Day 6 Edgeoya in Svallbard. Sunday June 30

Greetings everyone. This is being sent after I'm back in wireless contact. We are in the land of midnight sun and no moon so far. More on that later. 

This is Sunday. Terribly foggy and for that reason we can't land e cause if bears are present it would be dangerous, so we are told. We heard there was an injured bear here but it wasn't seen by the scouting party. 

But we did go out on a zodiac ride near the shore to see about 15 walruses lying around. One did move with great effort about five feet.

We took pictures hoping for a bear but none showed up. Darn. I really want to see a polar bear. 

The weather is not all that cold if the wind is not blowing. I did manage to lose my hat to the ocean but it was recovered. 

In the afternoon it was even more foggy. We were told there was a bear on shore so off we go again. We looked and looked through the thick fog and some people saw a white dot and declared it was a bear. Can't prove it by me. Probably a rock. I saw nothing but it was a nice ride. I was so disappointed. Really want to see the polar bears. 

We are a group of 8 but two of the people have friends from AU and spend their time with them. The 6 of us are constantly laughing and having a grand time.  

After dinner which lasts till 10 or so we went to bed. Alma and I were talking and an hour later we get a knock at the door. OE tells us she heard there are two bears swimming. 

The sun is high in the sky. Seems like 5pm. Some thought of staying up all night to see what it would bring. 

Thank goodness we were not already in our night clothes. Grabbed shoes and camera and dashed up. Took a while to find them but I saw them. Two dots swimming along. We were there for over an hour. The ship followed them and tried to get as close as possible. 

Figured they must be tired as one was a cub and after a long time it was lagging behind. Low and behold they got up on a piece of ice and we watched them walking around. What a treat that was. White on white. 

We had lots of ice patches but just a few years ago it would have been solid ice. This trip has only been offered for five years. 

The entire passenger list and crew must of have been out on deck. The sun was high up and the wind was very cold. It gets colder the further north we go. But some how you don't feel it when there is something exciting to see. 

I hope my pictures aren't all blurry. Hard to tell till I load them on to my iPad. 

So what seemed like an unremarkable day turned out to be pretty exciting. 

We have a French group, German group and the the English speaking people. Announcements are usually in all three languages. 

Tomorrow will be an exciting day and I'd better see some more bears and maybe reindeer. 

Till tomorrow. Love, J