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?
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
 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  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 |  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  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 |
RSS Feed