Category: Max

moleskine magic

14/9/2015

A fraction of the Moleskines aboard.

day 11: Thursday June 25 evening—Max

We believe Moleskine magic brought out the whales. Today turned out to be the longest day after summer solstice. We had been spotting Moleskines popping up around Antigua here and there ranking in abundance with the number of Polaroid cameras on this expedition. After dinner as we were getting ready for our Moleskine Arctic photoshoot on deck and making the announcement to head up, whales appeared and gazing out into the ocean ensued.

At 23:00 we went up to the wheelhouse to interview Captain Jo. One question in and more whales appeared! We ended up spending two hours switching between talking/whalewatching. We spotted a humpback whale from afar!

Captain Jo--

On what he loves most about being at sea:

being surrounded by nature, the elements
it teaching us how small we are compared to the world
knowing how powerful the ocean can be, right now it's calm but it can change quickly

On how to become a captain:

education—Mathematics and English are both very important, English is the language at sea; perhaps having studied astronomy too, and an interest in nature is necessary
safety training and courses in personal survival, first aid, fire fighting and human behaviour
obtain a Seaman's book
build up experience working as a deckhand, then able bodied seaman
knowing the boat—different boat sizes have different training and requirements
~10 years experience to become a great captain

On what qualities/characteristics he looks for in his crew:

tolerant
social minded/social competency
responsible

One item he always has with him:

binoculars

On the significance of the location of the wheelhouse:

located midship as there is less movement
rudders are now hydraulic, before when the rudder was at the back of the boat, the wheelhouse with the steering wheel also needed to be at the back of the boat

His home on land:

Cologne, Germany

After my quick nap with Nemo, I popped back down below deck and found part two of the portrait party taking place. Salome and Emmerson got theirs drawn by Sarah. Do you recognize the other portraits? Emmerson thought the glitter was a nice touch.

Heading to bed, sun still shining brightly, at 2 am. I reckon breakfast will be rather quiet at 7:30am.

Zzz,
Max

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gravneset x gullybreen

3/9/2015

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Gullybreen

day 10: Wednesday June 24 afternoon

After lunch, Theres (and Cayber) briefed us on the options for the afternoon. There would be a long and short hike to Gullybreen, a stationary hike at Gravneset near the rock where we had our morning meeting, or staying aboard the Antigua to work.

Our departure was slightly delayed by this stunner floating by.

Stationary hike–Costa

Over lunch, Eric and I talked about doing a project together in the afternoon so we opted for the stationary hike. Don't let the name fool you, we were off to look for PBs!

Waiting for Eric at his cabin door, #4 Martinique. My cabin was across the hallway in #5 St Lucia.

My doppelgänger.

Our afternoon was full of excitement stalking the PBs and we got some great footage! We also got to chatting about his life in NY as an artist. Eric told me about his work as an educator and about some of his projects. He uses his creative skills in all sorts of ways. I think he should make a pool portal for me and the other explorers to play in!

Thanks for spending the afternoon with me Eric.

Short hike to Gullybreen–Max

Sally led the short hike towards Gullybreen. The trek there was over lots of different shaped and sized rocks. It was no easy hike as lots of the stones were wobbly! That balancing lesson from Megan sure came in handy.

Shortly after beginning our hike, we had a visit from an Arctic tern. You should do what Sally is doing if you are ever in this situation.

Good thing I had stopped to read this in Longyearbyen the day we walked out to see the eiders.

My heart for you! Resa found this and was kind to let me get a photo with it.

We arrived back on board for cake time (pre-dinner dessert is what it is) and learned that Snowball had spent all afternoon writing a play about climate change with Reneltta. The two of them and Ashley performed it for us. It was a hit!

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glaciers talk

1/9/2015

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Sunlight upon Smeerenburgbreen.

day 9: Tuesday June 23—Max

Day 9 and we finally got our family pic!

Three words I would use to describe my day at Smeerenburgbreen:

listening
reflecting
hopping (or more like sinking!)

Smeerenburgbreen is the most active glacier we have come across so far. I felt like it was my old friend chatting away at me. Its thunderous calving was followed by these calming waves. The water was hardly ever still and there was always something to listen for. We even got a few splitting icebergs!

Waves from a conversing glacier.

A.B. taught me about being still and quiet in this place, observing, remembering, and using our experiences to inspire our work. A.B. is a poet. He performed some of his poems the other night at artist sharing time. I liked the ones about animals best. I have a feeling Electric QT learned something similar spending time with Lewis, a sculptor and Emmerson from Caroline, a writer. The three of us will have to have an evening debrief together.

Did I mention this place is surrounded by quicksand? At least that's what it seemed like when I stepped in it. It was hard to tell where it would take my weight or where I would be swallowed alive by the ground! The lot of us were hopping around from stone to stone and trying to follow footprints that hadn't sunken into the sand. Emmerson found getting around the easiest with her springy legs. It took us a while to get round the bend from where we were let off by the zodiac.

After lunch I got to hang out with Thomas and Jim for a little while. Thomas even let me try out his walkie-talkie! If I wanted to talk to Aurora, I would say: "Aurora, Max"
and she would reply: "Max, Aurora"
And then we could start talking to each other. This is because everyone is on the same channel and we don't want to mix up conversations!

Costa trying out Aurora's chair. I wonder if he realizes that if his legs are tired, he can use his wings ; )!

Me and the guys. Thomas and Jim are ready with their life vests on to take us back to shore.

Did you spot anything behind Costa? He was so busy trying out the chair he missed THIS! It's a ringed seal.

Perhaps he was still thinking about this old polar bear paw print he found earlier in the afternoon with Sally.

Costa was so exhausted by the end of the day he took a bit of a rest here. (Use your wings buddy!) It was a wavy ride as we sailed on to Magdalenefjorden.

On to Day 10 adventures!
Bye, Max

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up close

11/8/2015

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day 5: Friday June 19—Max

This morning we sailed from Signehamna up Lilliehöökfjorden until we were closer to Lilliehöökbreen. After breakfast, I got to spend a little over an hour in the zodiac observing birds, icebergs, the glacier and listening to the sounds of the Arctic. I sat next to Sarah so I could see how the zodiac works.

Lilliehöökbreen is ~10km across its active glacier front and ~95m tall. On the zodiac, we each made an estimate and I was the closest at 98m! After the morning excursion, we sailed north past the seven glaciers between Krossfjorden and Magdalenefjorden. I spent the afternoon looking around the Antigua.

Around 9:45pm, we slowed down as walruses were spotted at Smeerenburgodden on Amsterdamøya. Some were scratching and resting on shore whilst others were having a swim and a closer look at us...and Jim. There were twelve walruses in total.

So much excitement before bedtime! I think I'll be staying aboard the Antigua tomorrow to journal/draw, write to my classmates and help prepare for the evening artist sharing. Goodnight, I'll be dreaming of walruses.
—Max

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afternoon adventures

19/7/2015

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The sun shines bright as we prepare for our afternoon landing.

day 2: Tuesday June 16 afternoon—Max and Costa

The group was headed back to the same landing site that Electric QT and Cayber explored but we got to go with a small group for a detour to the abandoned huts spotted yesterday as we sailed into the bay. We had to wait for the last zodiac so hung out in the deck area.

Here's the first zodiac getting ready. That's second mate Jim and expedition leader Theres standing in front of the step hanging from the side of the tall ship. Do you spot something familiar behind Jim?

The two huts were half in the water and not much else was inside apart from ice and the beds so we took a quick look around outside and came upon this!

–What is that Costa?
–Svalbard reindeer. Let me snap a picture with my hat cam.

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Sailing Day: Monday June 15

15/7/2015

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Today is sailing day! Did you see the Antigua
docked here and then sail away on the portcam? I took this screenshot after breakfast just as it was panning over our home for the next two weeks.

We had the morning in town to grab any last minute necessities and then headed to the dock at 13:00. Sail time was around 18:30. Our first destination: Esmarkbreen in Ymerbukta (breen = glacier, bukta = bay). Esmarkbreen is named after a Norwegian mineralogist and Ymerbukta a Swedish scientific journal. Ymer is also a giant in Norse mythology.

To the left is our map onboard along with our entire expedition route from MarineTraffic that our fellow explorer Bahar found for us after the trip.

Whilst waiting to set sail, we received some sailing instruction from Laura, the first mate. Emmerson was concentrating on the figure eights made by the ropes and then observing AB and Maggie as they practiced how to tighten the ropes and make fast—securing the ropes attached to the sails.

Captain Jo briefed us on boat safety and introduced the crew.
Three things of many we learned:

If someone goes overboard, it takes ~8min to rescue the person.
There are five life rafts on the tallship and each can hold 25 people.
Satellite images of sea ice are used so we know where we can sail. Red signifies the thickest areas.

I found some ice chart information from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute if you fancy a look.

Here is our day in pictures:

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Hello!

Glad you're joining us here. I'm an artist + educator learning and creating from the amazing things encountered adventuring in Svalbard in the high Arctic and around the world.

The classroom explorers and I returned in July 2015 and they have now all headed back to their classrooms to share what they saw, discovered and learned.

Have a look around to find out more about the adventurers and how we prepared for the expedition. You can read our Arctic trip log in order by starting with Day 0 in the categories section below. For pre-trip posts, use the Archives section and start with April 2015 : ).

Salome

moleskine magic

day 11: Thursday June 25 evening—Max

gravneset x gullybreen

day 10: Wednesday June 24 afternoon

Stationary hike–Costa

Short hike to Gullybreen–Max

glaciers talk

day 9: Tuesday June 23—Max

up close

day 5: Friday June 19—Max

afternoon adventures

day 2: Tuesday June 16 afternoon—Max and Costa

Sailing Day: Monday June 15

Hello!

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