July 24 Part 2 – What's in a name?

Today brings us out first landing as we rode the Zodiacs to shore to have a hike around the peaty marshes of the mainland. Walking is quite tiring as the peat is very spongy and sinks 4-6 inches under each footfall.

Back on the ship, mealtime seating is not assigned and you just find a spot at the tables ranging from two seats up to seven. They warned that if anyone appeared to be shy and were always sitting on their own then for the evening meal you'd get an invite to sit at one of the larger reserved tables with assigned seats with new people, and they provide complementary wine to loosen the mood. In other words, if you're antisocial they punish you with free booze. Jessica & I were invited to the reserved table by the Captain's Dinner on the first full day on board.

Before dinner the captain, a retired Navy captain from Norway (I think), gave the customary welcome speech. He started his retirement from military service by captaining cruises around warmer climes like the Caribbean, but has retreated to Arctic and Antarctic adventure cruising now that those routes have been dominated by the “Monsters of the Sea”, a reference to the 5000-person behemoths that lumber around those oceans. Next, the ships entertainer rapidly introduced the captain to each of the 120 guests individually, naming each of us by name and not getting a single one wrong. An impressive trick considering we had been on the ship for less than 24 hours.

After dinner highlighted the charm of not being on a large cruise ship, as all the passengers enjoyed a group sing-along late into the evening. We managed to stay up to almost get our first official taste of midnight sun.

At this latitude and time of year by midnight the sun had just dropped a few degrees below the horizon, but we are still heading a good distance further north tomorrow.