Foxes Glacier Mints

 

 Yesterday a polar bear delayed breakfast. We were to have breakfast at 7:00 am but over the Tannoy we heard that there was a bear on the port side. I looked out my window onto my balcony – no bear. Reluctantly I clambered up to deck 8 onto the bow of the ship and there staring up at me was a cuddly Polar Bear. She (I was told later) appeared to be as interested in us as we in her. She was sniffing the air to catch the smell of bacon and eggs waiting for us in the dining room.

She was quite the nicest bear I’ve seen in a long time – Paddington comes a close second. She scratched, rolled on her side and back and laid flat out. I don’t know how long the encounter was, but we were stationary for a while until she decided she’d better move on leaving paddy paw prints in the ice as she moved gracefully from one ice floe to the next. And then we sailed on. 

We went as far north as we could into pack ice country 82 degrees north where there was ice to the horizon. It was spectacular: we glimpsed two more bears (I didn’t but others with better eyesight and powerful lenses said they were there) I did see a walrus but not the baby. It was an action-packed day!