July 30, Sea Ice, N81°6' W17°29'
This wasn't on the original plan, but the Captain decided to take us up as far north as he could go before the pack ice became impassable. (There are icebreaker ships that can make it all the way to the North Pole, but ours was not one of them.) We got as far as 81 degrees 6 minutes north, or about 530 miles from the North Pole. This in itself was exciting, but then we noticed a polar bear off in the distance coming to investigate. Everyone crowded the front of the ship, snapping pictures. This was one time whern my 105mm lens was not useless.
Afterward, someone made up a banner with the latitude and took a video of all the passengers with it. Later, we could get individual shots.
We then turned south and passed by the Seven Islands. I managed to get a shot of a bearded seal.
