Category: Uncategorized
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Routine?
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…
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Humbled Before Nature
July 23, 2026 The captain came on the ship’s PA this morning at 5:00am with an announcement that we were approaching Moffin Island. At 80 degrees north, this sliver of sand sitting 6 feet above sea level is home to one of the largest known walrus haul outs. Sometimes, up to thousands of these giants…
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The Arctic in a Day
July 22, 2026 We awoke anchored by high sea cliffs off the eastern shore of Spitzbergen and emerged onto the balcony to find ourselves surrounded by guillemots. Black and white, a bit like penguins, they are definitely not designed for flight, but are aquatic acrobatics, flying underwater as far as 650 feet in search of…
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The Show
July 21-22, 2026 We thought the day was made after our polar bear sighting, but the Arctic had more entertainment in store. First up, the Polar Plunge. It was a calm day with light wind, and the captain thought conditions were perfect for the fabled jump. Having done this in Antarctic sun, I was a…
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Shhh…Don’t Wake the Polar Bear
July 20-21, 2026 Our day began with subtlety and a baptism. The wind was still blowing like crazy and there was quite a swell, but I think the team felt badly that we cancelled the day prior, so they were determined to make today’s outings work. Cruising along in the swell of the Barents Sea,…
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A Mixed Bag
July 18-19, 2026 The Arctic adventure began with a warm welcome to Longyearbyen by the official greeter, a delicate arctic fox. Wearing it’s summer coat of sienna stripes along it’s flanks and legs, it scampered up a pile of coal beside out ship, and stood, fur lifting in the breeze, backlit by the midnight sun.…
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The Voice of Reason
February 27, 2026 The soft crunch of gravel under my tennis shoes joins Phinn’s light painting on our morning walk. Hummingbirds swoop near our heads and mourning doves, my mothers favorite, coo softly in the background wrapping me in a miasma of home… The African daisies, vibrant yellow and orange, herald the onset of spring,…
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Farewell with Friends II
March, 2024 You know you’re in the right place when you’re sad to leave. The spring flowers have become even more dazzling, and our daily bike rides take us through eddies of fragrance, our favorite being orange blossoms. The days are bright and sunny, just touching on hot in the late afternoons-or so say the…
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Retirement?
Have you ever noticed that the words “relief, grief and disbelief” seem similar? I’ve been thinking about that these past few weeks-saying “goodbye” to cherished patient relationships up to thirty times a day has been overwhelming and has left me emotionally spent…and that’s not to mention saying “goodbye” to my wonderful work family that has…
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bertiewouldgo
So, who would have thought I’d ever blog? I’m someone who eschews social media and cringes in horror when someone reviews me on our dermatology practice website (which I never check for that reason). I’m writing now on the cusp of retiring from medicine so I can share my adventures with those I love without…
bertiewouldgo 