Walrus

Svalbard Day 3

So excited to see two different herds of walruses on our boat trip this afternoon. It was fantastic to watch the young males playing with each other. The females and young are on another part of the protected island at the moment.

We had a walk down to the estuary again this morning and this time, as it wasn’t windy, we made it to the ponds in front of the husky dog kennels. There we found the nesting sight of the Common Eider duck and there were so many of them. So far, only one has hatched and the other mothers were circling the duckling to protect it. Also saw a Purple Sandpiper and a Glaucous Gull, who was hanging around in case a nest was left unprotected.

This afternoon we took a 50 mins boat ride out to the edge of a glacier where we found the first herd of walruses. It didn’t take long to find the second herd. The boat is allowed to go as close as 50 mètres so we were able to get a good view, despite the boat constantly moving.

See extras for today. Tomorrow we join an expedition cruise for four nights so I will have to backblip when we return as there will be no wifi or phone reception.