July 20th 2013

Northbound

From the Polar Station, it took us almost 24 hours before we reached our

next stop. We first motored through narrow sounds where occasionally floe and

drift ice made our passage difficult, and then continued along wider passages

where we could admire magnificent glaciers glowing white and turquoise in

the light of the midnight sun, forever present!

When we finally arrived in our destination, there were two polar bears on

the ice covering the end of the bay. Of course, this was exciting but

photographing-wise it was a real waste of digital space: they were much

too far away to be seen properly even through the binoculars.

Next morning we left for the north. Our intention was to sail to the

northernmost anchorage in Franz Joseph Land and also visit Cape Flora, the

place where Nansen had wintered in 1896. However, we never made it because

of the weather forecast. 
 

There was a low pressure area approaching from the South-West with 20 to 30 knot 
winds which quite probably would push ice into our passage. So when we had 
reached 81° 33,847' N, 58° 23,815' E, we did a U-turn and headed back to the 
Polar Bear Bay which we thought would be safe in these weather conditions.