Thursday, December 17th

Wow, it's been quite a few days since we last posted! I guess we will finally wrap up the polar bear trip pictures. Probably the most exciting part of the trip was after we spotted a mother and her cub about 75 yards away. We made our way near the shore to get a closer look. The captain threw the anchor over into the water to help keep us near the shore and in a good spot to view mom and cub. The anchor somehow hit the side of the boat making a huge clanking noise.

 When the anchor hit that boat, the mother who had been paying us no attention suddenly rocketed toward us at full speed.

Sorry for the blurry pictures, but we were not prepared to photograph a charging and very protective polar bear mom!

It was quite thrilling and somewhat scary to be in that tiny boat and see her racing toward us.

Remember, we were anchored down about 15 feet off the shore and not going anywhere quickly.

 It was quite a bit of relief when her paws hit the water's edge and she then stopped.

As the beautiful cub joined its mom on the shoreline, it became apparent she wasn't going to come out after the boat, and everyone quickly realized just how lucky we were.

 We were literally feet away from such magnificent and rare animals that may not be around in 50 years.

This photo I took shows just how close we were! Greg's fancy lens wasn't needed for these shots.

We are headed to Tennessee for the holidays. Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a great 2016.