Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, Norway

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, Norway

I wake from the deepest of sleep, like swimming up from deep water. Steve is shaking me, saying "Dude, it's show time" He growls, bares his teeth and waves his fingers like claws for effect.

We've got a bear.

Anchored in the ice along Sabine Bay near Scoresby Island, a young bear swims stealthiy up to the ice edge, then nervously walks across the ice, circling closer.

All this happens while I roll over in my bunk and drift back toward sleep. I finally force myself up on deck, tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and immediately stumble over someone's tripod.

The bear is equal parts curiosity and caution. She nervously yawns, dropping to her knees and crawling in the snow. Finally, she makes up her mind, hops over a small patch of water and sidles over to the boat. She stands up on her two hind legs, rising nearly up to the boat's deck, and peers in at us. Soon she's leaning on the bowsprit with one paw on the anchor, three feet away from me.

With one good leap she could be on deck with us, and then we'd have some excitement.

August 7, 2009 - Sabine Bay, Nordaustlandet, Svalbard

2 comments:

Photobby said...: Again, Paul. I point out your smaller size, and associates speed. I think you'll be OK. I am sure you can outrun at least one of your boatmates....; September 8, 2009 at 10:24:00 AM PDT
Radu said...: lol @photobby ... alternatively, keep your flash properly charged at all times, and pray she's afraid of lightning :) good luck; September 9, 2009 at 1:31:00 AM PDT

Post a Comment

INTRODUCTION

For much of my adult life, I have been lucky enough to get paid doing the things I love most. My work as a itinerant travel and wildlife photographer has sent me around the world and across all seven continents.

Over the last two decades, I have had ample opportunity to appreciate the absurdities of life on the road, having once spent 27 memorable hours during my first trip to Kenya digging a bogged safari truck out using only a sauce pan. In addition to my work in Africa, I have traveled extensively in Alaska, Australia, Antarctica and Asia.

I hope to work my way through the rest of the alphabet in a timely fashion.

Each year, I spend five or six months on the road. Along the way, I try to make time to scribble something in my notebooks. More often than not, it’s about whatever mishap has befallen me on any particular day. This collection offers a random sample from those journals, notebooks and emails.