We had a bit of a way to go to get south for a short cut passage through Freemansundet.
We did RAT testing just after breakfast and there were 3 more positive cases. All of us are nervous before results as who knows who will be confined to their cabin next!?
We then gathered our things and landed randomly on shore before dividing up into short, medium and long hiking groups. Landing site is called Sundneset.
I joined the long hikers and we went up the snow patch, along the ridge and got some great views and reindeer from very far.
When we had made our way down to near a hut used in 1967 by a geographer, Ben called everyone on the radio to tell them they had spotted a bear. Ulyana confirmed it was mother and cub. We thus made haste and got off the island quickly and in orderly manner. This is the protocol as you don’t really want to come across a bear on land.
When everyone was on-board we pulled up anchor and headed across the Strait to Kapp Lee.
This landing site was due to be a small place but with some old historic huts that the walrus hunters once used. We were all very pleasantly surprised to find the biggest haul-out of walrus on the beach that any of the expedition team had ever seen! Dani spent some time counting them off of a photo and landed on 387!!!
We got to see them from atop a small hill overlooking the beach. The funniest of the walrus made me laugh inside…as not to make a noise! He wanted to go in the water and wasn’t far from it. Rather than go in the normal way, he lay down and rolled over and over in slow motion until he touched the water and then rolled again until in it properly. What a lazy walrus!!
We then swapped activities to go for a short walk with Howard and had a close encounter with two, then three reindeer. They were pretty inquisitive. We hadn’t really seen reindeer up until today and there were quiet a few!
Right before we swapped groups again to get some history from Ben, had an Arctic fox pointed out to us. But it was really a bundle of fur and didn’t move at all. So doesn’t quiet tick my list of having seen one really just yet.
Something interesting to note is that all hunting for fur animals was done while overwintering as that is when animal pelts are at their thickest and lushest. Note that reindeer fur is very brittle and cannot be used for anything really but meat is good and lean.
As a matter of fact, there used to be so many bears that 10 or more would bother hunters every day!
During our recap , before dinner, we were told that we had an additional 5 Covid cases after testing this morning. So we have had about 10 this trip.
Dani also told us a few facts about the walrus. What literally stuck out the most, is that the walrus is one of few animals that has a bone within their penis that is up to 0.5m long!!! I just don’t know where the hell they put it when they are done!?!?!
