Leifdefjorden, Svalbard
There is an old Afghani proverb that warns, "be careful what you wish for" and on this first day of our cruise we made the mistake of wishing for polar bears. We were enjoying a perfect, miserable morning steaming along the north coast of Spitsbergen in conditions that even cave dwellers would describe as "kind of grey". We had everything we needed for a good day: rain, fog, scheduled lectures and briefings. But apparently some folks are hard to please, and these people were wishing for bears. Two white dots spotted from the ship sealed our fate and we were soon out cruising in Zodiacs along the beach looking at a mama bear and her cub. We endured a close-up look of the mother's majestic bulk as she blocked what was an otherwise excellent view of the rocks and tundra mud. And somehow we managed to put up with the gambolling of a cub so cute as to make baby pandas look like piles of dirty laundry. In a wanton display of gratuitous cuteness, the cub bounced around mum, locked its big black eyes on us a few times, and went back to grazing the tundra. But, we survived. Here's hoping that no one is wishing for walrus.
There is an old Afghani proverb that warns, "be careful what you wish for" and on this first day of our cruise we made the mistake of wishing for polar bears. We were enjoying a perfect, miserable morning steaming along the north coast of Spitsbergen in conditions that even cave dwellers would describe as "kind of grey". We had everything we needed for a good day: rain, fog, scheduled lectures and briefings. But apparently some folks are hard to please, and these people were wishing for bears. Two white dots spotted from the ship sealed our fate and we were soon out cruising in Zodiacs along the beach looking at a mama bear and her cub. We endured a close-up look of the mother's majestic bulk as she blocked what was an otherwise excellent view of the rocks and tundra mud. And somehow we managed to put up with the gambolling of a cub so cute as to make baby pandas look like piles of dirty laundry. In a wanton display of gratuitous cuteness, the cub bounced around mum, locked its big black eyes on us a few times, and went back to grazing the tundra. But, we survived. Here's hoping that no one is wishing for walrus.
