Yesterday morning, July 16th, we left the sea ice. Disappointing, as the sea ice has been great for spotting polar bears and their favorite food, seals.

Oden is a large ship, and we cannot easily tell everyone when a seal or polar bear is spotted nearby. So I missed seeing the first several bears. Also, trust me, at least the first few times you see a polar bear on Arctic sea ice, it’s really hard to remember to tell anyone nearby. You’ll grab your camera or binoculars and rush to the railing to see the great white bear.

Happily, I’ve now seen three polar bears. On July 13, this bear was near the ship – within 200 meters:



Given the number of polar bears in the world, it seems surprising that we’ve seen many during SWERUS-C3. Especially as we’re not actively looking for bears. But, Oden tries to stay out of really thick ice, and polar bears need seals to eat. So polar bears need ice thin enough for with seal holes, for seals to pop out of, and become dinner for polar bears. Perhaps that partly explains why we’ve seen many polar bears.

Which brings me to July 12th, when we spotted two polar bears, farther away. One is out of frame, this one is munching on a bright red spot – seal dinner? Likely. Blood is really red on ice.