Nordaustlandet, Svalbard
Yesterday’s old Afghani proverb that warns, "be careful what you wish for" proved true again today — obviously someone aboard Endeavour wished for walrus overnight. After a bracing early morning look at 100,000 pairs of thick-billed murres on the cliffs at Cape Fanshawe, we headed across Hinlopen Strait for a walk on the polar desert. But since someone had wished for walrus, a perfectly good walk was delayed because we had to spend an hour watching a group of walrus huddled together a hundred feet away from us. Now some say that walrus are quite ugly and that you really cannot tell the difference between the ends. However it is evident from this photograph that one of the ends has grown tusks and the other end has not. Otherwise the resemblance is quite striking. It became obvious later in the day that there continued to be polar bear wishers aboard as well as walrus wishers. The Endeavour tried to make distance to the east in search of the pack ice but was incessantly interrupted by sightings of polar bears. By the time of this writing the number of bears visited had reached 9….and counting. We can only hope that people stop wishing for exotic creatures that get in the way of our plans for tomorrow.
Yesterday’s old Afghani proverb that warns, "be careful what you wish for" proved true again today — obviously someone aboard Endeavour wished for walrus overnight. After a bracing early morning look at 100,000 pairs of thick-billed murres on the cliffs at Cape Fanshawe, we headed across Hinlopen Strait for a walk on the polar desert. But since someone had wished for walrus, a perfectly good walk was delayed because we had to spend an hour watching a group of walrus huddled together a hundred feet away from us. Now some say that walrus are quite ugly and that you really cannot tell the difference between the ends. However it is evident from this photograph that one of the ends has grown tusks and the other end has not. Otherwise the resemblance is quite striking. It became obvious later in the day that there continued to be polar bear wishers aboard as well as walrus wishers. The Endeavour tried to make distance to the east in search of the pack ice but was incessantly interrupted by sightings of polar bears. By the time of this writing the number of bears visited had reached 9….and counting. We can only hope that people stop wishing for exotic creatures that get in the way of our plans for tomorrow.
