Thursday

25/6/15

Woke to find that the Vavilov ( everyone called the ship that ) has sailed overnight South from Longyearbyen to An area called Bellsund

Our first lecture was at 7 am the dangers of Hypothermia ( getting too cold )

After the lecture and breakfast we went onshore in Zodiacs ( big black rubber dinghys) . We had to dress in red wet skins with long pants up to our armpits, coats and rubber gumboots. The aim was to keep us warm and dry. It was hard to move around with all those layers on

We walked on shore and our expedition leader Graham told us a lot about the flora and fauna , the polar bears, rock formations glaciers etc and on the way back to the Vavilov we followed some white beluga whales with the zodiac. We were not able to get too close for photos. All the animals there are protected

Beluga whales lives in the deep water of the Artic Ocean. They are pure white. They are found close to the coast line and look like white fat dugongs.