Going with the Floe: Arctic Expedition Cruise July 10, 2023

[Mathmagicland]

as well as a great talk about the flora we'd encountered as well, including the little fungus. He did a great job of building respect for the tiny shrunken denizens we were then much more careful not to trample. They're similar to plants elsewhere... just microsized to adapt to a very harsh environment.

Axel was one of my favorite naturalists on the June expedition. He was so funny! Leaned a lot about Arctic plant life as we could show him pics of plants we found on shore to get help identifying them and learn more. And, luck of the draw, he was one of the two at our table for Dinner with the Naturalists one evening.

He seemed to really have fun with all of the Disney antics, as he donned his Batman mask for our group photo at the Arc-tiki party.

 

[Mathmagicland]

For awhile we thought she was just being extra cautious... again (we kept getting the same driver by chance)... but then we saw a light mist start to roll in. Some of the zodiacs were continuing on, but then we saw one turn back as we were as well. We milled around close to the ship for what felt like an eternity waiting to see if the fog would roll back out as quickly as it rolled back in. It also hadn't gotten so bad that we had to toss in the towel... we were just kind of bobbing out there. Losing visibility was a huge danger in the zodiacs; not only could the guides not guarantee our safety from animals or the ice, there was danger we would lose our way if we lost visual with the ship. (GPS only does so much...)

You are spot on, that fog is a huge safety concern. During one of our landings, we were cautioned our time ashore might be cut short due to incoming fog, I took this shot of the zodiacs heading back as I got ashore -



After 15 minutes ashore, we were all called back to the ship, as the fog was just too much. I decided I wanted to be the last guest on shore, so walked very slowly and hung back to be on the last zodiac where I was the last to board before the naturalist crew boarded. Ponant attention to safety was impressive - the guides with the guns all stayed several feet back and on watch, not closing in to shore until I was in the zodiac. Then Alex had the last of the naturalists and crew board; Alex (head naturalist) was the last one to board. At this point the fog was thick we could not see the ship until we were almost upon it.



The zodiac driver had to use a GPS to get us back, and we were going at a slower pace for safety. I’d heard one of the zodiacs returning earlier, when we were still on shore, got a bit lost on the way back and needed radio help because of not being able to see the ship and not yet having a GPS. Quite the adventure that afternoon! And not all guests got ashore that day; I was in one of the first zodiacs of the second grouping but later guests were not able to get ashore. Safety is always a priority. Just another unique day in the Arctic!

 

[Mathmagicland]

At this point I have to admit I am curious how we've deviated from the June departure so far including tomorrow... if anyone is able to chime in on that...!

You are already seeing /stopping at some things we did not do in June (like the Texas Bar). When I have a few minutes, I will find my daily programs and post our itinerary for you.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

An AbD rep on the June departure commented (when I asked) that the Arctic trip may end up being an every few years trip, rather than annually. Obviously they need to hit certain participation numbers on the trips, same as the land adventures. Even the Antarctica trips have gone from three each of the prior two seasons down to just one coming up this season. Interest /those who can go now is tapering off. So, I’d encourage anyone interested in a future Arctic adventure to email AbD and let them know. AbD needs to see the potential interest to gauge when to possibly look at offering one again.

That makes total sense and good idea!

 

[pjacobi]

More pretty cracked rocks.

View attachment 793121

Pretty rocks? I'd say they were DEADLY rocks! This looks like a pile left from flint knapping, i.e. from making arrow heads and scrapers.



-Paul

 

[AquaDame]

Pretty rocks? I'd say they were DEADLY rocks! This looks like a pile left from flint knapping, i.e. from making arrow heads and scrapers.



-Paul

What can I say, I'm am innocent! I don't even recognize a weapon when I see one...

 

[AquaDame]

Day 6 continued...

Our fireside chat once again rolled into our daily recap (though we still were not done!) and briefing for tonight and the next day. We then had a mostly normal evening with live music and dinner until it was time for Green and Yellow to head out to the cliffs at 7:15pm. That cut a wee bit into dinner, so Kyle and I waited until a little later to head down to give the early group first chance, before heading out ourselves at 8:15.

Sure it was late, but this was the ARCTIC, and so the sun was doing its shining just fine all night long... you would not have even known it was evening without a clock. I was especially anxious for this one, as we knew bird cliffs could mean foxes. To cover our bases we had a few days in Iceland at the end of this trip to look forward to, but how cool would it be to see them beforehand too, to take the pressure off?

I asked the folk coming back if they had seen anything and was told YES at the end they had! There was indeed an arctic fox that they had caught running around with a bird, and that just made my anxious heart that much more... anxious! Look at the stress on my face compared to Kyle's... and that was me really trying!



I cannot lie to you, dear reader... despite trying my best I just could not focus on the now of the cliffs. We'd seen lots of birds. I knew what I was seeing was magnificent in scale...



I knew the weather had broke JUST for us compared to this morning! Just look at that mean ol' cloud in the bottom left!



But I just could NOT put my binoculars down and pay attention to the birds. I kept scanning the shore and grassy areas for the fox. I only snapped a couple of pics the whole time we were out, so I'll have to make it up to you in the next post where I'll share ten that the ships' photographers took. It did not help my disposition that we were also, of course, getting pooped on. Kyle got it on his shoe, I got some on my coat, there was a little poop on everyone as we went along. Some people had stayed behind due to fear of birds which was probably smart... there were a LOT of birds and we got fairly close to the cliffs.



But only one of these cuties. I can say my adherence to the cause paid off... I spotted the fox first and we were able to alert the other zodiacs to the location. I was so happy and relieved that we FINALLY found one of my must-sees! (Kyle's polar bear was still tick-tocking and antagonizing Damien).



It was so small that it was actually hard to find - for me only possible on the move but once I had it I was NOT taking my eyes off.



I think it saw us too. :3 We watched for a bit, enjoying the sight as much as we could, until it went back up and into the cliffs.



As we returned to the ship, fulfilled if poopy, the weather continued to roll in behind us. You can really see how lucky we were to have that break in the clouds exactly where it needed to be!



By now it was getting late, but there were still activities on the ship for those that wished. They played Encanto in the theatre, and there was Match your Mate in the main lounge on 3, both at 9:30. They also had yet more live music at 9:45 and 10:45 for those who liked to stay up even later!

 

[AquaDame]

Consolation pics from the ship's photograhers for Alkefjellet; birds birds birds:

 

[sayhello]

Yay!! You saw a fox!

The birds are cool and all, but getting pooped on? Not so much!

Still, it's cool! Those cliffs are so imposing!

Sayhello

 

[AquaDame]

July 16th/Day 7: All or Puffin

Today we traveled to Alicehamna and Smeerenburg, "blubbertown", you guessed it, an old whaling station. Our landing was once again at 8:30 this morning, and was a bit of a somber affair as there are two graves spread out at this location. You are able to hike from the cabin to the cairn on top of the hill.



We were able to go inside this cabin; we saw a stove and a couple of bunks at one end as well, complete with mattresses. I'm not sure who stays here, but the firewood seemed fresh and it was very clean inside.



The boards used had markings as if they had been repurposed from various places. This one was the neatest IMO!



Once again we had an easy, uneventful hike to stretch out legs. There was not much to see, other than the carin itself and one of the graves. The other is viewed partway up the hill. There were some small birds nesting in the grave, so we all took care to give them space.



They have a pretty nice view!



There were plenty of activities for us to participate in as well! Photo contest #2 had ended and we were now on to #3 "All Things Arctic". They also opened up a raffle to win a beautifully decorated map of the cruise which was adorned by the ships carpenter, Irolo.



Each entry was $10 or you could buy them in packs and get an extra or few. We tossed in $30 or so, but many many other folks were going hog wild, buying 15-30; it was for a nice cause, all proceeds went directly to the crew fund and would be spent on team bonding activities ashore. We also had Disney Trivia in the lounge along with a surprise... they had added one last lecture from our special guests but this time instead of Joe, his wife Melody Malberg and Peggie Fariss took over. We were all very glad, as they had been adding tidbits to Joe's talks as well and we wanted to hear more from them. The talk was titled 'Women of Walt Disney Imagineering and sure it may have been to help sell the book, but it was great fun.



They shared all kinds of tales and tidbits as working as women imagineers and at least did not seem to hold back on some of the negatives such as trying to create work life balance. Melody was one of the first to successfully bid to do work share with another woman when she had her children, though she did eventually end up parting ways with the company to have more time with their family. They also told the story of how the book came to be in the first place, which is always fun to hear. Hopefully its in the preamble...

As soon as we were out of the theatre it was time once again to don our gear and head out to Smeerenburg. Here we would be seeing more walrus and the remains of the whale processing. The zodiacs took great care to stay downwind and we then slowly walked in groups up to them, one boat full at a time. We were eager to go, and happened to be in the first boat out.



Slowly the lazy tubs came into view:



Unlike our viewing a few days ago, we were much closer to them, and of course on land. They were also somewhat awake, and we saw many more swimming in the water than we had prior. Someone asked why some were sleeping with their tusks in the air, or in the ground.. and no one knows. Must be comfy!



Once our time was up and the next boat needed to have their time, we began to walk in a circle around the space. We walked for quite awhile, and came to another watery area with baby ducks waaaaaay off in the distance, which our guide had us stop to admire. After a few minutes I realized the guide was on her radio... and thought I caught something on the wind...

She smiled at me, and kept talking in French... I smiled back... and hers got bigger. After another minute or two, she announced that they had found a bear, and would be sending zodiacs back early for us. We could start walking back on our own now, if we wished, or we could spend more time with her and the du...

I started walking with purpose as Disney had trained me for.

When I got back to the beach, Alexandre was there on the radio and I saw the group that had been with the walrus making their way back as well. Slowly people trickled in and he kept repeating that they were putting more zodiacs in the water, and the group after us would be going to the bear first, and then come over to the whaling station. We waited... and waited... and waited. Finally one little zodiac made its way to us, and, thankfully, no one questioned Kyle or I when we hopped on first, or the next couple of people who had made it back to the beach first, but then it got kind of chaotic. Finally we had too many people on our zodiac, but we were ready to go and.. then we had to wait. Since they always travel in pairs, we were held.

Side note... up until now they had been VERY strict that ONLY 10 people guests could be on a zodiac at a time. On an excursion earlier they had even split Kyle and I up as the driver refused to go with any more people, and Alexandre apologized to me and had said the driver had the last word. Our driver had tried to protest, but they did not end up kicking anyone out.... so we went with 12. And went we did... as that rule went out the window as well after we sat there for another 5 or 10 minutes and no one else showed. We started slowly making our way to where the bear had been spotted, as we had to go slower with the number of folk aboard.

 

[AquaDame]

Day 7 continued...

Success! The bear was still there! Kyle DID remember to stop the clock.





We had to keep our distance, so these are all compliments of Kyle:



We were told this was a juvenile male, and that he clearly did not know what he was doing.



Over and over and over he rolled, trying to break through the tough skin of a walrus that had died and washed up. Since we were the first boat there we were told we could take our time (I'm sure leaving before the second zodiac arrived helped, as did high tailing it away from Smeerenburg). There were already a boat or two of armed guides when we got there, so presumably that is why we were allowed to go solo. The other zodiacs were close on our heels anyway, as they were not overloaded. *ahem*

Eventually though this juvenile bear decided we were more interesting than the carcass.



Remember this was a juvenile... so he wasn't quite sure what we were about. But he decided he wanted to find out...



The bear started swimming towards us and we heard Alexandre on the radio telling us to leave, and saying over and over again "I WANT THAT BEAR BACK ON THE BEACH. LEAVE NOW. WE NEED HIM BACK ON THE BEACH." Not that he really had to tell us to leave... when a polar bear is coming at you... you GO. Thankfully for us, the bear, and all the other groups, the bear DID go back to the carcass and everyone was able to view. Later on there was much muttering about how you just can't trust juvenile bears... supposedly if this had been an adult NOTHING could have gotten him off that goldmine. Live and learn, right?

For us though, our viewing was done and we headed slowly back to the ship. The water had been choppy before, but now it had also started to rain. While we were making our getaway we had to go fast, which meant lots... and lots.. and LOTS of spray! Unfortunately slowing down did not help much as we were so heavy with two extra people. Lets just say after this experience we all understood the rule... it took us a lot longer than the other zodiacs to get back: we were much wetter to boot.

Thankfully we were able to change and hang our gear up to dry. Damien ran over and asked Kyle to see the timer and they jumped up and down together a whole bunch... by now the bear had indeed gone back to the beach, so green and yellow were on their way too. Everyone was psyched and happy.

At some point during the second round the bear had even calmed down enough to snooze; this is from the pics from the ships' photographer as well.



My flyer for the day says we had macrons again today, but my pictures say non non...! Today we had cookie decorating! They may have also put out the remnants of any macrons that were still leftover, but we enjoyed these ourselves.



At 5:15 we had our daily recap once again with some special guests...



Tiffany admitted they had been worried they wouldn't get to break them out this trip! But success! High fives all around, and you could tell the crew was breathing easier now that we had lucked out. Today we also were treated to Alexandre speaking a little bit about his side gig... turns out he is quite the hobbiest and provided support with the owls filming the Harry Potter movies. How cool is that?



After the ho hum day (very much kidding) it was time to relocate the ship and party hearty!

 

[AquaDame]

Day 7 continued....

We did not have very far to go, and backed in towards a glacier for a nice backdrop to the Arctiki Polar Party the guides threw for us! The ship got into a festive spirit as well, and broke out the caviar and a few complimentary adult beverages (and for the kids, hot chocolate sans spirits).



There was of course speeches to be had:



To mark the wonderful day and cruise we'd been having so far. All too soon, though not soon enough for many, the pool was once again open and the guides had a polar plunge for us, so we did not have to. The captain decided to jump on in as well, and not to be outdone, even Alexandre joined the kids.



From here we wandered down to dinner where I was starting to feel the trip slowly come to an end... tomorrow would already be our last full day on the ship, so it was time to get serious about food pics. For the first time we saw the officers' table all dolled up.



Much much later when we were finishing up four officers would show up and get a hearty laugh out of the flag. I guess it was one of their birthdays and they were celebrating.

Across the way we were at our favorite table (when we were not invited to dine with others) and our host asked if we wanted our picture. If you sail on ponant this view could be all yours too.



The theme of my meal tonight seems to have been "round" as every course... was.







Seeing the dessert reminded me how often bitter orange was used in desserts... the item would not SAY it had it in there, but boy you would taste it when it was! I wonder if it is a favorite in France? Or just easy to get in the arctic in July?

For tonights' entertainment the guides hosted Family Feud in the theatre. Since we had skipped a few, we decided to go watch this one. Once Damien saw us in the crowd though he asked Kyle what our team name was. Still hyped up on the bear sighting he said we were team RRRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRR and.. Damien entered us. DARN IT.

And then we were called up first! DARN ITTTTTTTTT.... I do NOT like being the center of attention. I'm no good at it... heck I ran away and got married on a beach in Hawaii just to minimize the number of folk looking right at me. But up to the stage we went to make fools of ourselves... and yes we did. The team opposite us was made of crew, and they struggled a bit as well, thankfully. The question was 'what do you do on the weekend' and basic stuff like chores and errands were not cutting it.... it ended up being things like take out the trash (what?), go shopping and go to church... things we either just forgot were a thing (we do not go to church) or we do during the week all the time. Vaccuming was definitely not one... anyway no matter, that out of the way we got to enjoy other people fumbling as well, so it was all good.

Thoroughly blushing, it was time once again to hit the hay!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

OMG those pictures of the polar bear are incredible. What a bucket list moment. Your husband must have been so happy!

 

[sayhello]

SO glad you got to see the polar bear!! (Although I'd already had a bit of a spoiler from my friend. ) Kyle got some excellent shots!

And that view during the party is just spectacular!! Well chosen!

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

Great photos of the polar bear. We can vicariously experience the change in emotions from the excitement of going to see a polar bear, to "uh, now he's swimming towards us. Maybe he thinks a bunch of people on a raft are tastier than a walrus carcass..."

 

[Mathmagicland]

Awesome, amazing polar bear pics!!! I love the one with just his foot out of the water. So happy for you!! And worth it for Kyle to have those extra zoom camera lenses for the trip.

 

[Mathmagicland]

At this point I have to admit I am curious how we've deviated from the June departure so far including tomorrow... if anyone is able to chime in on that...!

Here is the itinerary for the June Arctic adventure. All of our times off ship were mornings and afternoons; we did not have any evening landings like your July expedition on Day 6. We also didn’t have any landings where we could go into huts or the Texas Bar. We sailed north from Longyearbyen. I’ll also share when we saw mammals; we saw lots of birds each day so I’m not including most of those sightings.

Day 1- depart Longyearbyen, Svalbard reindeer in town
first polar bear seen after dinner, seen from the ship so far away

Day 2 - afternoon landing in Saint John Fjord,
small walrus pod, bearded seal, ringed seal, Svalbard reindeer, closest we got to seeing the Arctic fox was some fox scat.

Day 3 - morning landing at Signegamn, old German weather station from WWII
Afternoon zodiac cruise at Lillehookbreen
Svalbard Reindeer, bearded seal, first puffins

Day 4 - morning zodiac cruise in Hamiltonbukta - polar bear, Harp seals, minke whale. Due to small number of guests, they were able to get all guests off ship in zodiacs at same time and we spent three hours watching the polar bear - running, walking, swimming, unsuccessfully trying to catch a harp seal, with the Minke whale swimming all around the zodiacs and the harp seal teasing the Polar bear while the bear was on the shore and in the water

Afternoon landing at Velkomspynten - this is when we got so much fog the landing was cut short & not all guests got ashore

Day 5 - morning sailing in pack ice, northernmost latitude 80 degrees 27.4 North, ArcTiki party
Afternoon- zodiac cruise in the Pack Ice

Day 6 - morning zodiac cruise in Smeerenburgbreen
Beluga whale, bearded seals, harbor seals, glacier calving
Afternoon landing in Magdalena Bay, old whaling station, short zodiac cruise to a large pod of walruses

Day 7 - morning docked at research village of Ny-Alesund, northernmost post office, museum, shop, we were able to spend up to 3 hours on shore
Afternoon- zodiac cruise at 14th of July Glacier
Bird colonies on cliffs, Svalbard reindeer

Day 8 - back in Longyearbyen, Seed Vault on way to airport

 

[AquaDame]

Here is the itinerary for the June Arctic adventure. All of our times off ship were mornings and afternoons; we did not have any evening landings like your July expedition on Day 6. We also didn’t have any landings where we could go into huts or the Texas Bar. We sailed north from Longyearbyen. I’ll also share when we saw mammals; we saw lots of birds each day so I’m not including most of those sightings.

Day 1- depart Longyearbyen, Svalbard reindeer in town
first polar bear seen after dinner, seen from the ship so far away

Day 2 - afternoon landing in Saint John Fjord,
small walrus pod, bearded seal, ringed seal, Svalbard reindeer, closest we got to seeing the Arctic fox was some fox scat.

Day 3 - morning landing at Signegamn, old German weather station from WWII
Afternoon zodiac cruise at Lillehookbreen
Svalbard Reindeer, bearded seal, first puffins

Day 4 - morning zodiac cruise in Hamiltonbukta - polar bear, Harp seals, minke whale. Due to small number of guests, they were able to get all guests off ship in zodiacs at same time and we spent three hours watching the polar bear - running, walking, swimming, unsuccessfully trying to catch a harp seal, with the Minke whale swimming all around the zodiacs and the harp seal teasing the Polar bear while the bear was on the shore and in the water

Afternoon landing at Velkomspynten - this is when we got so much fog the landing was cut short & not all guests got ashore

Day 5 - morning sailing in pack ice, northernmost latitude 80 degrees 27.4 North, ArcTiki party
Afternoon- zodiac cruise in the Pack Ice

Day 6 - morning zodiac cruise in Smeerenburgbreen
Beluga whale, bearded seals, harbor seals, glacier calving
Afternoon landing in Magdalena Bay, old whaling station, short zodiac cruise to a large pod of walruses

Day 7 - morning docked at research village of Ny-Alesund, northernmost post office, museum, shop, we were able to spend up to 3 hours on shore
Afternoon- zodiac cruise at 14th of July Glacier
Bird colonies on cliffs, Svalbard reindeer

Day 8 - back in Longyearbyen, Seed Vault on way to airport

Interesting you went north as well immediately.... the map from the ABD site did show the ship going south, but I wonder if it just didn't work out in either of our cases. Also interesting your arctiki party was on a different day... maybe we were also supposed to have it up in the ice floes as well but the fog changed the plan and so it got moved to later on. Otherwise things seem basically the same for us both; different fjords here and there, and of course different animals. We saw a blue whale, but you saw beluga and more bears, etc. Thank you for sharing!

 

[AquaDame]

July 17th/Day 8: All Fjord You
Today had a wildly different feel to it as... we were in civilization of sorts! By 8am we were docked at Ny-Ålesund which is a company town, unincorporated from Norway, and the northernmost functional civilian settlement in the world. While a mere 30 or so folk do live here year round, in the summer the population goes up, so to a ship full of passengers who had been floating alone for a week it felt downright bustling!

We were able to go ashore from 8:30 to 11:15 as we wished, so as soon as we wrapped up with breakfast we hit the gangplank! We had been warned the night prior to make sure to put our phones in airplane mode to turn off wifi and bluetooth as it could interfere with the research being conducted.



At the entries to town from the paths there were what looked like pipes sticking out of the ground at an angle. Upon closer inspection they were intended for folk to ensure their guns were fully discharged before you entered. Not sure why you'd waste the bullet..? We are not gun folk... I would have thought you'd take bullet from the chamber but maybe not?


Most residents were on bikes, though there were vehicles as well, including one that kindly sprayed down the roads so they would not be too dusty.


Yet more rules on another board.


Old train cars wasting away.. all around town were birds nests. We were warned about them attacking, and attack they did! You could hold your hand, a hat, a stick or anything up high and it would happily attack that instead of divebombing... or just, you know... move away from their nest!


There was a rather large shop here - Kongsfjordbutikken - with many, many.. MANY souvenirs to peruse! They also sold some basic norwegian snacks and candies too if you were peckish. We did our part of supporting the local economy (and then some). We made sure to get post cards for family and mail them here, so it would have the post mark from the northernmost post!

We then wandered around town aimlessly for awhile as there was not a whole lot else going on. We wandered down by the dog area, but were not able to get anywhere near even seeing them due to arctic terns trying to murder us. Who needs guard dogs when you have birds like that?

Guides were stationed around the perimeter to make sure we did not get up to mischief and to keep an eye out for bears.

They tried REALLY hard to make this town profitable from coal mining, but failed... again and again until finally an explosion paused operations for good. The equipment stayed in hopes improvements would come to make it safer, but they are still waiting. Researchers came... even a zeppelin station was built at one point, so everything here has kind of an eclectic feel and there are a lot of buildings with info you can read here and there. China's hall seemed the biggest though eleven countries have research facilities here. They even have a hotel!





From here we wandered into the small free museum where they have items from past settlers and projects you can peruse and an exhibit on global warming and changes in the arctic.



Aside from snacks there wasn't really anywhere to get a hot beverage or a meal, so we wandered back to the ship for lunch.

 

[AquaDame]

Day 8 continued...

All aboard was 11:15 and at 11:30 we all went to the disembarkment information session in the theatre. Already our time was coming to an end.. We had one last lunch buffet...



followed by more free time before our last excursion; a zodiac ride at Kronebreen. We were in the later group, so we enjoyed watching a little calving from the ship while we waited our turn, until it was finally time to head out into the red meltwater. Old Red caused the water to have a hue to it.



I have to say this viewing was FANTASTIC. You can't tell from pictures, but about a 1/3 of the way from the left here you can see the darker blue from where humongous hunks of ice fell off while we were in the zodiacs. When we began we had wondered when a section would go when... it did..! And on cue our nervous driver (yes we got her yet again, haha) beelined waaaaay away from it and told us to hold the ropes. We barely rose and fell, but... better safe than sorry? You can see other drivers much closer were not as concerned... That chunk was followed by more and more... I wish we could post videos on here. We simply don't have many pictures as we were filming instead.

I've been lucky enough to witness calving before... at Hubbard and elsewhere but the size and number of drops were insane here. It was also a treat to be in the little zodiacs where the size of the newly formed icebergs could be fully appreciated! Doug and I abandoned our seats and knelt in the bottom of the boat for a better view.... we did not want to have our backs to it for even a moment. Look at these smiles:



After this fantastic experience it was back to the ship where we returned our boots and lifejackets as we would sadly not need them anymore. We were also welcome to retrieve our passports at any time after this, as they would no longer be needed by the ship. We had another afternoon treat in the lounge, and played general knowledge trivia until it was time for our farewell evening.

As per the usual, there would be a slideshow of our adventure compliments of the guides, but first it was time for the raffle!



Sadly we did not win... nor did we win any of the other prizes here. They ended up giving away a ton of items and not just this which was a surprise! They said it was because we donated so much.... it was approaching 4K, and enough to pay for a trip they had been wanting to do. There were gifts from the ship's store, another map, a framed picture or two, and some other small things as well including the ABD flag we had been using in pictures all week. Another sign this trip may not be back for awhile... I felt very badly for one of the naturalists as he "won" a raffle but was not allowed to take the prize. I feel like they should not have taken his money then! Prizes all handed out, we had speeches and applause for our fantastic crew... and heard a funny little story from the captain now that were were basically done...



Turns out, unbeknownst to any of us (I think guides included) our trip was almost cancelled. Turns out the ship was having engine trouble up until a few hours before our departure! Thanks to the quick work of engineering they were able to get it going and keep us on schedule but... we all had no idea we'd come so close to tragedy! AND they never ONCE made a peep about it until now! They were all smiles on embarkation day! We all left extra grateful for everything we'd experienced this week...

Along with the slideshow we had one last prize to be given out - for the best 'All things arctic' photo contest. Well, we'd failed at our other attempts until now, but Kyle won with his picture of the polar bear I'd posted a few days ago. :3 He was over the moon, as he really doesn't think he is very good yet and is trying very hard. We won a little white stuffed seal that we lovingly brought home and presented to our goddaughter. <3

Then it was time to eat... and for the first time of the trip, I not only took a couple food pics but took a pic of an actual menu too. It was the same format every night, though of course the actual items changed, except for the ones that say 'always available'.



I treated myself to some scallops:



And had a good laugh one last time at dessert that came out exactly as described.



There was karaoke at 9pm as well, but we needed to start packing, so pack we did... until suddenly there was an annoucement that a family of whales had decided to say goodbye as well! So back on deck we went, once again, binoculars and camera in hand, for some last minute memories.

There was a young one with them, and they just stayed and stayed and stayed beside us. We were not the only ones amused by their presence...



Tons of birds took advantage as well. I honestly can't remember how long we stayed, but it was VERY late when we finally pried ourselves away... well ok /I/ pried myself away and Kyle kept taking pictures but I needed to pack darn it!

Luckily I was even able to watch from our window at least while I folded and crammed...



Being able to watch whales from INSIDE my stateroom was a new one... thanks whales! Eventually the captain apologized and said he needed to turn the boat to our destination or we would not be on time. My last picture says 10:34pm and you can see how light out it still was.... but we had to sleep, and sleep we did.