Page 43 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

with them. And that is how the poor man was finally rescued

before the bears managed to pull down the storage shed!

HINLOPEN STRAIT

This morning we were awakened by Ralph’s cheery “Good
Morning, Everyone, Good Morning” at 7 AM. He reported that we

had sailed back south during the night and were now at a point in
the strait where a walrus “haul out beach” had been spotted and
we were going ashore to see the big creatures. There was still fog

around so the spotters weren’t sure whether or not we would be
able to take any walks around the beach area, but we were asked

to sign up quickly for the long, medium or short walk just in case.
Kay rushed upstairs to sign us up for the long walk and then we

had to be at breakfast by 7:30 since the long walkers would begin
boarding the Zodiacs around 8 AM

Stalking the Hauled-out Walrus
It was much colder here (around 32 degrees F) than our previous
landings so we bundled up appropriately. When we got into the

Zodiacs we saw that the skies were still leaden, the fog banks were
hanging around, the sea was choppier than we had seen

previously and it was penetratingly cold. However, the landing
went smoothly and we tumbled off the Zodiacs onto a very pebbly

beach with stones bigger than golf balls but smaller than
baseballs.

As we crept quietly towards the haul-out, the stones became
smaller and by the time we were told to bend over sharply and get

on our bellies to crawl up the little rise, the rocks were much
smaller and quite comfortable to lie prone on. (Note from the

vertically challenged: as I approached the viewing area, Stefan