Date: 3rd July

Latitude & longitude: 81°N, 25°E
Wind speed: 9 knots
Wind direction: NW
Barometer:  1022 hPa
Air temperature: -3°C
Sea temperature: 0.3°C

Today we did the unthinkable.

The ship anchored at 81°N, 25°E and at 4.15 pm a call came over the tannoy — come down to the mud room to do a ‘polar plunge’!!

We looked outside and saw large chunks of ice floating by and our immediate thought was ‘oh no!’

In a way it was good that we weren’t given any significant warning because we didn’t have time to talk ourselves out of it! All four of us, the A team, took the plunge together into the 0° waters! Even though you could see the look of regret in our faces, I have to say I’m glad we did it!

Overnight, we had headed north towards the pack ice, which is annual ice that grows every winter up to a meter thick and then melts through the summer.

Earlier in the day we were captivated by Ulyana’s lecture on the wonderful world of ice, where we started to understand the importance that ice plays in balancing the world’s ecosystems. We took her aside and recorded a lesson with her on how we can all play our part in protecting the sea ice situated in the Arctic.

After our polar plunge, we headed straight to the sauna and then the jacuzzi to thaw out a little, and in the afternoon we attended another interesting lecture on whales and the history of Svalbard, led by Ben, where we learned about how whaling was integral to those early communities.

Later on in the evening, to end the day, we met Daniel on the upper deck to record a lesson on climate and weather processes.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading!

Love from the A Team
Tanya, Gavin, Richard & Graeme