Between Spitsbergen and Greenland. Days 41 and 42. 8th to 9th August 2013.

All shots are at sea between Spitsbergen and Iceland.

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Still close to Spitsbergen, we passed a seal on a floating ice shelf.

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Always, interesting pattern in the ice.

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Perhaps some kind of frozen prehistoric marine monster.

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This is the bow of the ship (a Russian icebreaker, originally built in Finland), cutting through the ice.

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And then we saw a couple of polar bears swimming (this is a long way away).

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That’s not a dog, it’s a polar bear!

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Watching us….

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Going down….

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This is not land.  The polar bear is walking on an ice floe, sea covered by ice.

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This will soon be an historic image.  Within ten years, at most twenty, all the sea ice in the Arctic will be gone.  The polar bears may go too, because hunting seals on the ice floes is an essential part of their way of life.  They can swim a long way but already some are likely drowning before they find the next patch of ice.

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A brief sunset-type moment, where the sea fog cleared enough for the sun to come through.  It is 11:15pm, still too far north for the sun to actually set.

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Ice Is Nice, that’s what they say,
Ice Is Nice, throw some my way,
Ice Is Nice on any day,
Twice as nice when violins play.

(Deliberately misquoted)