Arctic Expedition, Day 5 : Into the Vastness of Pack Ice - A Mind Bending Realm of Nothingness and Mystical Silence

The ship pushed slowly into the pack ice north of Svalbard. Thick ice floes surrounded us in all directions, broken occasionally by narrow leads of open water. This part of the Arctic is known for long stretches of pack ice, especially in summer. The ice drifts and shifts, sometimes piling up into ridges that rise above the flat horizon.

Seeing the ice from the ship, I was struck by the unreal calm. There was an ethereal blue glow under some of the ice ridges below water, so clear it almost seemed to radiate light. There was nothing else around us. No birds, no other ships, only the white of the ice and the dark Arctic sea.

The pack ice is the main hunting ground for polar bears. As we moved across the ice sheets, we saw several sets of large polar bear footprints pressed into the surface. The sight of these prints reminded us that polar bears rely on this frozen habitat to hunt for seals. Spotting the footprints was a clear sign of their presence, even though we didn’t see any bears in the area.

The pack ice is a wild and empty place, and also one of the best areas in the world to spot bowhead whales. But on this trip, we didn’t spot any bowhead whales despite searching carefully. Bowhead whales are true Arctic specialists. They are thick-bodied, slow swimmers, and have massive triangular skulls to break through the ice for breathing. Some bowhead whales can live for over 200 years, making them one of the longest-living mammals on Earth. They are rare and elusive, often staying close to the ice edge or deep within the ice, which makes sightings uncommon even in their Arctic home.

We also looked out for narwhals, another Arctic whale species known for their long, spiral tusks. Narwhals are even more rare to see because they tend to stay deep in heavily iced areas and are less often spotted from ships. Even our expedition leader, who has been to the Arctic countless times in his life, has never seen one yet. 

The pack ice area we explored (marked in red)

Polar bear footprints

Ice sheet cracking as our Vessel pushes through