aboard M/V Sea Spirit — Skoldungen Fjord, Greenland
Position @ 1230: 63°17’ North / 40°09’ West

Leaving Bernstorff Isfjord behind, we traveled just a short distance south to Skoldungen Fjord.  This is the same fjord we visited yesterday.  On that occasion, we went in the south arm of the horseshoe shaped channel and landed on an island to visit a ghost town by the same name (post here).  This time, we went into the northern arm.

It was 12:30p and we were short on time.  So, looping around the island to exit the fjord through the south arm was not an option.  Instead, Alex offered two walks — charging and medium-fast — and a zodiac cruise.   You know how I feel about fast-paced walks that don’t allow for much time to stop and smell the ‘tundra’.  We chose the cruise.

View from our veranda before we disembark for the zodiac cruise.

If you think this is going to be another post about icebergs, you would be wrong.  Although I will start off by giving you a closer look at the big berg in the above photograph … it has too much character to leave out of this blog post.

And I have to share with you a blue berg we came across just before we shifted our focus from the ice to something of the mammalian order.

This post is mostly about whales.  Or rather, one humpback whale that Jimmy said he’d started tracking while he was still on the bridge.  Always up for a good whale encounter, we readily agreed when he suggested going up the fjord a bit to see if we could find it.

Jimmy’s expertise paid off, and soon we were enjoying the company of a humpback whale that wasn’t in the least bit shy of us.  In fact, it would disappear by diving for a short while, only to return each time even closer to our position.  There were only two other zodiacs in the vicinity, and we all stayed with the whale as it moved around, coming up for air frequently, and fluking for us several times.

The whale’s white side saddle, clearly visible through the water, …

… and the footprint (flat circular surface) it left behind helped us to keep track of it.

Our best fluking experience this afternoon was … hmmm, what’s the word I want?  Ah yes, spectacular!  And it happened just 50-60 feet (15-18 m) in front of us.  Photographically, our zodiac wasn’t in the optimum position, but that didn’t take away from the encounter — not even a little bit.

Mui’s 23-second moving picture of two of the three flukings.

When Dr Chris, who was in one of the other zodiacs gave us a virtual high-five across the water separating us, we knew he’d hit the jackpot with his photos.  We thank him for sharing them!

What a spectacle with which to conclude our last landing in Greenland.  A WOW moment to be sure!

At 3:00p,with the last zodiac secured on deck 3 aft, Captain Peter set course for our debarkation port — Reykjavík, Iceland.  We later learned that we had approximately 500 NM to reach our final destination — a trip that would take us about 40 hours to make.

When 4:00p came around, armed with a cup of hot chocolate laced with a wee bit of Bailey’s, I went to the Oceanus Lounge to listen to Jimmy’s lecture about the Seals and Walrus of the Arctic Ocean — seals fall into two categories: the Phocids (true seals) and the Otarids (eared seals … such as sea lions and fur seals); walrus fall in between the two.

We knew exactly when the ship exited the fjord into the open waters of the Atlantic.  Conditions were calm by ocean standards, but the ship’s movements changed noticeably.  Not enough, however, to keep us from returning to the Oceanus Lounge at 6:30p for the daily recap and briefing.

The big question on everyone’s mind was the forecast for the Denmark Strait.  After all, we had a long sea transit ahead of us.  Alex’s announcement that it would be a good crossing with following winds and seas was met with cheers.  Sam then spent a few minutes telling us about the birds we might see tomorrow — great shearwaters, northern gannets, and even possibilities of Atlantic puffins.

Dave came next with some stats about the Sea Spirit: built in 1991 in Copenhagen, by an Italian builder, and registered in Nassau; top speed of 14.5 knots (17 miles/27 km); first served as Renaissance V, and then went through a series of name changes, ending up as the Sea Spirit for Quark in 2010; carries a crew of 60+ men and women from 20 different nationalities.

In response to questions from the passengers, Jimmy came up to the podium to give us his thoughts about this afternoon’s whale encounter.  His best guesstimate is that it was a 30-50 year old male, about 45 feet (14 m) long, and weighing about 40 tons; from the Atlantic stock of whales.

One last fluke from this afternoon’s whale encounter.

There was no dessert in the dining room tonight!  Fear not, we didn’t have to go without a sweet treat.  Rather, there was a dessert buffet in the Club Lounge to sate our sweet tooth (or should that be teeth)!  Can you say death by chocolate?  And to go with it, there was a trivia game titled How Well Do You Know Your Expedition Team.  We didn’t do too bad in matching up the quirky hints with the right team member.

Don’t ask me why I didn’t take any photos myself?
I probably had other things on my mind — like which chocolate dessert to taste.

Tonight, we put the clocks one hour ahead.  That means we get one hour less sleep.  Good thing tomorrow is a sea day — we can sleep in!

We Have Whales … We Have Icebergs … At Sea to Disko Bugt

Friday, 30 August 2013 (Part I)
Aboard M/V Sea Spirit — At Anchor in Disko Bay, Greenland

Stats posted @ 0900
Position: 67°46’ North / 54°35’ West
Distance traveled: 127.4 NM since Kangerlussuaq
distance to next point: 199 NM to Ilulissat
temperature: 45F / 7C

Quote from the Daily Program:
“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.”
Helen Keller

Today was the second day of our Greenland Explorer expedition voyage, the “planned route” for which is shown on the map to the right.  (We’re doing the itinerary in reverse; mentally turn the arrows around.)

We have arrived at our destination and are anchored for the night just off Ilulissat in Disko Bugt (Disko Bay).  That means that currently the plans are on track.  It’s still early in the voyage, however, so we’ll have to wait and see if there are any jiggles in the days ahead.

When we did our Antarctic voyage with Quark in 2007, there was a disclaimer that came with the itinerary we selected: “Embracing the unexpected is part of the legacy — and excitement — of expedition-style travel, and a measure of flexibility is something we all must bring on the voyage.”  I imagine the same disclaimer holds true for this itinerary.  We’re prepared to be flexible should the occasion arise.

I suppose I could just say that we had a grand day, add a few photos, and be done with this post.  Much as the bed beckons me to curl up and go to sleep, I’m not going to take the easy way out.  So, here’s the story of our day at sea — at least part of it.

Captain Peter had said last night that once we transited Kalaallisut Fjord, and got into the Davis Strait around 1:30a, we would be feeling the ship rockin’ and rollin’ a bit.  He was right on the money.  When I woke up to the motion of the sea and looked at the clock on my bedside table it was 1:45a.  Smiling to myself, I pulled the covers back up over me and let the M/V Sea Spirit rock me back to sleep until it was time to get up at 6:00a.  Even with the stabilizers deployed, the ship’s movement was considerable, but not nearly as bad as it could have been.  Happy that our ‘sea legs’ were functioning and that we wouldn’t have to break out the Scopolamine patches to ward off sea sickness, we got ready for the day ahead.

Today’s day at sea is taking us up the Davis Strait to Ilulissat in Disko Bay.

One of Quark’s “green efforts” is the elimination of the daily schedule delivered to the cabin every night with the turn-down service.  So how do you find out about scheduled events, you ask?  Simple — turn on the TV to check the electronic schedule.  And that’s how we found out that breakfast was being served at 8:00a — a bit later than we like, but to be expected on a day at sea.  Bundling up, we went to check out the light breakfast served outside on Deck 5 aft.  As it was cold, overcast, and drizzly, we scurried back inside this morning, but we’ll be taking advantage of this al fresco dining option when the weather permits.

No breakfast on deck this morning, but I did get A shot of a Northern Fulmar.

The lecture series, presented by members of the expedition team, began shortly after breakfast.  First on the agenda was the mandatory zodiac safety and landing guidelines briefing in the Oceanus Lounge.  A pre-requirement for being able to participate in landings, we didn’t need the threat of a roll call to ensure our attendance.

Already familiar with both zodiac procedures and the guidelines of AECO (Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators), we didn’t learn anything knew.  Nonetheless, it was a valuable refresher; and it was nice to know that Quark planned to abide by the rules — not that we would have expected anything less from a veteran company of polar travel, which promotes sustainable tourism with minimal impact on the lands and local cultures visited.

Click the image to read the AECO guidelines for yourself. 

This mandatory briefing was followed by the equally mandatory muster drill, which was postponed to this morning due to our delayed arrival aboard the Sea Spirit yesterday.  As many times as we’ve attended one of these drills, we still take the next one seriously.  So, when the signal was sounded, we donned the bulky evacuation life vests and headed to the Oceanus Lounge, our muster station.  Though we didn’t have to get in the lifeboats, we were escorted to the boat stations to complete the drill.

Even the expedition team members must attend the muster drill.
L to R: Dr Chris, Sam, Christine, and Fabrice.

At 11:30a, Laurie, the expedition historian, invited us all down to the Oceanus Lounge for his talk entitled From Stones to Satellites.  The lecture was described in the daily program as “The ebb and flow of the various stone age cultures that lived in the most northerly places in the world during the last 4,000 years, leading to the present satellite age.”  Laurie covered the cultural history of the area from the Arctic Tool Tradition to the Thule, the immediate ancestors of the Inuit cultures of Greenland.  It was a concise, but fascinating summary of the peoples that inhabited Greenland, and helped to solidify in my mind some of the same information I had read in the pre-expedition booklet sent to us by Quark.

Lunch was to be served at 12:30p, but was delayed slightly by the appearance of humpback whales nearby.  Captain Peter slowed down the ship as we all ran outside with our cameras to take photographs and enjoy the presence of these mammoth creatures of the oceans.  A species of baleen whale, humpbacks were once hunted to near extinction.  The population has since made considerable recovery around the world thanks to protective measures that were put into place in 1966.  Always a joy to see them … and this time was no exception.

If you look closely, you’ll see a Northern Fulmar flying towards this humpback whale.

Showing its fluke is often a sign that the whale is diving deep and won’t be seen for a while.

Whales, whales everywhere — what a treat!

The main topic of conversation at lunch was the whales, of course.  The open seating lunch was served buffet style with a wide variety of choices; including soup, which was served by the waitstaff.  Having spotted icebergs on the horizon while on deck for the whales, we didn’t dally long in the dining room.  Icebergs or not, however, first we had to get outfitted with very stylish (not) footwear from the Quark footlocker.

OK, OK … here’s an example of the icebergs in close proximity to the ship.

Wellies (aka gum boots) are an essential part of the well-dressed Arctic traveler’s daily attire.  While some prefer to bring and wear their own boots, we prefer to use the weight and space they would take up in our luggage for other things.  So we’re perfectly satisfied with borrowing them from Quark.  After lunch, we were called to the Oceanus Lounge by deck and fitted with boots to wear for the duration of the voyage.  Now we’re all set to go ashore when we have our first landing tomorrow.

Back to the icebergs.  As many who know us are aware, we are infected with the “ice virus.”  I’m not talking about some computer virus that you can scan for and remove from your computer.  No, this is a deep-seated, very serious virus that is impossible to eradicate.  It’s tentacles go deep into one’s being and it begs to be fed with periodic trips to polar regions.  We were infected when we caught our first glimpse of glaciers and bergs in Alaska in 2001.  We were truly hooked after our 2007 visit to Antarctica, and have been feeding it since then with our trips to the Arctic.  That being the case, there was no doubt that as more and more bergs started popping up on the horizon, we were going to be front and center on the Club Deck to enjoy the mammoth ice sculptures calving off the equally mammoth glaciers streaming down from the Greenland Ice Cap — the second largest after the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

(After looking at the photos I took today, I found the deep blue color of the ocean distracting … hence the B&W treatment.)

(This next photo I didn’t process entirely as B&W.  Rather, I desaturated all but the iceberg itself as I wanted to retain the clear blue streams of ice criss-crossing the berg.)

Safely navigating the ship past these gianormous bergs, Captain Peter continued deeper into Disko Bay where we suddenly found ourselves face to face with an ice belt.  What’s that?  You’ll have to wait to find out in part II of today’s blog …

Bleached Bones

Kvitfiskstranda (White Whale Beach), Bellsund – Spitsbergen, Svalbard (July 2011)

[click here for the words]

Woodfjorden: The World’s Biggest Creature

Friday, 8 July
Latitude at Wake Up: 79°51’46” N
Temperature at Wake Up: 39.9F (4.4C)

I
I am the blue whale.
The biggest animal who lives in the sea.
I can dive for half an hour.
Then I come up to the surface to breathe.
I eat four million krill a day.
My whistle is louder than a jet.
I’m the biggest animal that has ever lived.
Would you like me for a pet?

BY: Michael Day
(Written by a first grader
for a home research project)

(…)
I think we should order a full breakfast from room service every morning to guarantee an early morning wildlife sighting. This was our second attempt to eat in our suite on this cruise, and it was the second time our breakfast was interrupted by mother nature sending a visitor our way. Not complaining mind you; just stating the facts.

When the announcement came around 6:00a that there was a blue whale near the ship, we grabbed our parkas and cameras, and flew out of the cabin like lightning. My heart was pounding as though it was going to burst out of my chest. Not because of the exertion of running up two decks to get outside, but because I was so excited to see the greatest, biggest animal that has ever lived on earth! My hands were shaking so much that I was having difficulty holding the long lens steady as I scanned the horizon for my first glimpse of a blue whale. Then I saw IT, and a blissful calm settled over me.

At 90-100 feet (27-30 m) long, and weighing 180 tons, the blue whale is the largest
known animal to have ever existed.

(If you look very closely in the lower right quadrant of the lower left photo in the collage, you’ll see a gull that will help put the size of the blue whale in perspective.)

Once abundant in nearly all of the oceans on Earth, this great baleen whale was hunted to near extinction during the 20th century. Internationally protected since 1966, the blue whale is still considered an endangered species. By today’s estimates, there are 8,000 to 14,000 blue whales worldwide. That’s far less than the 29,000+ that were slaughtered in just one season in 1931 — and it is just a tiny fraction of the pre-exploitation population, which was estimated at 350,000.

A rare and special sighting of a blue whale.

We spent about 30 minutes with the whale as it slowly swam about, periodically sending big, tall blows high into the air. Then we broke off to go look for a fin whale, the second largest whale species. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived on site, the whale was long gone. I can understand why we broke off from the blue whale, and I certainly don’t disagree with the decision. Nonetheless, I do have a bone to pick with the expedition staff. Later in the day, Robin mentioned in passing that they had been watching the whale sleeping on the surface since 5:30a. In fact, another expedition ship in the vicinity apparently had its guests on deck to enjoy this rare sighting as soon as they came upon the whale. Why we weren’t alerted to the blue whale earlier is beyond me. To give us time to sleep? Sorry, not acceptable IMHO. We’re here on an expedition voyage to see and experience things that are new to us. We can sleep when we get back home. (Apologies for the short rant; but I had to get it out of my system.)

So back to the story of our day — or at least the first part of the day. As I’ve done on other occasions, I will break today’s story into multiple posts.

Having left Bellsund around noon yesterday, Silver Explorer made it’s way overnight to Woodfjorden (Wood Fjord) in the far north of Spitsbergen.

Skipping sites of interest along the west coast, we head north.
[map on the right courtesy of the Norwegian polar institute website]

While the passengers breakfasted, the scout boats went out to explore the area around the Andoyane Islands to see if they could find bears. In the meantime, as the ship slowly continued further into the fjord, Mui and I went up to Deck 6 to enjoy the sun breaking through the clouds to shine on the magical scenery … which I’m going to present in this post in B&W to underscore the raw beauty of the area.

And just think ... all this was in just the first few hours of our day. Much more to come ...

Bellsund: Kvitfiskstranda (White Whale Beach)

Thursday, 7 July
Latitude at Wake Up: 77°25’28” N
temperature at wake up: 37.8F (3.2C)

(…)
I am the Beluga Whale.
I am called the canary of the sea.
I’m all white with tiny black eyes.
And I am friendly to everybody!
I am not a very fast swimmer.
I have a round blunt head.
I make the cold Arctic Ocean,
My safe and snuggly waterbed.

By: Kristen Visser
(written by a first grader
for a home research project.)

What a morning we had! Never in my life would I have imagined finding myself on a beach called Kvitfiskstranda (White Whale Beach). But that name is such a tongue-twister, so I’ll give you the alternate name for this landing site as well — Bamsebu.

We woke up to overcast skies. No different from the earlier days of our voyage. This time, though, there was a bit of drizzle that accompanied us the entire time we were in Bellsund (Bell Strait), named in 1610 by the English whaler, Jonas Poole. His inspiration was a bell-shaped mountain in the area. As with Hornsund yesterday, Bellsund was one of the first fjords in Spitsbergen where whalers were active beginning in the 17th century.

One more check mark on our tentative itinerary finds us in Bellsund.
[map on the top right: courtesy of the Spitsbergen-Svalbard website;
map on the bottom right: courtesy of the Norwegian polar institute website ]

Bellsund branches off into two fjords near the entrance. Upon arrival, Captain Stahlberg navigated to starboard (hung a right) into Van Keulenjforden, and anchored in Ingebrigtsenbukta, a bay named for a Norwegian Whaler who spent a number of years whaling in the area in the 1900s.

Since Group 3 was not scheduled to disembark until 10:00a, we had a leisurely few hours to enjoy breakfast and wander around the outside decks before disembarking for a zodiac ride to shore.

Once the ship arrives at its anchorage, the gangway platform is lowered into place
and the gangway stairs are secured for zodiac operations.

See the tiny little white dots the zodiac is pointing to? That’s where we’re headed.

And what are those white dots on the distant shore, you ask?

piles of bleached bones from over 500 beluga whales that were slaughtered here.

We knew about the whale bones before we went ashore. Robin had told us what we would be seeing at this site, which dates back to the 1930s. But nothing in our wildest imagination could have prepared us for what greeted our eyes once we were ashore. I was stunned speechless, and for a moment, my feet refused to obey the signals my mind was giving them to walk over and join the group as Kara talked about belugas and how these bones came to be here. How anyone could have done this to those cute little toothed whales is beyond me!!!!

[click the arrow to start the video of Kara talking about beluga whales]

the smile is an automatic reaction to having a camera pointed at us. we are not smiling on the inside.

Belugas travel in large groups, following their prey (polar cod) into fjords. This made it easy for whalers to capture them with seine nets that they took out in rowboats. Once the belugas swam into the seines, the whalers closed the nets and winched them ashore, where they shot or lanced the whales. And for what? Their blubber and skin. As was the case with the early whaling of the larger species of whales, the meat was left to rot!!!!

Partial reconstruction of a beluga skeleton.

bones, bones, and more bones.

This mechanism made it easier to bring the seine nets ashore after the belugas were caught.

A bit of colorful purple saxifrage to lift our spirits.

Next, we walked over to the other area of interest at this landing site — Bamsebu, a station built in the 1930s for the sole purpose of beluga whale hunting. Established by Ingvald Svendsen, it consisted of a hut and two small shacks. In addition to the buildings, there were whaling boats, one of which was overturned and probably used for food and equipment storage. The hut was later used by trappers who came to the area to hunt Arctic fox.

Next destination is the whaling station/trappers’ hut with a detour to check out one
of the whaling boats that has survived the harsh Arctic conditions.

whaling boat and skeletal remains of years gone by.

The hut is solidly constructed and reinforced with tree trunks; probably driftwood
that traveled here from Siberia via the arctic circumpolar current.

Left: the whalers must have loved their “privy;” check out the heart on the door.
Right: nails with the pointy end facing out was a common bear deterrent.

An overturned boat used for food and equipment storage ... a form of re-use,
taking advantage of what was at hand.

Vessels old and new.

The pointy end of a nasty looking piece of whaling equipment.

Jawbone (not beluga) with teeth intact.

Skeletal remains of belugas and human detritus.

It was still drizzling as we walked back to the zodiacs. It was still overcast too, with fog shrouding the coastline across the bay. There was a chill in the air that was easily felt through our heavy parkas. The ambiance was perfect for this somber landing site. For once, everyone aboard the zodiac was quiet during the ride back to the ship. I don’t know about the others, but my mind was still back in Bamsebu, trying to understand what I had seen. I can appreciate that times were different back then; I don’t think I can ever make sense of it.

Once our group was aboard, the Silver Explorer weighed anchor and went back out into the open sea. The plan is to take advantage of ice-free waters to explore fjords in northern Spitsbergen before turning back to explore areas along the west coast of the island.

After lunch, Mui found a quiet corner and started to work on editing bits and pieces of his video. I bundled up and went outside, intending to walk around Deck 6, but the weather didn’t cooperate. In the end, I joined Mui in the Panorama Lounge where I worked on photographs and blog drafts for a while.

At 2:30p, we went to The Theater to attend Kara Weller’s presentation about polar bears. Something interesting she mentioned about the two species of bears with which Mui and I have had close interaction: polar bears and brown bears are closely related. It wasn’t until the Pleistocene Period (about 250,000 years ago) that the two species separated. And a difference between the two species — other than their coloring — polar bears don’t really hibernate since they have year-round food. The exception is pregnant females. They hibernate with their newborns until the cubs are old enough to leave the birthing den.

Kara also talked briefly about ringed seal behavior. Appropriate to the topic at hand since this species is the favorite food of the masters of the ice.

Here are some salient points that I found interesting: one seal per breathing hole ◊◊ they raise their heads often to look around when resting on ice ◊◊ they don’t defecate on the ice so as not to leave a traceable trail ◊◊ the young have white fur so as to blend in better with the icy environment.

Seeing as how these bears were once related, I couldn’t resist a few “memorable images.”
Polar bears of Churchill (2008) and Brown Bears of Katmai (2010)

Kara’s presentation was followed by tea and tapas in the Panorama Lounge. We’d been staying away from this daily event, but couldn’t resist today. Then it was time for the daily briefing, during which Robin explained the plans for tomorrow. As always, weather can throw a wrench into the works, but for now at least, it’s looking like we won’t be needing a Plan B.

For dinner tonight, we joined Bob and Christina at a four-top. I have to say that there was so much hilarity at our table that we got some interesting looks from some of the other diners! I think they just wanted some of the dark chocolate and marzipan balls that magically appeared at our table after dinner :-). The menu offered several good choices tonight, but Mui and I both ordered the same meal: caprese salad; gnocchi with a tomato and basil sauce; and grilled halibut on a bed of mashed potatoes. Dessert was same but different: gelato for Mui and a most excellent Rocky Road ice cream for moi.

Bon Appétit!

And thus, a day that started on a really somber note ended with a great deal of fun and laughter. May there be a lot more of the latter in our lives as we continue to explore what Mother Earth has to offer us.