We are three-quarters the way through our circumnavigation of Spitzbergen now. Along the way we have made numerous explorations and hikes ashore among the reindeer and tundra wildflowers, we have watched polar bears and their cubs leaping from flow to flow on the pack ice, and we have encountered a wonderful variety of marine wildlife, including fin and minke whales, walrus and several species of seals. Today, eager to add new scenes to our collection, I took our digital video camera in its underwater housing and drew our senses below the frigid waters of the Arctic seas.
The Endeavour dropped us off in a Zodiac as she rounded the Makeoyane Islands in Woodfjorden, one of the deep glacier-carved inlets in the northwest coast of Spitzbergen. Only a few miles away tidewater glaciers were pouring meltwater into the fjord, turning the sea milky and opaque with fine suspended sediment, but here, at a corner in the outer fjord washed by tidal currents, we were excited to find the water clear and inviting. With my two dive buddies, Lisa and Tomi, I dropped in on a shelf only about 20 feet deep where the flat rocky bottom was covered with pink and purple coralline algae and dotted with sea urchins. Though we had expected greater depths we soon discovered that this shallow bench was rich with life, sea stars, tiny shrimp, small fish elegantly camouflaged against the pebbly bottom, crabs, sea jellies, large anemones waving fat tentacles into the gentle current, it seemed that every stroke of our fins brought us to something new.
One particularly interesting discovery was this crustacean, seen here resting in Tomi’s glove. It appears to be a decapod, a member of the group which includes lobsters, crabs and shrimp. It most resembles a slipper lobster, but it is certainly a species I have never seen before. This is one of the great pleasures of diving in the high Arctic, much of what you see is unfamiliar and challenging to identify. Perhaps the highlight of the dive was a tiny creature which I have encountered previously, this lovely Clione. It is a pteropod mollusk, also called a sea butterfly, and it is a relative of clams, snails and slugs. Like the beautiful sea slugs called nudibranchs, Clione has no shell, but it belongs to a different group and leads a pelagic life, swept along by currents with the other members of the plankton. Gently beating its’ tiny wings it keeps itself upright while feeding on suspended organic material and smaller plankton.
It was a beautiful dive, and when we surfaced, eager to share what we had seen with the guests aboard the Endeavour, we found one more exciting surprise: a polar bear wandering over the low hills of the nearby island, carefully watched by our friend Bette Lu who had remained in the Zodiac as surface support. As we turned back toward the ship, Arctic Terns wheeled overhead and the sun broke through the clouds to shine on the red and gold hills east of the fjord. As always, the Arctic surrounds us with beautiful and amazing scenes, both above the sea and below.
