Day 4 - Cruising

We signed up for an expedition type cruise hoping to for a little adventure. As they say, be careful what you wish for! The seas have been pretty rough with swells and low fog. The schedule for today called for a zodiac tour of Monumental Island in the morning and kayaking by Lady Franklin Island in the afternoon. Both were cancelled, the first because of the fog, and the second because of the high swells. At tonight's briefing, they outlined the new itinerary. It keeps changing because of the large amounts of ice in the region. Apparently, the ice hasn’t been this bad in 9 years and they think it’s because climate change is messing with the Gulf Stream. Faster melting of the Greenland ice shelf is cooling down the Gulf Stream. Bother, that sounds bad, and not just for our vacation plans. So while Arizona is simmering, the Arctic is having an unseasonably cool summer. We should have listened to Vice President Gore.

While we didn't get to play adventurer on zodiacs and kayaks, the day wasn't a total loss. We found the fitness center this morning and walked around on deck after breakfast in the sun lounge. Expedition team members are available on the observation deck all day looking for wildlife, so we spent some time there. We also attended the mandatory kayaking briefing, so if the seas calm, and the fog lifts we will be ready to go for a paddle.

The expedition team also provides talks about relevant topics. We attended one about Arctic birds, one about the Franklin expedition, an archaeological one about the people who have tried to make this cold place home for thousands of years and my favorite, one providing tips and tricks for taking pictures with an iPhone. That's kind of a lot of sitting through stuff; some of it was pretty interesting, some, well I confess, I may have nodded off. If the fog lifts, I might be able to use some of the iPhone tips.

Needing a break from all that learning, Andy decided to take a nap and I found a sunny spot on an outside deck where I enjoyed some fresh air and a lovely chat with a lady from Texas.

This evening was the Captian's cocktail party and dinner. I wore one of those "dressy" outfits. So as promised, here's a picture

Unfortunately, the pitching of the ship finally got to Andy and one look at the beautiful lobster dinner he ordered was too much and he had to go back to the suite and eat crackers.

Tomorrow the plan is to spend more time outside on the Observation deck looking for narwhals!