7 October Sunday Möllerfjorden – Lloyd Hotel

Yesterday – Fjortende Julibreen

Yesterday, we continued motoring north along the strait between mainland Spitsbergen and the barrier island to the west; the water was rough. I only slept ~1½ hours between my watch and breakfast (mistake!). I was able to write and work on the computer for a while but, then I stood up and instantly felt sick. The rest of the morning and afternoon, I spent between the midship deck and the common room. Mostly outside, sometimes throwing up at the rail. A lot of people were in their beds for the day.

The kitchen crew is super nice. Alex stopped to rub my back while I was throwing up and asked if I needed anything. I sort of brushed her off in my puke-y state, despite her clear well-meaning intent. A few minutes later, Jannah came out and handed me crackers. She said, “Eat these.” Then, while I dutifully ate the crackers, she stood and watched me and talked. ~ “I love this job. I laugh all day. Some days, I get really sick from the motion. I come out here; I throw up. I go back and laugh more. It’s a good job. You need food in your stomach. Make sure you always have something to eat.” She was right, of course. Eating seems the last thing you would want to do when you’ve been heaving at the rail all day, but it makes a difference.

Footprints, I’m thinking about footprints – the human footprint, glacial footprints, polar bear tracks, the iceberg prints, fox tracks.

Finally, we left the open water north of the island and moved into the 14th of July Bay, where I took these photos.