Bears, bays and bed

Salut tout le monde!

Today has been a very lucky Friday the 13th. We have been fighting through the sea ice since this morning and one of our cameramen happened to spot a polar bear out on the flows. Not only did we get to catch a glimpse of this bear, we were even able to drive right up to within 20 metres of the animal. We all sat there snapping away with our cameras while the bear literally put on a display, first staring and deciding whether we were food or not, then contenting himself with rolling in the snow. It was amazing to see the king of the Arctic in his domain (we believe it was a he). Not only that, he decided to go for a dip and a swim to nearby ice flows, a path we happily followed. What an experience.

This comes as we are learning that the vast majority of the Arctic sea ice is expected to melt in the coming years and the polar bears are going to be reduced to a fraction of their former glory. This was an opportunity to observe a species that could be nearing its end, and this fact was not lost on us. After this experience we managed to explore a local bay containing a large glacier and sea bird colonies. After all this time up and about and no lack of light, I am having difficulty keeping my eyelids open. Time for rest, another big day tomorrow.

All my best,
Jer