On Top of the World:
The 2008 North Pole And Solar Eclipse Voyage
on the Nuclear Icebreaker I/B “Yamal”
The 2008 North Pole And Solar Eclipse Voyage
on the Nuclear Icebreaker I/B “Yamal”
Into the Ice
From the 26th we sailed roughly northwards taking us through the British Channel and beyond the Franz Joseph Lands into the Arctic Ice. As we sailed slowly through the ‘night’ we watched the Sun slowly dip to a low point due North yet still remain above the horizon giving us truly 24 hours of daylight. As we reached the northernmost parts of the islands we began to encounter ice bergs with one of them giving a ride to a seal! During the 26th lectures continued all day with occasional sightings of a Walrus and Polar Bears - the first quickly ran off but Phil spotted another in the distance during Petra’s lecture and everyone went above decks to watch it. Phil also spotted a rare bird - Ross’s Gull and pointed it out to those around him. That ‘evening’ we had a surprise visitor - Neptune himself come to find out who was taking a ship into his Arctic and this gave us an evening of enjoyable entertainment as both the Captain and Viktor gained permission to take us into the Arctic ice.
Also from the 26th Engine room tours took place with the passengers able to get within 5 metres of the Nuclear reactors powering the ship. These tours would take place with a group per day so the tours took almost the rest of the trip to allow everyone a chance to visit the bowels of the ship! The 27th saw the Yamal pushing through the ice as the weather changed from bright sunshine one minute to fog the next and back again which did mean Paul managed to photograph (thanks to Phils wide angle lens) a ‘Fog Bow’ - basically a white rainbow. Paul was also interested to see Presssure ridges that are a normal feature of the moving ice of the arctic and this is also seen on some of the icy moons of Jupiter and saturn. We also began to have captains Cocktails, again in groups so these would be like the engine tours and take place during the rest of the voyage. In the evening after dinner the guest musicians, Alexander and Eugeny performed jazz music and entertained us before getting ready for the big day when we were due to reach the North Pole on the 28th.