Poolepynten &Alkhornet.

It was an overcast morning, with a low ceiling of cloud and some wind. The M/S Expedition was under way to Poolepynten, a small peninsula about two thirds of the way along Prins Karls Forland Island.
We disembarked around 8AM at some distance from a couple of old trapper’s cabins. One of them the traditional “A” shape, made from the numerous logs found on the beach itself, which probably came all the way from Siberia on the Arctic gyre current.
Our aim was not the cabins but a group of about twelve Walrus that were hauled out on the beach in front of them. The staff had already flagged a route for us to approach these “blubber slugs” that were,sometimes noisily, laying there. Every so often one of them made its way to the sea in a clumsy lumbering manner, which hid their proficiency when at sea, where they can be quite graceful.
Behind the cabin area there was a fresh water pond where we found several species of wading birds, including some red knots, purple sandpipers, and red phalaropes. The latter were doing their circular “dance” on the water, producing a microcurrent by rotating, and thus bringing very small plankton up to the surface to feed on. A couple of red throated loons were swimming further away, and on the distant shore of the pond we saw an arctic fox going about its business in search of terns’ nests....we even saw a couple terns dive bombing him trying to divert him fro their nest. When I returned to the ship I headed to the gym for a training session and finished before we weighed anchor......not that its anymore difficult to cycle when you are underway! Pre lunch they played and we watched the video of 'Frozen Seas'.
That afternoon the M/S Expedition repositioned to Alkhornet, the Horn of the Auks, in Trygghamna, within Isfjord.
We disembarked and divided into three different groups, depending on the length of the walk wanted, long, medium and short. We went long but we all saw the beautiful scenery of this mountain - it was just the height that varied- it had bird-filled rock faces and there was more squishy tundra to walk on which made everyones walk more challenging.
There were several reindeer to be observed and these had young ones, which were the first we had seen, we also saw an arctic fox, as well as the ubiquitous pink footed geese,who were nesting in the lower areas.
A slight breeze was blowing and the sun poked out of the clouds every now and then to bring the tundra alive.
We finally went back to the ship where sadly we had to pack as we had to leave the ship at 0330 tomorrow to catch the 0450 flight back to Oslo and London then to Blackheath to join the 300 mile charity bike ride to Paris!
The evening saw the final recap of the voyage, followed by the Captain’s farewell cocktail and dinner to say our goodbyes to the High Arctic.