At 0700 hrs the temperature is 3oC and no wind with flat, calm sea.
In the morning we anchored in Recherche Fjord, one of many fjords with history going back to both the whaling period and the trapper period. At the landing we had an old house that was used as a private hunting lodge back in 1904.
Some of us made the long hike up to a moraine, with the intention to go as close to the nearest glacier as possible. It was very interesting to see the amounts of flowers on the moraine—indicating that this moraine has been exposed to the elements for a long time. You can tell if the moraine is newly exposed from under a glacier by the abundance of plant life, as it takes many years for the plants to establish on moraines recently exposed from glacier.
Some of us made it all the way up on a high point on the moraine that gave us a great view of the glacier and surroundings. Walking on the moraine amongst beautiful rocks was also very interesting, and the form and pattern in the rock giving good photo opportunities.
It was very nice to end the last hike on land with calm, warm weather, and a great view over Bellsund area with National Geographic Explorer in the foreground.
Back aboard we enjoyed another lecture from Andrew Clarke, amazing talks about climate change with examples from our own backyard. At Captain’s Farwell cocktail, we saw many of the pictures that our fellow guests have taken during this great Arctic expedition.
On the way out from Bellsund, we sailed towards a point called the shelf drop-off. This is where the depth drops from 200 meters deep to 2,000 meters deep. Calm seas made it easier to find the whales that we were looking for. Sightings of blue whales and fin whales made this evening complete, and especially the humpbacks just under the bow of the ship.
