Page 25 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

After breakfast and gawking at the scenery, we met in the Lounge

for a briefing about our first onshore activity and how to behave in
polar bear country. Then we were sent to our cabins to don the

Wellys for the first time. Ralph informed us that here in the Arctic,
every landing is a wet landing so we need not even ask. Zodiacs

ride the same in the Arctic as in the Galapagos or Antarctica. We
landed near an old trapper hut near the shore and divided into
the groups that would climb the hillside and those wiser folks who

elected to walk along the shore.

That was a rather tall order on the clamber up the steep, rocky,
moss-covered hillside towards the bird cliffs. But we managed and

got to the resting spots with the others. It was a challenging hike
however because it was quite steep and footing could be tricky.