Svalbard - Voyage 3 & 4

All voyages are very unique, however, as you may expect, there are some similarities from voyage to voyage, so here a couple short stories that made these past voyages unique for me.

On many occasions I have announced the opening of the gift shop only to be followed shortly by an announcement that there has been a wildlife sighting from the ship; immediately clearing out the shop. On one particular occasion it was announced that there was a minke whale spotted just off the bow, and like clock-ward this cleared out the shop – rightfully so. This time, rather than stick around for the remaining 15 minutes of opening time, I quickly locked up, grabbed my camera and headed for the bow. It ended up being a fantastic decision because the whale breached several times; far from the usual (still exciting) display of a fin cutting the surface of the water.

On another day I was driving the kayak safety boat, floating off in the distance on my own and keeping my eye on the kayakers. During this time I was visited by a passing seal who popped his head up several times around my boat and looked at me with this smile of curiosity that brought a big grin to my face.

Later on I followed the kayakers to some bird cliffs that we had been to on a previous voyage, however, this was a particularly great day at the cliffs. The day had started off fairly foggy but by the time we reached the cliffs the sun was shining and the sky was opening up and revealing the towering cliffs with very abundant bird life. Definitely one of those moments to just look back and appreciate the beauty of nature.

Zodiac Cruising

Mother & 1st-year cub

The breaching minke whale

My curious friend

The bird cliffs from the story above

Ship cruising a fjord

We love those zodiac cruises!

Classic

Impressive machinery from the mining days

Svalbard - Voyage 2

Our next voyage was a photographic tour, which meant there was opportunity to learn more about how to use my new SLR camera. It also meant there was an unbelievable amount of photographic equipment on board; it seemed pretty much everyone had a long lens the size of a telescope and many others to go along with it. I'm starting to get a better appreciation for just how advanced photography can get. The priority of the photographic tour was to find wildlife, so there were significantly less shore landings and more time spent searching for polar bears. The searching paid off in quite a few cases, one time in particular when we found a mother polar bear with two cubs on the ice.

At first they were pretty far away, but we spent the better part of a day observing them from the ship, slowly getting closer and closer without scaring them away. After a spending a good amount of time observing the mother polar bear patiently watching over a seal breathing hole, there was a sudden gasp of human excitement as we witnessed her pounce on a seal as it surfaced. The white ice surface was quickly stained with red as the mother and cubs devoured the seal. After their meal the bears relaxed on the ice for a while and it looked like the excitement was over...but this was not the case. Just after our dinner time was announced, I stayed outside with the few remaining observers and the bears started play-fighting with each other on the ice. First the mother was wrestling with the cubs and then the two cubs carried on wrestling each other. It was very entertaining to watch and brought me great joy to see these wild animals having so much fun together in their natural environment.

One day we did a landing near a popular site for walrus to haul out. Typically we beach the zodiacs after getting everyone ashore and the drivers will join one of the group walks to the walrus. This time, however, a group of young male walrus were swimming around in the water near the zodiacs with very mischievous looking behavior. So rather than join a walk, I stuck around the beach and watched the walrus with some other staff members. It didn't take long for one of the walruses to strike the back of a zodiac with his tusk, puncturing the pontoon. This immediately caused the group of them to scatter away in a hurry just like teenage boys after doing something bad.

The group of walrus returned to the boats pretty quickly and we wasted no time getting the zodiacs away from the beach to prevent another strike. Thankfully the zodiacs have multiple chambers, so we were able to drive the injured zodiac back to the ship and our logistics manager promptly repaired the hole. Bummer about the hole in the zodiac, but it was quite the experience to witness!

Meal Time! Polar bears eat a ringed seal

Two very distinct types of rock

The group of "sub-adult male" walrus approaching our zodiacs

Walrus assessing the damage he just caused this zodiac

Looking back on our landing site where the walrus have taken over

Pathway left behind the ship

More bears!

Svalbard - Voyage 1

On our last night before passenger arrival, I left the ship with another staff member to hike up a mountain in Longyearben. It ended up being quite the educational stroll as he taught me loads about the landscape and flora as well as shared numerous random stories of his experiences in the polar regions. From the top we were able to see nesting auks in the bird cliffs just below us, and later on we heard some interesting screaming sounds which led our eyes to an arctic fox in the distance. The landscape was beautiful and the lookout gave us an excellent birds-eye view of Longyearben. We began our hike around 10pm, and once the clock struck midnight we decided it was time to start heading back down. The way down went significantly faster as we were able to bum-slide our way down much of it – time efficient and loads of fun – best way to the bottom!

The next morning our team did the final preps for passenger arrival and in the afternoon we met our first group of explorers for the season. The wildlife took very little time to deliver excitement; on our first day we cruised by a walrus hauled out on an ice flow, and on our second day we spotted a polar bear walking along the ice edge. The coolest part for me was that I was just as excited as the passengers about the sightings because both sightings were a first for me too!

On the last day of the voyage I was assigned the role of driving the kayak safety boat. This involves taking the kayakers and kayak guide to wherever they want to paddle, help them load into their kayaks from the zodiac, and then keeping within a good distance of them while they're kayaking so I can quickly assist them if the need arises. While we were out kayaking, the other staff were on shore doing a landing with the rest of the passengers and were chatting over the radio about spotting a pod of beluga whales off the coast of their landing site. There was a brief feeling of missing out because we weren't able to see the belugas from where we were kayaking, but this quickly changed when a staff member radioed me to say the pod was heading directly for us! It was a fairly large pod, over 20 whales, and they were surfacing all around us. I got some amazing sights of them, one in particular that swam right past the bow of my zodiac and then looked back to check me out. Fantastic end to my first voyage in the Arctic, and many staff members made sure I knew how lucky I was to have that experience with the belugas – especially my friend who usually drives the kayak safety boat!

Lookout over Longyearben - well worth the hike up!

Bum-sliding our way back down

Crossing 80' North - the furthest from the equator I've ever been
Rather than take the picture alone, I asked one of the top polar bear researchers in the world to join me (he's quoted in an article July's Nat Geo)

Difference in vessel size!

Glacier meet rock

Zodiac cruising (note black dots in sky above!)

Puffin - one funny looking fella

Cruising some bird cliffs

Exploring near 14th of July glacier

The belugas from my story above

Bergen

Following my season in Antarctica, I was thrilled to be offered a position in the Arctic this season! I will have the same duties as last season, only this time the setting is Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in the European Arctic.

I was flown in to Bergan, Norway which was an interesting place to check out. Since then, I've spent the last 6 days setting up the ship, which for me mainly involved assembling zodiacs, moving boxes and, most time consuming of all, setting up the on-board gift shop that I am running.

We have now entered the zone of 24-hour daylight, which is very bizarre to get used to. Tomorrow the rest of the expedition staff will board the vessel to make the final preparations for our first voyage. The day after tomorrow, June 9, our first round of passengers will board the ship for a once in a lifetime experience (at least for most people) exploring the natural beauty that is Spitsbergen.

Walking the old streets of Bergen

Yes, those buildings are a leaning!

Antarctica

Shortly after my last post, I started working in the tourism industry on an expedition vessel. My primary job was driving a zodaic to take passengers from the ship to our landing sites and taking passengers on zodiac cruises around icebergs, looking for whales, checking out historical sites and observing numerous wildlife in it's natural environment. Yes, I actually found a job where the most significant job experience I had was my teenage summers spent driving the water taxi at our family cottage! Unfortunately I didn't keep up with my blog during my adventures, but I did send an email home to friends and family mid-way through my season, which is posted here:

Things have been most enjoyable on this end of the Earth...all that time spent driving boats has certainly paid off with this job! I am now 5 weeks into my 3-month position on board an expedition ship bringing tourists to Antarctica, South Georgia & The Falkland Islands. If you´re interested, here´s a little more detail about how my time is spent...

We typically spend the first two or three days of a voyage at sea, much of that in the Drake Passage. After that, depending on the length of the trip, we spend a minimum of 4 days doing shore landings and zodiak cruises. During shore landings I am usually one of the three or four zodiak drivers that transport the 100 or so passengers to shore, 10 or 12 at a time in the zodiak. The odd time I am assigned another role, such as catching the boats when they arrive at shore. After everyone gets to shore, I am usually assigned a certain area to patrol, making sure passengers don´t wonder off too far or get too close to wildlife or historic buildings. Sometimes I am simply free to roam around, keeping my eyes on passengers, and listining out for any instructions given to me on the radio, such as returning to the beach to bring the first load of passengers back to the ship.

We also do a lot of Zodiak cruises, where we generally launch 8 or 9 zodiaks and take out everyone at once. There were some really cool moments on this last voyage, including seeing a large chunk of glacier ice come crashing into the water as we watched from zodiaks, which sent a fairly large wave our way that I had to motor away from, and later, head straight into. Another day we were on a whale watching zodiak cruise and, after having a couple fairly close encounters with humpback whales, we saw bubbles appearing all around our zodiak. I quickly recognized what was happening and fired up the engine to speed out of there. A few seconds later two large humpback whales surfaced directly where our boat was.

I am also responsible for running the on board gift shop, which I generally open once or twice a day as long as the daily excursions allow for it. Often times people just browse around and basically hang out, which can be a good opportunity for me to chat with them. I´ve got to know many intersting people this way; most of them very well travelled. It´s putting some good thoughts in my head for where I might travel to next!

My last voyage flew by, it was a lot shorter than the one before being only 8 days instead of 18, but still I can´t believe I´m back in port already. Half our team switched over before beginning this previous voyage, including the expedition leader. It was sad to loose team members who quickly became my friends on the first two voyages, but it´s great to meet new people with different experiences and qualities, and I figure it´s also good experience for me to work with as many different people (and management styles) as possible. I am enjoying working with the new team and we all get along great.

Our next voyage is called ¨Crossing the Circle.¨ It´s another trip to the Antarctic Peninsulla but this one is a bit longer, with 7 days of landings in Antarctica and 5 days spent at sea. Our passengers from the previous voyage disembarked the ship about 6 hours ago and our new passengers board in less than 2 hours. Not a whole lot of time in between, but all part of the fun!

Exploring AntarcticaIn my element driving the zodiac!

Breathtaking icebergs

An old whaling ship in South Georgia

King Penguins with Fur Seals in the background

That's me landing a zodiac in some surf with staff catching

Central America Wrap-up

There was talk about leaving Panana and heading to a rain forest in Costa Rica for my remaining few days. This was a fun idea but it would mean spending several more hours in transit, which felt wasteful of my precious time remaining in Central America. We were really enjoying the place we were already at so I decided that my remaining time was best spent by continuing our stay in Bocus Del Toro.

We looked into renting a boat but weren't able to because of all the random unmarked shoals in the area. One day I inquired at a tourism office about joining a boat tour around the islands. They said the tours were done for the day but I could go the next day. Unfortunately I had to begin my journey home the next morning, so this was not an option. But I didn't give up there; after some negotiation I embarked on a personal island tour with one of the local boat drivers, and the kicker was he let me drive his boat the whole time!

We drove all around a large collection of islands with the owner guiding me around shoals and through narrow passages. We made a little stop at his house to drop off groceries to his family, and we chatted about life on the island. On the way back we passed some locals who asked if they could get a ride. The driver asked me if it was okay and of course I was fine with it, so they hopped in and I drove us all back to the main island. It was an exciting and random experience driving this small boat through the big waves in the ocean; I felt privileged that the driver allowed me to do this!

My last night in Bocus was a party night at our hostel. I started the night by welcoming people at the taxi boat landing of our hostel. I saw one fairly large boat pull in with a bunch of people and I told the driver he had a nice boat. He invited to come along for his next pickup and before I knew it I was driving his boat! After riding along for 3 or 4 pickups, which included walking into hostels and recruiting people for the party, I decided it was time to join the party myself. The next morning I hopped on an early morning ferry back to the mainland, caught a bus back to San Jose, and flew home the next morning. One great month in Central America!

Bocus Del Toro

We learned of a magical sounding place in Panama that's composed of various sized islands; easily accessed by cheap and abundantly available water taxis. The place is called Bocus Del Toro and was a definite must see for both Tara and I. We heard about a hostel in the area that has a diving board, trampoline and swings into the ocean, so this quickly won our vote for where to stay. The entire hostel sits on pillars above the ocean, just off shore from one of the islands. There is also a "pool" here, which is simply a big area that's cut out of the deck and leads into the ocean. When we first arrived it was pretty much sensory overload for me...I've literally had dreams of places like this where boats are the main form of transportation. I spent a good amount of time just laying in a hammock taking it all in.

On the first night we learned a new card game from a Belgium guy who claimed that this game is the reason that playing cards were invented. I thought it was a pretty enjoyable game and has some similarities to Euchre. I think my Dad would approve of this game, along with the countless other enthusiastic Euchre players back home!

One day we rented kayaks and explored two other islands in the area. We paddled through some pretty big waves and even caught a little bit of a surf at one point in the journey. Other than that I've spent my time looking at boats, reading my Antarctica book, chatting with other travelers and playing on the ocean jungle gym. We have done a bit of exploring on the main island but weren't going over there at night because we heard about a lot of people getting mugged while wondering the streets at night over there.

Last night, however, we heard about a party taking place at a hostel/bar on the main island and we were able to get a water taxi directly to the place...so a big group of us headed over there and ended up having an amazing time. I couldn't have asked for a better mix of music, and of course good music + fun people = lots of dancing!

We were planning on leaving this morning but didn't feel ready to leave this place, so we didn't.

To me traveling is about the quality of the time I spend at each place...even if that means I'm going to see one less place on this trip. That's why we didn't leave here this morning, and that's why we may not even leave tomorrow morning. That's the life of traveling with no fixed itinerary, and to me it's the best way to go!