Today is going to be something different. No tour, just some excitement on the chilly waters of the arctic. We'll take a long ride on a Zodiac to two of the glaciers of Spitsbergen. There are eight of us: Martha, Bill, Mike, Jessica and a new couple to our group, Jan and John. So, after our ship docked, we were picked up by the Zodiac people and taken to their office in the tiny town of Longyearbyen. The first thing we noticed was that there were more snow mobiles than cars. And this is August!! In the office we donned extra foul weather gear. 'It will be cold and windy,' our guide and driver told us as he pointed out the route on a large map.

We looked like a bunch of stuffed mummies and we were all smiles (for a while). I show the picture above so you can see how we were seated in the center riding this thing like a horse. And what a bronco it was! Shortly after leaving the harbor we hit open seas and the fun began. I could not take any pictures because I would have lost my grip on the metal bar in front of me and lost my camera. And Sharon and I were sitting towards the back. Later we traded places with Mike and Jessica and take the front seats. I don't think we ever were completely air born, but it sure felt like it.

'We will cover a total distance of sixty miles and this ride is not for sissies,' I think I heard him say.

We did stop a couple times such as near an isolated 'summer cottage' and a cliff full of nesting puffins.

Suddenly a young bird flew into our speeding boat. It landed right next to Sharon but seemed not hurt, just dazed. Our guide calmed it down and then released it carefully.

After a couple hours we were approaching the two glaciers. The Von Post glacier to the right terminates on land, while the Tuna glacier is the more scenic one to the left. The dark streak in between is where the two met and then proceeded to the water front. Soon we were encountering ice floats. The birds had been with us the whole trip. I believe they were short-tailed-shearwaters (and they sure knew how to soar and skim the water.)

A large part suddenly popped out of the water in front of us. It had not fallen down, but had broken loose under water and surfaced. At the same time the glacier front had tilted sideways. I bet if we had stayed around a huge section would have collapsed right there. The pictures above and below show the results. 'A very rare occurrence,' our guide told us as he high tailed out of the area.

On our way back, we stopped at this peninsula for lunch. The food was warm, hardy and welcome. We simply opened a bag of freeze dried chili or chicken-noodle soup and added hot water from a thermos. There was coffee and cookies for desert.