Blue Planet Odyssey, polar bear
We are still waiting for the ice situation to improve, so there is not much to do but deal with routine maintenance jobs, read, watch DVDs, listen to music, receive visitors from other boats waiting like us in this protected anchorage, or return those visits. There are also walks ashore, and watching the wildlife around us, mostly sea birds and the odd walrus from a nearby resident colony.
For the first time I was successful in my fishing, and caught three odd looking fish with wide mouths and large spinal fins looking like wings. Unable to feed our crew of eight on that meagre fare, I accepted Jean-Luc’s offer of using them as the base for a tasty bouillabaisse soup.
There was much excitement yesterday, when one of our neighbors came on the VHF radio to inform everyone that a polar bear was seen walking on the nearby shore. With everyone’s cameras and binoculars trained on the majestic beast, two of Drina’s crew took Emily from our boat in their dinghy and went as close to the bear as they dared. The bear gave them a bored look, turned around and walked nonchalantly away. Obviously sailors were not on his menu that day.
Finally there seems to be change in the air, the ice charts are looking increasingly promising, so we may start moving soon westwards, and tackle the proper part of the Northwest Passage.
