July 24-26, 2026

Our ship slips slowly through aquamarine waters, small icebergs crackle like rice crispies as ancient air bubbles escape, and glaciers with cobalt edges surround us. Geese cry in the distance, and black-legged kittiwakes alight from the ice, annoyed by our intrusion into their serene world.

This is the view we have multiple times a day, and every one in a while I have to remind myself of where I am and reset my sense of appreciation.

The last few days have been a bit of a blur-lost in glaciers, rugged mountains and delicate tundra.

Our last landing to a glacier was photobombed by a trio of frolicking walruses And that’s a sentence that I doubt I’ll ever write again…

As I stood on the beach and watched them with binoculars, they came closer and closer to shore, and finally ended up on the beach about 30 meters from me, grunting, snorting and comparing tusks. I watched in silent amazement.

Many people on board, Erich included, have caught colds and the dining room now sounds like a sanatorium. I’ve been madly washing my hands and holding my breath, trying to avoid being slapped with cough and congestion on our long plane ride home.

I walk the track on the top deck of our ship accompanied by the ever-present walruses, large bodies outpacing me as they slide gracefully through the water.

Yesterday we were beset by 50 mph winds that swept off the glaciers and down the fjord with a vengeance. No zodiac operations could be undertaken, so we had a series of lectures on whales, Norwegian controversial topics, and life on Svalbard. It’s fascinating to learn about the gritty core controversies that underly the typical tourist sights.

One of the more disheartening things we learned, in addition to the melting polar ice, is the amount of plastic pollution in Svalbard. It’s incredible that here in the high Arctic we find what we do, and all of us have been picking up the plastics we find on the beach. Thus far our tour has collected 8 large garbage bags full, and we hope to leave this magical place just a little bit better than we found it.

More glaciers beckon today, and I’m working on not taking anything, no matter how often seen, for granted.