September 25th 2007

TELEGRAPH BLOG DAY 2

We're off - next stop Greenland some 800 miles away. From here in Spitsbergen we sail west along the 78th parallel, inaccessible until very recently, due to ice melt. At some stage in the next 4 days we will hit a massive wall of ice - what's left of the Arctic ice cap, then we turn left. We then stay within a mile of the ice sheet, partly for navigation but also so that we are in with the best chance of seeing whales. They like to feed on the krill that live by the edge of the ice. As would I, I suspect, I've never tried Krill but I know I like prawns. How different could they be? I had hoped that we might stay put for another day or so to get acclimatised to the boat but the ice is on the move off the coast of Greenland so we must away. I'm nervous, I've never spent a night at sea before much less covered 800 miles of uncharted open water.

The Noorderlicht (our schooner) is trundling its way out of the beautiful fjord we spent last night in. Steep bleak looking mountains surround us on both sides, which I suspect is pretty standard but it's my first fjord so I'm very excited by it all. We've spent the morning walking on a glacier. Incredible - 18 years ago - our guide told us - the glacier filled more than half of the fjord, now it is a blue tongue of ice crumbling messily into the sea. It seemed massive and awe inspiring to me but it's a fraction of it what it once was and won't be here at all some time soon.

I was given a leaflet as to what to do when confronted by one of the increasingly hungry polar bears that live here. I should have read it in more detail before we went ashore, as I fear that an angry salivating bear doesn't wait while you check the pamphlet. Growl, wave and shout was the advice, which seems simple enough - they didn't say anything about doing a wee and crying which I suspect would have been my first response. Panic can make you do strange things - I fear when actually confronted I might lie prone on the ground pulling myself along on my belly yelping like a seal, not a good idea, even for a gag. In the end I stayed close to the bearded man with the big gun so it seemed ok, though my fear of guns is only one or two levels below my fear of being eaten alive by a creature dressed all in white with me on it's face.

We had our safety briefing last night - al pretty obvious advice like 'don't fall in the sea, it's cold' - I wrote that one down. Barbara, our second skipper is Dutch so the word for 'if' is the same as 'when'. 'When the boat catches fire' was not exactly reassuring and 'when we turn over in a big wave' even less so. We were then shown one of the escape hatches from below deck and told 'it's stiff and heavy'. Right. 'But you can do anything if you are panicked enough'. I am taking that as advice for life, it seems sound. You can do anything if you are panicked enough. More tomorrow. satellite allowing.