At last Van Morrison

 We’ve finally arrived and it’s pretty stark. We’ll be getting into Zodiacs and skimming the coastline after breakfast

We’re now on Svalbard and Jan Mayan time and it’s an early misty morning with much of the island hidden by low cloud. We were awoken from a deep sleep by an announcement that we’d like

arrived so it was up and dressed to go on deck and freeze looking at this lump of rock with dirty glaciers running into a very cold looking North Atlantic.

There are hundreds of birds buzzing us as we cruise along the edge of the island: the steep cliffs giving way to a more approachable coastline. And there’s the first sighting of a whale. Just a glimpse of its back and fluke as it dived.

I’m beginning to cut down on my food intake - I passed on muffin and marmalade this breakfast - although I had scrambled egg, bacon, sausage and fried potatoes. 

There are five of us on our table Ron - an Australian professor whose wife caught Covid and was left in Aberdeen, Rob whose a civil servant- by far the youngest. Then there’s Jeff a cat loving American: we share photos of our moggies, and finally Paul from Zurich. We always seem to be the last to leave the dining room after Dinner. Something to do with good wine and company.