You can find pictures from today here.

We left Indiana without anything scheduled for today, thinking that after our first day in Longyearbyen we would see some things that we’d want to come back to. After seeing that Longyearbyen was a pretty small, remote place (let alone that you needed to be with someone with a rifle and flare gun if you were to venture very far!), Alan looked again at what was available.

He thought that the best option for him was something to do with the sled dogs, so on the last sea day after the port talk, he decided to book what was available: a cart pulled by some dogs through the area outside of town. Joyce isn’t a fan of animals being chained up, so she decided her best course of action was to stay on the ship and see if the laundry might be available…and to just relax.

So we had a pretty typical morning—we slept in a little bit, had breakfast and caught up on our blogging. We hung out at the pool area to give the room stewards some time to get their work done in the room. In the midst of all that, the crew had some emergency training, so there were a lot of announcements over the intercom, and lots of activity in the hallways. That meant that Muhammad and Lester were delayed in making up our room, which complicated all of our schedules, theirs included.

Since we had a relatively late breakfast, and Alan’s tour was at 1, he elected to skip lunch (except for some cookies), but returned to the room to get his warmer clothes and camera equipment organized.

The experience with the sled dogs started meeting on the dock in groups of 6 to 8. Alan’s group of 6 packed into a van with a trailer with 12 dogs pulled behind. Adam (ah-DAHM), our musher from the Czech Republic, told us about life with the dogs and living in Svalbad as he drove us a few kilometers out of the town toward the airport. He pointed out the Seed Bank building, told us about polar bear safety, though he said in the four years he had been here, he had never seen a bear in the area we were to be in (though along the way, he pointed out the hostel/camp area near the airport where the last fatality from a polar bear had happened in August 2020!)

The dogs were excited to see us all when we got to where the sled was stored. He answered our questions and encouraged us to pet and cuddle with the dogs. They ate it up, and if the next pair of dogs saw the pair behind them getting some love, they wanted in on the action as well.

We loaded on the cart, with the arrangement being that we would rotate through the cart after each of our stops along the way. Alan started in the rear position for the first section.

The dogs love to run and pull! In addition to brakes on the cart, wedges in front of the wheels, and a tether to a pole behind us, we could still feel the cart being tugged by the dogs. They knew the routine, and as the various readying steps were completed, they got more and more excited.

And then we were off. We probably didn’t go much longer than 5-8 minutes before we took a break. Adam explained that the dogs would have gladly run longer, but since they don’t sweat and expel heat through their mouths and panting, they had to be stopped to have a little drink of water and rest. This was especially true in the summer, when it was so hot (The air temperature was about 41 degrees Fahrenheit on this ‘balmy’ August day!). We were again urged to ask questions, and mingle with the dogs.

We switched places in the cart, and a couple of the women were concerned when one of the rear dogs, the ‘muscle’ dogs, appeared to pull up lame. His rear legs were pulled up and he was running on just his front paws. Adam explained that there was nothing wrong, he was just pooping. They don’t let anything stop them from running! In the winter they will even just grab a bite of snow along the way while running to get the water.

We rode along the coast line, looked at the expensive houses in the area, learned more about life in Svalbard, and looked for beluga whales, though all we saw were birds.

Adam has 20 dogs in his crew. He knows them all by name, mannerisms, age, and who gets along with who, or even more importantly, which ones try to show up the others. He uses that information to pair them up in the various positions along the lead line. There are different roles for each place along the line, much like the positions in football or baseball. He uses these tourist visits to help train the dogs for their best role, and the older dogs help teach the younger dogs.

At one point, one of the pups was getting overly rambunctious with his paired dog. Adam was quick to correct the dog, and the dog paid attention, just like a juvenile might when caught acting out by a parent. He speaks to them in Norwegian, German, Russian, and English. He said they do understand the commands, but they more understand the emotion and inflection in his voice.

On the way back, we came to a fork in the road, and the lead dogs headed off to the left, when Adam wanted them to go to the right. He yelled out to them, and they fairly quickly got the rest of the team to follow along. Adam explained that if a couple of the other dogs had been the lead dogs that day, they would not have been as obedient as quickly, but would have eventually done as he said. The two lead dogs this day were females, 7 years old, and quite smart.

While we had been out a little over two hours, our time came to a too quick end and we returned to town and back to the ship.

After Alan left, Joyce wandered up to Mansen’s, an eating/relaxing area on the lower deck of the two deck Explorer’s Lounge. Mansen’s serves a traditional Norwegian waffle with fruit and brunost, a brown goat cheese. They also serve small pieces of bread with various protein items piled on top. Joyce chose a waffle and shrimp open sandwich with a cup of tea as she relaxed and read for a bit. On the way back to the stateroom, she checked to see if any washers were available to do laundry. All the washer were being used, but two only had about 12 minutes left of their cycles. Joyce went back to the stateroom and sorted our laundry into two small loads. Once back into the launderette, she waited the few minutes for the washers to finish. When multiple washers are available, one can get the laundry clean & dried quickly.

Alan told Joyce of some of the excursion as she finished up the laundry. He was a little hungry, so he was surprised to find that the World Cafe, just a floor above, had some of his coveted cookies, enough to tide him over to dinner.

We got an announcement just before leaving Longyearbyen that the Captain had permission to take a slight detour and sail within two miles of the glaciers along the fjords as we left, likely, Nordensioldbreen, Tunabreen and Esmarkbreen. We thought that we might have to go upstairs to one of the open decks to see, but we had a good view from our stateroom balcony. We still needed to get out our winter coats as it was pretty chilly, but we had some nice views of the three glaciers that were making their way down to the sea.

At dinner, we had a window table for the two of us. Grilled Ahi Tuna Steaks were our main course choices, with Alan picking Split Pea Soup, and Joyce a Salmon, Beet & Avocado Tartare. We finished with a shared Fromagerie tray and more of the Chai that the Head Waiter brought to the dining room for us. Alan also had a Chocolate Crown layered dessert, while Joyce chose the Rommegrot, a Norwegian wheat pudding that was much better than it sounds!

We were finished in time for the evening’s Theater performance. Christina Otero-Botes, the assistant cruise director, sang a variety of songs that she felt had been forgotten, but should not have been. Alan thought she had a nice voice.

No sunset again today, so we watched a little more Downton Abbey before heading to bed.