Day 15 & 16

Day 13 & 14 (Saturday & Sunday)

Woke up just before the announcement to see the Cliffs of East Greenland for the last time before we head to the open water. The time was about 5.30am. The sunrise as usual up here took about 1 ½ hours and the seas were quite calm. The Captain found another huge iceberg so he took us on a 360 degree view of it. Later on one of the many bird watches on the expedition wanted to see my photos unbeknown to me there was a very rare bird on the iceberg no one noticed at the time when I zoomed into the photo there was this little grainy bird on the photo they got overly excited about. We have 2 full days at sea and then berth at Reykjavik on Monday morning. So our days are filled with Documentaries and lectures all about the North Pole & Arctic circle interesting but we are all quite tired now so lots of nodding heads. Bob Headland one of the lectures the very English type of lecturer you would expect at Cambridge or Oxford university threatened us with putting the microphone up to anyone found snoring so most people left before going into noddy land just in case he wasn’t joking.

Sunday woke to quite calm seas and the coast of Iceland through our Port side window. Another day full of lectures and docos and the Captain once again placing the ship unexpectedly up near the longest cliffs in Europe on the Iceland coast. Back to the cabin with an invitation left to us for diner with the Captain tonight. This is the first time the Captain has dined with guests on the expedition. Told Terri we had an invitation and they received one also so thought they might be setting up a large table for many guests. We were wrong there was only 6 guests the expedition leader Phil & the Captain Thomas. So we felt special the only 6 chosen out of 124 passengers. Non of us no why we were chosen over others but we think it might be the joke the Captain played on everyone which embarrassed Terri seems she was unexpectedly the recipient of the Captain humour. ( Never known a German to be so hilarious before )

Going back a few days we were cruising along a fjord amongst icebergs and viewing magnificent mountains and glaciers when the Captain made an announcement that he had just spotted a polar bear on the starboard side just behind the wheelhouse. I was on the starboard bow at the time with my camera and a couple of others so I quickly look back behind the bridge to the shore looking for this polar bear when nearly everyone decided to run across the starboard side of the ship to see this polar bear. Everyone is asking if anyone could spot the polar bear no one could. In the mean time Terri was up behind the bridge on the starboard side talking to people and didn’t here the announcement about a polar bear when people started appearing everywhere trying to spot something. This went on for a few minutes when there was another announcement by Phil the expedition leader saying it was a false alarm that the Captain spotted one of the guests with a polar bear hat on. I turned to everyone near me and exclaimed it was my sister wearing her polar bear beanie. Terri still hadn’t heard anything when all of a sudden people started looking at her pointing and laughing when she realised what was going on she quickly took off her beanie and went downstairs when Sharon spotted Terri she started to clapping and the whole ship started laughing and clapping at Terri. Terri was embarrassed but Greg milk this attention for everything he could get from it. That night the four of us went to dinner with our Aussies in the Arctic shirts on and Terri with her polar bear beanie. Lots of people wanted a picture with Terri. So most people enjoyed the Captains good humour others where most upset.

So this may be the reason we were chosen for the Captain table or not. Dinner was very enjoyable with the Captain it was a bit strained with all the noise in the dining room but as the people starting leaving the Captain seemed to relax and enjoy our company once it became quieter. We were the very last to leave dinner that night it was a very special night for the four of us. Went to the polar bear lounge to recap the voyage and sing along with the music. We also got to see the Northern lights while we were sitting in the bar....they were very early unlike the other times. These started just after 10.30 but when we saw them it was about 11.15pm. They were spread right across the night sky and very mystic as they were woven through some of the cloud. So another late night and early morning to get ready for debarkation.