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Day 3 on board: Going North! 80°15'.00"N 016°46'.50"E

6/6/2015

We went further north today than most people will go in their entire life. We were north of 80° and it was awesome. It was a really great day gathering videos and information for the virtual field trip of the National Geographic Explorer that I plan to put together for my students. Thanks to the head chef I got an exclusive in depth tour of the Galley, the prep areas and the food storage areas. It was really great, I hope the video turned out because it was really informative. The National Geographic Explorer buys pretty much all of its food locally. Meaning in every port the cooking crew will go to the local markets to purchase the food. The meals they plan each day are based on the local foods that they have on ship, so every meal is unique.

Naturalist Keith Larson led my zodiac ride out to see a group of walruses up close -- we even saw a mama polar bear and her cub, granted they were small whitish blobs off in the distance, but still really amazing. Thank you to Doug Anderson, 2012 National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Alumni, who lent me his binoculars. He really saved me, because of him I was able to see a lot of wildlife. We saw a lot of Arctic Terns -- these birds have the longest migration of any animal in the world. They migrate from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back every year. I was disappointed to miss out on the Hot Chocolate Zodiac, but it was a really great experience -- we were probably one of the only zodiacs to see the bears.

One of the funnest parts of the day was kayaking. My husband and I are kayakers -- not extreme white water kayakers, but lake and river outlet kayakers -- Kayaking in the Arctic Ocean gave me huge bonus points.

There was a storm rolling in, it missed us, but we could see it and I was able to try some different settings on my camera to get some different lighting shots of the landscape. Let me know what you think, do they all just look the same?

Testing my camera settings on this scene of a storm rolling in. Which one do you like the best? June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

An Arctic Tern Flying by the National Geographic Explorer ship. The Arctic Tern has one of the longest migrations of any animal in the world. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

I am not sure what kind of bird this is, is it a black Arctic Tern? Please let me know. June, 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

A group of black Arctic Terns? flying away. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Heading back to the Explorer from an hour of kayaking in the Arctic Ocean. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Video of my experience kayaking in the Arctic Ocean. June 6, 2015 Video by Merinda Davis

Theta 360° Photo of the zodiac ride led by naturalist Keith Larson. He is a great teacher. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

The Hot Chocolate Zodiac -- Zodiac riders had the opportunity to stop for a warm treat while out exploring the area on zodiacs. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Keith Larson gave us a mini lesson about the ice and bird migration. Video by Merinda Davis

Naturalist Keith Larson giving a great lesson about ice and bird migration on our zodiac exertion. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Walruses with a zodiac in the background to give it some perspective. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Relaxing walruses on an iceberg. We were able to get pretty close to them on the Zodiacs. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Another zodiac with guests photographing the walruses. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Zodiac giving the glacier perspective. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Laura Schetter, my fellow teacher, and Roy waving hello from the other zodiac. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Panorama of the arctic landscape from the Explorer ship. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

Dinner! I know a little cliche taking food pictures, but it was as delicious as it was pretty. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

The midnight sun through the clouds on June 6, 2015. Photo by Merinda Davis

A little late taking the GPS picture of going to 80° North. We were further north than this picture indicates. June 6, 2015 Photo by Merinda Davis

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Day 2: Bellsund and an Abundance of Wildlife

6/5/2015

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Hiking on the island
When hiking is the outdoor activity they give us 3 options: Small, Medium and Large. I chose to do the medium hike/walk again today - Mostly because it was so fun yesterday. I'm glad I did too, because we saw so many things: arctic foxes eating birds. These foxes were in transition between spring and summer, which means their coats were transitioning between white and black. One of the foxes looked like a reverse skunk. We were able to get fairly close because the one was busy eating.

Then we walked towards the mountainside where all of the birds were flying around doing courtship flights. On our way we were stopped by 3 reindeer meandering by eating the vegetation. Then they laid comfortably in the snow. We passed another group up to the mountainside to sit and watch the birds, scenery and the foxes. I wasn't I would get a chance to see a fox because they (the staff) always said that they were fast and hard to see. We got lucky because we ended up seeing 2 foxes eating birds and playing. They were each very distinct with their changing fur. They were each distinct because their fur colors were so different.

It was really amazing. I also got to try out the GoPro and the Theta 360 degree Camera. I'm getting ideas for the virtual field trip. After lunch I went for another walk/hike, we saw lots of birds and reindeer. It was really nice to breathe in the clean air and standing on stable ground. I've decided that I do not want to ever go on a cruise. I think I can officially say that I have motion sickness. Most of my time on the ship has been spent trying not to feel too nauseous. With all of that said, this is an incredible experience. I feel so blessed and lucky to be here. The scenery is incredible and it is amazing to see these rare sights in person.

The view of the National Geographic Explorer from land. Photo by Merinda Davis

Fun Facts from the Natralists

- Only females can wear neck tags because male polar bears have thick necks and small heads to they fall off.

- Tracks tell us what's in the area

- Polar Bear and Arctic Fox were the two most important hunting animals for trappers in Svalbard

-White sand comes from ParrotFish Poop

A group of Geese:
- in the water is called a Plump
- in the sky is called a Skein
-on land is a Gaggle

The Arctic Foxes had a skunk look to them because of the changing seasons. Transitioning from the white of winter to the black/brown of summer. Photo by Christine Ikenaga

Trying out the Theta 360 Camera was fun. It gave me some trouble because it has to wirelessly connect to a phone or another device. The full 360 view can be seen through the link to Google+ Photo by Merinda Davis

Theta 360 Panorama -- The Tundra of Forsbladodden, Bellsund. Photo by Merinda Davis

Theta 360 Panorama --- The group watching the arctic foxes as they eat and play. Photo by Merinda Davis

I love walking on the tundra. It is like walking on a sponge. Thanks to Ship to Shore for letting borrow boots and water proof pants, they helped make the experience even more enjoyable. Photo by Merinda Davis

The reindeer walked very close to us, it is probably because they do not have any natural predators -- except for I would guess the occasional starving polar bear. Photo by Merinda Davis

Purple Saxifrage is one of the most abundant flowers that I saw in the Arctic. Photo by Merinda Davis

I thought this was a reindeer, but the more I look at it -- it looks like a moose. I need to double check with the naturalists on this one. Photo by Merinda Davis

Purple Saxifrage is a beautiful tundra flower, the blooms are about the size of my fingernail. Photo by Merinda Davis

Akselsundet, Bellsund -- Another part of the archipelago in Svalbard. This one covered in rocks rather than soft spongy tundra. Photo by Merinda Davis

Jenny Kingsley, Naturalist -- The inuit saying from Canada about Polar Bears -- So true and so interesting. This is why all of the guides had to be equipped for protection just in case any rocks turned into Polar Bears.

Rich 'Mad Dog' Kirchner, Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor. He was our guide on the hike of Akselsundet, Bellsund. His nickname came from when he was on a ship and his name -Rich- kept getting mixed up with the Bridge through the walkie-talkies. There's more to the story, but he tells it much better than I. He was so great and welcoming, gave some really great information as well. Photo by Merinda Davis

Hikers on a hill in Bellsund on Svalbard. The perspective of how far and big everything is emphasized in this. Photo by Merinda Davis

The geology here is really interesting. There are many examples of tectonic plate movement. In this case you can see the vertical push of the rocks. Photo by Merinda Davis

Kent Kobersteen is the National Geographic photographer on board for this expedition. He also doubled as the life vest collector on shore during our hikes. The bin next to him also doubled as a trash bin as we collected trash from around the island on our hike. Photo by Merinda Davis

Perspective is everything. These cliffs don't look that big, but if you notice at the top there are some people who look really small standing on the lower of the two. Photo by Merinda Davis

Clear examples of the vertical pushing of the tectonic plates. I know my vocabulary isn't scientific, but please correct me in the comments. Photo by Merinda Davis

Trash collected during our hike, you can see how much we found by comparing to the size of the bin in the picture to the left. Photo by Merinda Davis

Much of the trash collected washed ashore from the ocean, most of it came from fisherman. Photo by Merinda Davis

Barnacle Geese hanging out on the tundra before continuing their migration. Photo by Merinda Davis

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1st Full Day on the National Geographic Explorer

6/4/2015

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So late last night or early this morning, depending how you look at it, I got really sick. Needless to say my stomach hasn't been doing well today. I feel fine, but my stomach doesn't.

I've tried to push through though. After a very light breakfast of toast and water we had an orientation for the day. Just before lunch there was a Polar Bear sighting. The first one on the first full day. The exciting thing was that it was eating a seal on a piece of ice. You know when the staff gets excited it's really something exciting. One of the crew members came out to the deck with a sign that read, "Lunch is Ready" -- he had to hold up a sign because we must be really quiet on the deck when there are bears so that we don't scare it away. We were able to watch it for a while before it went into the water in the opposite direction. That's when the seagulls swooped in.

Just when we thought we could go into lunch we started turning because one of the crew members on the deck had spotted walruses. I will tell you they looked like blobs in the distance, but one stuck its head up and we could see the tusks clearly (in my binoculars). The most unfortunate thing of this experience was my lack of a powerful camera lens. I could only get some small pictures, but you can clearly see, so hopefully it will be okay. On the upside, I do have 20 megapixel camera so hopefully that will make up for lack of lens.

Since I hadn't been feeling the best, well feeling queazy, I went to lay down for about 30 minutes after lunch. Then just before my alarm went off Lucho, the Expedition Leader came on the announcement to tell us that we were in a cove with the big glaciers. I got up and went outside and it was beautiful. It's difficult to describe the beauty and serenity of the ice here.

This was about the time they called for a hiking excursion, we had the option of a long or medium. After vacillating for a little bit I decided to test myself on the medium hike. It was a good choice. We did and saw pretty much the same things as the long hike with less strain. Walking on the tundra is a really fun experience. The ground is spongy and bouncy. It is a lot of fun. I stayed out there until the last zodiac came.

I had several great conversations with some of the guests. They are so interesting. Tonight for dinner I ate with sisters from Singapore. They were great dinner companions and we had an interesting conversation about education and life in Singapore.

Just before dessert there was another polar bear sighting. This time is was a momma bear with her cub and the cub was cute and playful. I will say my pictures weren't the best. I decided to get a video because the cub was running and playing. They came close to the boat then turned and walked away. Off in the distance we could see seals with our binoculars. They looked like blobs though.

I went back and had a very light rhubarb dessert (the only reason I ate any dessert was because I was feeling a little better and it looked really good) then decided to head up to the Bridge to type this daily recap. Now we are getting ready to go through big chunks of ice. It may be a little loud for a while, but the 2nd mate on duty is working on avoiding them. We've only hit one so far, so that's impressive.

I had a great conversation with Keith Larson a Climatologists professor in Sweden. He gave me some great curriculum project ideas. We talked about how the Earth's climate goes through warming and cooling cycles. Looking at the trend we should technically be going through a cooling cycle with the climate, but we're not. The climate is shifting into a warming trend. He said that although humans are only causing a small percentage of climate change, but it's enough to cause a big difference. Apparently there is more carbon frozen in the ice and as the ice melts even more carbon is let out into the atmosphere causing even more change. The human factor, although small is like a small diversion off a path, it starts out small but eventually leaves a huge gap.

This is the view from the front of the National Geographic Explorer. Photo by Merinda Davis

Mama bear and her cub. They are in search of food. Out in the distance there are seal holes and they are on the hunt. Photo by Merinda Davis

First polar bear sighting on the first day. This large male was eating "his lunch" as my nephew would say. Photo by Merinda Davis

Eating a bearded seal this well fed polar bear is the top of the food chain in the Arctic. Photo by Merinda Davis

The Gulls swoop in as soon as the Polar Bear leaves the iceberg. Photo by Merinda Davis

Walruses sunbathing on an iceberg, enjoying the summer weather. Really they are resting and saving their energy reserves. Photo by Merinda Davis

An algae hole in the snow of the tundra. Photo by Merinda Davis

Kittiwakes sitting on a iceberg. One thing that I wasn't prepared for was how clear the water is in the Arctic. The water is so blue and pretty. Photo by Merinda Davis

Kittiwakes fly away from the iceberg. Notice the clear water, you can see the iceberg under the water. Photo by Merinda Davis

Kittiwakes fly away. There are so many birds in the Arctic, more than you would think. Photo by Merinda Davis

Because of thin ice mama bear spreads her paws out wide to get a better stance on the ice, so she doesn't fall through. Her cub plays behind her, but always follows her commands. Photo by Merinda Davis

Short video of the momma bear and her cub as they came up to the ship during a hunting expedition. It was so fun to watch the cub play behind mom, but would also follow her silent commands. Video by Merinda Davis

The landscapes are beautiful here. The serenity and beauty are indescribable. Photo by Merinda Davis

The sunset of my first full day on the National Geographic Explorer was incredible. The beauty of the Arctic is unique. Photo by Merinda Davis

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Merinda Davis

Teacher. Student. Designer. I love to learn and experience new things.

I think life is more fulfilling when you fill your life.

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