Who Don't Care 'bout The Polar Bear?

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It helps to have thick skin. (No, you have not been redirected to one of my self-help sites where I collect Google Ads dollars! You're still at arcticfever.com)

As you may have read in previous posts, summers in the Arctic are no longer fun for the Polar bear. Sometimes, before they can say "Jack Robinson", (or "Jack Daniel's" if you believe the stories about drinking habits in the far north) a Polar bear waking up from winter on Svalbard Island cannot see any sea ice, because it has melted and retreated so far, and so fast, that it's hundreds of miles away.

This means no ice floats to hunt for seal, and that means a long summer without food. Well, you'd say, pity for all living animals on the island! The Polar bear is at the top of its own food chain, a well trained killing machine, and so any sea mammal on the island is doomed!

Not as far as the Walrus is concerned. The Walrus, which weighs up to a ton, can dive down to 800 feet to scrap clams of the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, and has two very sharp tasks, also has very thick skin. 

As the sea ice melts, Walruses come on shore by the hundreds, mighty yet lazy. Easy prey? Not really. Their skin is so thick, and their demeanor so violent, that they're not really threatened. Following are photos of a Polar bear trapped on Svalbard for the summer, very hungry. It walked along the shore looking for food, and look who it saw! (Pics were shot from my kayak)

   

The smell of fresh meat might drive him crazy, so he decides to check it out:

Are you afraid of Polar Bears? Not the Walrus! See how they don't even bother to look up. They know the bear will not hurt them because they can hurt it. Right now, he's looking for a young or sick one, which they may have among them.

The Walrus couldn't be bothered. After all, if you looked like this, would you?

And the bear? It doesn't know whether it should be frustrated or just not waste energy. It's hungry, almost starving, but knows a fight with a bunch of healthy Walruses will not fix that.

So it just walks past them. Look at the Walruses - I would be Offended by not being looked at like they're treating the Polar bear! So what's left? The bear, frustrated, tired, hungry, and lonely, despite being one of the most efficient predators on the face of the earth, has one option left:

Will it survive the summer? An increasing number of Polar bears starve to death as they're trapped on Arctic islands, the summer ice floating hundreds of miles away. Global Warming, man-made or not, is taking its toll.

And finally, another piece of self-help advice: if you see a Walrus like in the following photo, make sure you stay stable on your kayak no matter what.

To read more about the Walrus, see my post The Beauty And The Beast

A Free Advice for Amazon

Have you read the news over the weekend? A vicious thunderstorm in Virginia, USA, cut the power to millions of houses and - most importantly - to an Amazon data center. As a result, many services hosted on Amazon where shut down for hours, most notably Instagram.

The Instagram incident was very painful, because millions of young kids were forced to upload to Facebook pictures that looked modern, not 30-years old!!! And in real natural colors!! It ruined the weekend for all of them. 

But Amazon can only blame itself. Who puts a data center in Virginia? The state gets thunderstorms half the time, and you can't even fly technicians in because the airports are closed. And on top of that they have to put fences and fancy stuff to protect the data center from crooks trying to break in and steal their books. Well, I guess the books are electronic. Whatever.

But, Voila, I have a suggestion for them: Just move your data center to Svalbard . Svalbard is an island north of Norway, up into the Arctic Sea. It's cold, isolated, and remote. In fact, as you can read in the link above, Svalbard hosts the Global Seed Vault, a safe-in-a-cave dug deep into the mountain, where seeds of plants, fruits, and vegetables from many countries are stored in case a global disaster breaks. Till then, the seeds are stored in a naturally frozen vault, at a place where no Iranian lunatic will bother to drop The Bomb.

The seeds include those of over 1,500 types of potatoes! We're all going to have one big mashed potato party after the next nuclear war.

 Svalbard is a beautiful place to tour, especially by kayaking along its shores: (click on any photo to enlarge it)

The island is the last front before you paddle the Arctic Sea all the way up to the pole, or rather to the permanent ice cap. But in recent years, the effects of global warming have been felt even there, with very little ice on the water during the summer.

I love this picture! Look at the ice! But back to our topic. Amazon will get lots of benefits from placing its data center in Svalbard, next to the Seed Vault. There are no thunderstorms. But most importantly, there is no need for all these security budgets because there are free guards all over the place! As a proof, here are some incidents of thieves trying to get into the Seed Vault that I caught on my camera:

1. A thief trying to sneak into the Vault:

 - And a guard popping up and saying "not so fast, pal!" (yes, it's a Walrus)

2. Another thief trying to get onto the shore while a guard (accompanied by her kids as school's out for summer) says "yeah, right, why don't you just come on shore?"

3. Skeletons of Seed Seekers who died attempting to get on the island while pretending to be whales:

And, if all hell breaks loose and someone passes all the perimeter security, there's always Martin waiting for them.

In short, I can't seem to understand why not transfer the data center to Svalbard. After all - Aren't bits more important than seeds?

Get some summer reading done by reading my post Alaska, Arctic, and Far North Books to Read

Eye To Eye

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There's this movie, where a soldier is looking through a binocular only to find a sharpshooter aiming straight into his eye. Well, taking pictures in the Arctic and Antarctica is not exactly that dramatic! Or at least it's dramatic in a different, more productive way. However, it is always special to shoot a closeup of wildlife, looking eye to eye almost to see who blinks first. The Bald Eagle in the photo above was clearly not going to be the one to blink first!

I was speaking to a friend recently and told her how I kind of missed shooting portraits sometime: my travels have taken me to see amazing vistas and exciting action, and of-course the best of wildlife, but the facial expression shot by great photographers is something to envy.

Later, I looked at my photo collection and thought that in fact I DID have lots of portraits, although not of people. Nevertheless, I recalled how when taking some of these photos, mostly "shooting from the hip", I sometimes was convinced that the animal was looking straight back at me, literally posing for the perfect portrait.

So here they are, a variety of Arctic and Antarctic portraits, focusing on eyes. Please, let me know which one you thought was the prettiest, the ugliest, and the scariest! Add a comment at the bottom or send me an email, and I'll publish the results. Hey, I may even have to go back there to give them the awards!

This seal popped out right in front of my kayak far up north in the Arctic ocean. Alas, it didn't have a camera and I did!

But, speaking of surprises, it's still better to watch that seal than see a scary Walrus popping out right in front of you. Walruses of-course know that nobody, including Polar bears, can do them harm, so this one, maybe 5 feet from my kayak, turned its back on me and just gave me the look.

I once had the urge to hang this photo on the inside of my guest restroom door, so that, you know, they sit down, look up... etc. Would be nice to hear the scream or the gasps. But I'm too kind for that.

And how about the Arctic Ptarmigan?  One of the few birds to reside in the far Arctic all year long, it also is among the very few to have feathers on its legs and feet:

Remember: with birds, when they turn their head away, they are actually watching you very carefully! So don't think you're not at the center of their interest. That Ptarmigan was probably thinking: "I wonder how HE will survive the winter here with no feathers on his feet!"

Bears are another thing, of course, in the sense that you care A LOT about what they're thinking. While we were indeed looking each other in the eye, at Katmai Park in Alaska, I have to admit I focused more on his fingernails.

That bear might seem scary, but I did not see, you know, that sparkle of wisdom in his eyes. Wolves are another thing. This wolf, shot (by camera, that is) in central Alaska, has such a look in his eyes that I was certain he was thinking really fast. Well, they are predators who fed many Native American legends!

OK, enough with these scary animals! Cute - Give me something cute!

Well, Adelie Penguins (here on the Antarctic Penninsula) are certainly cute. But be honest with me: aren't these the most blank, not to say stupid, eyes you've ever seen?

OK, so give me another cute, puffy, to hug and to die for portrait!  Alright, alright.

This Arctic seal, taken from zero range (I'm in my kayak, he on his little floating ice), really tested my urge to touch it (I didn't). But you've got to admit: isn't he oh-so-cute?

Read more about the cuties of Antarctica in my post Little People of Antarctica - In Love

The Beauty In The Beast

Boo!

So you're kayaking on the Arctic ocean, feeling a bit tense because your guide has told you Walruses can be, well, a bit territorial. You watch them on the ice-flows, and suddenly, right inside your camera lens, you see a face. You then:

a) scream and turn to get away, only to see that the kayak is not that stable and Swimming with Walruses isn't exactly Dancing with Wolves. (and you're not Kevin Costner, but that's another story)

b) drop the camera into the water in panic and paddle back as fast as you can

c) press the button many times so that at least they know what you did in your last moments

Walruses are the beasts of the Arctic ocean. Ancient animals, they often weigh more than a ton and can be 3.5 meters long. Their grizzly whiskers are easily noticeable, just as their long, white tusks are. 

Why on earth would evolution give them these whiskers if not to freak everybody out? Turns out, the Walrus uses its whiskers primarily to look for food. You see, one of their favorites is shellfish. Back in the days where France was an empire, there were French restaurants all over the Arctic. But now, the Walrus has to dive to the bottom of the ocean, sometimes as deep as 700 meters, and look for shellfish there, in the darkness. The Whiskers are very sensitive and in fact this is how the Walrus finds its food - dragging it over the bottom of the ocean!

Of course, this adds to a very scary look. So after this guy from above Booed me, he turned his back to me and swam away. Then, he looked back with this "stay there and don't mess with me" stare: (click on any photo to enlarge it)

I did (stay away) and I didn't (mess with him)

What about the tusks? These, in fact, help the Walrus make its life in the tough Arctic ocean a bit easier. He uses them to drag himself out of the water and onto floating ice, to crawl on a sandy beach, and of course, to beat the hell out of any other Walrus who tries to flirt with his mate. (We're talking males here. The females just bite and scratch.)

On occasion, the Walrus will also use their tusks to check how strong your inflatable kayak is. Sometimes it not strong enough. That's why a good, experienced guide will never take you too close to Walruses, especially not during the mating season.

Walruses are very social animals and they like to lie next to each other on the ice or the beach and catch some sun. Unlike most politicians, they have very thick skin. In fact, it's so thick that even the world's mightiest predator, the Polar bear, does not mess with them.  

Look at the following picture: This Polar bear, which was very hungry, stumbled upon this bunch of Walruses on the shore. It came close to check them out, see if there's a sick or young one there. The Walruses couldn't be bothered: they literally did not even bother to lift their heads and look at the bear. They just continued sunbathing, knowing there was no way for the bear to even scratch them!

 

Who says kayaking in the Arctic Ocean isn't fun? (bears can't swim as fast as a double kayak.)

It is actually quite an experience being so close to such huge, imposing animals. they can be very scary and ugly:

But, on a sunny day, when everyone feels a bit elated, and the Arctic does not seem so remote and cold and gray anymore, even that beast can look beautiful:

Read about my recommended books about the Arctic  
in my previous post.

Kayaking the Arctic and Antarctica: 9 Tips

 Today, I am sharing my little secrets about how to survive a kayaking expedition even if you have hardly kayaked before. For my first, I had to "misrepresent" the truth on my application form about my experience in order to qualify. Read these tips, and you can pretend to be very experienced!


1. Remember first grade. Remember that teacher, I think her name was Mrs. Jones, and how she would tell you "sit down, NOW!" Just do this and you'll be fine. In shallow water, place each hand on either side of the kayak opening (facing forward in case you wondered!), more or less above the back of your seat. Put one leg into the kayak, stretch it, and while balancing the kayak with both your hands, sit down. Then get your other leg into the kayak, too. Oh, and try not to forget your paddle on the shore before you do that or you'll have to repeat the whole thing or paddle with your hands (or ask the guide to hand you the paddle.)

2. Live your fantasies. At least if you're a guy - ever wanted to wear a skirt in a kayak? That's your chance. Here, the skirt attaches to the kayak and stops the icy, 32F water from getting inside. That's really helpful. Your guide will show you how to do that and after a little practicing you will have acquired another very practical skill.

3. You just need to figure out how to paddle. Hold the paddle horizontal, shoulder high, with your hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Your goal is to sit straight, and do kind of an 8 movement with you arms. Enter the wide part of the paddle into the water as forward as you comfortably can, sweep the water back, and repeat. Are you moving? That's a good start!

4. The paddle is not your only friend; it's your best friend. Do not hold onto it like you're afraid to lose your only friend, or your arm and shoulder muscles will hurt real bad very soon. Hold the paddle gently, with a soft grip, and it will be your best friend in the water.

5. Missing those Pilates classes? Whether you're a total wimp or a Master Of the Weight Machine, your core muscles are still your strongest. The key to paddling long hours, and then doing it again the next day, and the next one, until that bush airplane comes back to pick the group up and return it to civilization, is to use your back muscles and abs to do much of the work in paddling, not your shoulders and arms. Doing this is a key to happiness in long arctic kayaking expeditions, and will cut your medical bills (Advil) significantly.

6. What happens if your kayak flips over? We've all heard about how to roll a kayak if it flips over. I'm going to borrow here what Jim, my guide on an Elsmere Island Kayaking expedition, said: "what about rolling? Real simple, don't flip over." The water is really, really cold. Can you flip over by mistake? Sure, if a Walrus decides to check the kayak out (kidding). But if this happens your arctic suit or your dry suit (you'll be wearing one of these depending on the outfitter you're traveling with) will hold you for enough time until your guide pulls you out. That's a lot easier to learn than rolling. In all my years of Arctic and Antarctic kayaking expeditions, I have never seen anyone flipping over. 

This, of-course, does not include the time I flipped over, when my partner to the kayak had, well, an un-gentle exit. Why did I smile while pumping the freezing water out of the kayak with my boots flooded with ice water? That's my nature - I see a camera, I smile!

7. Keep a low profile. This way the Killer Whales won't see you (kidding again.) Many people have the tendency to use their paddle as a flag. This is very inefficient use of your paddling energy. The rule of thumb is that you should try to lift the side of the paddle that's not in the water no higher than your corresponding ear. In Antarctica, they have this thing called Katabatic Wind. This is wind that comes roaring down the valleys and because of temperature differences it becomes real strong real fast. When you paddle in front of a valley and this wind comes roaring at you,  lifting you paddle turns it into a nice little sail, and will make you know the inside of the ocean real quick. Just paddle low, into the wind, and you should be fine.

8. Enjoy the view. You are one of very few people ever to visit this region. And everything that you see will likely not be there in twenty years, from many icebergs to glaciers to Polar Bear. I'll write about global warming some other time, but trust me: these are beautiful, breathtaking views that you'll see. Absorb them.

9. Don't forget to get back home. You're paddling in the Arctic Ocean, or the Antarctic Peninsula. The views are amazing. You have a camera. It has 16 gigs of memory and you're going to make use of every single byte. Just remember this: if you keep taking pictures, you don't paddle. If you don't paddle, you'll never get back home. True, at one point your guide might wake you up, but just try to be a good team player and paddle once in a while. Of course, you can take the back seat of a double kayak, make paddling sounds, and keep taking pictures while your partners does the work. Unless that's your spouse, it might even work! I'll write more about photography in a future posting of this blog. 

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