Our expedition leader decided to turn the ship as north as it could go: up to the high floating ice that extends up to the North Pole. We are currently at about 81° north latitude, with the ice rearing up out of the ocean. A dead sperm whale carcass is on our starboard bow, and three polar bears, which I cannot see (but those with good vision can make out), are resting on the adjacent ice floe, delighted to find a Big Meat Buffet.
There is very weak Internet here so I can’t read email, but if you wish to say something put it in the comments.
The trip has been fantastic so far, and I’ve taken tons of photos, but I ask for your patience until I get to a place where we can actually post them. Tons of birds, bearded and ringed seals, and a big pile o’ 30-50 walruses have been encountered, pondered, and photographed. I had hoped to post photos as we go along, but in this Internet-poor zone this is simply impossible.
I am not sure even this can be posted, but I’ll try. In the meantime, Matthew will put up Hili dialogues as he can.
UPDATE: I’ll try to embed one much-reduced photo. The fog lifted and, with my Panasonic Lumix lens fully extended, to took a bunch of photos of the lucky bear with more meat than it could possibly eat. If no photo is below, it’s because it wouldn’t embed. Have patience. .
Fantastic photo!
That is an incredible site to see. I’m glad this polar bear looks so healthy. Great photo!
Wow – this looks to be the thrill of a lifetime…
🧊🧊🧊
For the bear too!
PCC(E) has been saying “bear with me” a lot lately – now we can see what he means!
Great already – photo arrived
of polar bear addressing its hunger – and a feast at hand.
Echoing what the others said about the photo!
Fabulous picture!
What’s the air temperature where you are?
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the pix. I was thinking maybe you could get Starlink, but I think it’s too pricey. $200 for the hardware and $250/month for the maritime plan.
Does Starlink cover that far north? Would they need craft in polar orbit. I have no idea. Just wondering.
Fair question. Not sure.
In fifth grade, I read Nautilus 90 North about the U.S. nuclear powered submarine Nautilus transiting the North Pole under the ice pack in 1959. This was my first book ever bought at a school library book fair..a whole new world.
I expect your ability to be at 81N and beyond reflect the last couple of decades of warming and polar ice pack breakup. Fascinating to think of you that far north.
Photo is dullish. Is that due to pixel reduction or is that reflective of true low lighting due to sun angle that far north?
I think it’s foggy there, since Jerry rights that he took the pic when the fog lifted.
Woah, David Attenborough moment for the passengers, a lucky polar bear but I suspect a bear with a good nose could home in on a carcass from a large distance.
Wow! But imagine the smell.
Man proposes; god disposes. Be careful out there.
As promised. A pity the boss didn’t get time to visit – but then not everybody is interested in cold war enclaves and Soviet memorabilia like me (and I hope some of the older, more international politics interested readers here at WEIT).
This is the “abandoned” not really Russian/USSR coal town in “Pyramiden”, Svalbard by (excellent) travelling young youtubers Matt and Julia. Their other travels are pretty cool also, they’ve been travelling for years now, lately to Nth Korea and Afghanistan. He’s British and she’s Russian. His Russian is pretty good and her English word perfect. Sometimes I regret marrying a native English speaker as it’d be cool to have a language tutor built in, as it were, in the home. My wife doesn’t read WEIT 🙂
50 HOURS IN A RUSSIAN GHOST TOWN (in the High Arctic)
(27 minutes)
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramiden
D.A.
NYC
Many thanks for this fascinating video, David, a fine reminder of the accomplishments of the USSR. In the same vein, YouTube has a collection of video tours of the ghost towns of Chernobyl and larger Pripyat nearby, abandoned sites of another of the Progressive advances of that galaxy far away.
Right Jon? Absolutely. I love those videos and watch a lot of them. I have a fascination with the former Soviet empire (why I studied Russian) though I’ve never been there. I was born in 1971 so the Evil Empire was a big part of my growing up view of the world (along with the Islamosphere at war). I think you’re about my age so you’ll understand.
My larger argument is that with them, those videos, combined with google earth street view you can “travel” the world so much more efficiency without malaria, long airport waits, various Third World horrors, or even being eaten by… say.. a walrus to pick a current example (sorry, boss!).
Even restaurants and museums – you just search “museums” and click on dozens of pictures of the museums, art galleries, restaurants, etc.
It is part of why I rarely travel now – apart from being older and lazy! 🙂
all the best Jon,
D.A.
NYC
That was super cool. They’re great narrators and I find this type of stuff fascinating. The surrounding environment is so beautiful and I felt the spookiness of everything being suddenly deserted like that. Thanks for posting. It was funny how much he focused on the canteen. Men and their stomachs!
That’s one bear whose eyes are bigger than its stomach!
Postcard worthy memory. Thank you for giving us a chance to share it too.
Speaking as an avid WEIT reader who is now too old for travels like those of our
host, I am immensely grateful to PCC(e) for taking us all along on his journeys. A zillion thanks!
This bear/whale picture reminds me of a famous Gary Larson cartoon of a pair of spiders building a web at the base of a children’s slide. One says to the other “If we pull this off we will eat like kings!”
Thank you for the amazing photo! following you on your Arctic adventure promises to be exciting for those of us stuck in the hot Midwest this summer. Take care and safe travels!
I’m picturing a dialogue bubble when the polar bear first spotted the carcass, “Holy sh*t!”
As others have said, fantastic photo! Have a great trip.
Life at its best, food for many bears, birds…
Eons ago, I read a story about a person who befriended a Polar Bear (maybe the bear befriended him). The story in book form (generally viewed as a children’s book) is called “The Iceberg Hermit”. The story is more than 200 years old. It is unclear (to me) if this is a true story or not.