In the night, in a slightly rough passage, the ship sailed around the Southern tip of Spitzbergen Island to another small fjord named Gnålodden. The Norwegian word means "nagging" in English and it comes from the sound of the birds on the cliff above the shore. Again, the flying birds filled the sky and the raucous noise of guillemots (a kind of auk called the thick-billed murre in North America) and kittiwakes was almost enough to drown out conversation.
One feature of this site was an old trapper's cabin that was many years old but still used by Norwegian government workers when they need to plant weather monitoring equipment. The cabin is very small and primitive but it does offer shelter from the elements and the bears. Living there for the cold, dark Arctic winter must have taken, at least, dedication if not a little insanity.
On that theme, when we got back to the boat, a platform was set up between two zodiacs for the 35 guests who took the "polar plunge". Yes, you guessed it, that means jumping into the ice-filled water. I know you are wondering why I didn't do it since I am normally crazy enough to do something like this. Don't worry; I'm saving my self for Antarctica. There's always got to be something to look forward to.
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