Today is another Sea Day, I have lost track of which number we are up to, but Captain Albert will be happy that he has enough sea days on this cruise to fit in the official program comfortably.   On the Baltic cruises he has many days in ports, and only 3 days out of 14 available to fit in all the extras.   There are no special extras like crew training, cocktail parties or formal lunches today, for it is all about the Top of the World, the "Pinnacle" of the cruise.

The plan was to do scenic cruising in the Magadalena Fjord at the north west tip of Spitzbergen this morning, though I can't find that on the Holland America site anymore.   It was probably removed in case weather or other events forced a change of plans.   The captain does not like to disappoint.   There is also a buzz about the ship that we may head up North and nose in to the ice sheet.   From Captain Albert's blog this seems to be a tradition with the HAL cruises.   Fortunately there is not another CC Meet today, as with all that scenery, we shall be busy on deck with our cameras.

It all turned out as planned, Captain Albert had worked out a scheme to do Magadalena first if it was clear, and then go for the ice sheet.   If it was foggy he could head for the ice sheet first and hope the fog had cleared by the time we got back.   The weather turned out fine, so it was plan A, Magadalena Fjord followed by a steam north to find the ice.

When we got to it, instead of a clearly demarked sheet we had some pack ice drifting about in front of it, so the captain got as close as was safe.   Due to global warming this was the farthest North the Prinsendam has had to go to find the ice.   I think the ice sheet was further north in 2007, but perhaps they did not do this cruise that year, or didn't attempt to reach the ice due to fuel cost.   Anyway we were in luck and this map shows where we were.   If you are not so good with Google Earth maps and prefer a more traditional map, this one also puts it in context of the whole voyage.   You can see where the ice sheet comes to, which seems about right for our trip there, just inside the 80º circle.   When the bow thrusters came on to turn us round, one could see just how cold water at 0 degrees is, it is just on the edge of freezing, just as the ice is just on the edge of melting.

Somehow, on this busy day, we also managed to fit in a lecture in the Showrooom at Sea theatre by Denis St.Onge "What do Glaciers Tell us When They Growl".   I videod this on my compact camera, though this shot is my first attempt when I still had it set to photo rather than video.   It was just as well I videod it, as I fell asleep during the talk.

Captain Albert's Blog: Magadalena Bay and Top of the World.