Lilliehookbreen Glacier and Landing at Stephan's Garden.

I was awake at 0430 and gathered my things and made my way to the Chart room. The coffee is always on, along with hot chocolate and tea and soft drinks. I use my time there to gather information for the day, reading, taking morning photos, mostly enjoying the peace the Arctic offers with hot coffee. 

 Our briefing sheet for today states Sunrise- None, Sunset None.   

We set sail last night and are making our way North at slightly over 10 knots. The skies are still overcast and the cloud cover is low, and the sea is rather calm.  Lynn and I meet up in the Bistro area of the ship for a light breakfast of fruit and pastries and Lynn can get her fancy coffee (there is no additional charge for the fancy coffee, this is a nice perk).  Soon the dining room opens for the real breakfast. Breakfast is served buffet style, and they have great real oatmeal. All selections are great and the breads and pastries are simply amazing. 

Today we will be briefed about landing and have our gear inspected for contaminates, i.e. seeds etc which should not be introduced to this environment. Our boots, parkas, pants, etc etc are vacuumed to remove the unwanted items. We leave our monopods and boots in the mud room.  

Currently we are maybe going to make a landing in the afternoon. 

The morning was spent doing some scenic cruising amongst the fjords of Lillehookbreen . Peaks covered with snow and glaciers fill the valleys. We find the

 

We did see calving 

 

Lilliehookbreen glacier face 14 miles long. We cruise slowly by observing Arctic Turn, Guillemots , Kittiwakes and small Auks. The peaks appear to be 1000 meters high shrouded in clouds 

Late morning was a photo session, with breakouts by camera manufacture. Always learning new little tricks. Most of the Naturalist Staff are certified Photography Instructors. The primary “go to” Pro photographers on board are Rich Kirchner and Krista Rossow.

The afternoon found us making a landing at Stephan’s Gardens and going for the photo hike. We actually did this twice in lieu of kayaking. Interesting and helpful photo tips were given by Rich and Krista. This walk took us along the base of a Kittiwake nesting cliff. It is here the rich guano deposits help the growth of the rather lush vegetation. Saxifrages, grasses, dandelions are found and many of these plants are flowering. We also see Reindeer, Barnacle Geese, Snow Bunting, and Pink Footed Geese.  

Bear Watch

Amazing scenery with bird and plant life which is so perfectly adapted to the harsh environment. 

We have seen Bearded Seal, Reindeer, and a plethora of bird life. 

Back on the ship, we quickly cleanup, attend cocktail hour and the daily recap and then dinner. During the recap Dennis Cornejo gave us a brief botany lecture. He had been the Underwater Specialist on our Antarctic Trip. His presentations are always lively, with quick humored interjections. 

Dinner was a starter of French Onion Soup, King Crab and Avocado, for our entrees we chose Salmon (Lynn) and a Chicken Curry (Scott), desert was a dark chocolate mouse with a raspberry sorbet. All was excellent. The service is excellent and only gets better as the serving staff learns your likes etc. and the expedition progresses. 

With heavy eyes we made our way to the observation deck and downloaded pictures. 

Then to bed as we have an early wakeup to see Kapp Fanshawe where there is a bird colony. 

Tonight we found a potato chip chocolate bar on our pillows. 

When one retires for the evening on the National Geographic Explorer, you make sure your clothes are ready to go. You lay them out in the order you would don them to make a quick exit from you cabin as the all ship announcement for a special wildlife sighting can come at any hour. You also have your camera gear ready to go with fresh battery and plenty of storage on the media card.