Svalbard at Last!

This post has somehow gotten out of order, and should have come BEFORE the reindeer one, but oh well! So it goes.

The 2-day ocean crossing was kind of tedious, despite all the lectures and entertainment.  But there was nothing to SEE!

So it was nice to wake up to scenery this morning, although the fog and low temperatures led to abandoning Plan A... poor visibility and polar bears aren't a good mix. 

Instead of a morning hike in Samarinvågen and afternoon Zodiac cruise in Burgerbukta, the plan was swapped. 

It didn't really matter to us, because Lars now has Sheila's cough, so we weren't going to go out at 3C/37F. We have the right clothing, just not when we're sick. So once again, photos from on board. Please excuse the reflections--that's what happens when you don't even want to step outside on an anchored ship.

And in the afternoon, we shifted to Plan C, because while the skies cleared late in the morning, the clouds can back down during lunch. So the whole ship slowly cruised Hornbukta, which has a marvelous array of glaciers on all sides when you get to the end. 

Hoping for some sunshine tomorrow, as we head north to Fjortende Julibukta (Fourteenth of July Fjord), a favorite of our French Expedition leader Christophe, as July 14th is Bastille Day. 

We're seriously beginning to wonder how many pictures of glaciers and mountains you all can tolerate.  Without us being able to get out and into nature as we had hoped, they do start to look kind of the same. Drop us a note in the comments, or else text, FB Messenger or WhatsApp is the best way of logging your opinion. Email still kind of works, but it takes FOREVER to load.