A Blog Post About Why I’ve Not Been Blogging

Dear Family and Friends ---

We've now been in Norway for nine days and on board the National Geographic Explorer for six days. There is SO much to blog about.

So where, you may rightfully ask, are those blog entries?

Well, so far, some of them are on scraps of paper. And many are still in my head. Yes, I know that’s not the way a travel blog is supposed to work. But please consider the following:

Firstly, the internet access on board the ship is very, very iffy. It's all these pesky narrow steep-walled waterfall-covered fern-adorned Norwegian troll-infested fjords. We’ve been traveling deep into many of them and they simply wreak havoc with the ship's satellite internet signal.

And then there are the ever present temptations mercilessly offered by the indefatigable naturalist staff: among other enticements, we’ve kayaked in a calm cove of a fjord, we’ve cruised around a fjord in a zodiac, we’ve taken a zodiac to the shore of a fjord and hiked through birch forests and up to view points where we’ve seen more waterfalls, we’ve listened to talks given by the ship’s naturalists and the National Geographic photographers on board, and we’ve checked out local museums in a couple of towns we have docked at. And then we’ve hung out on the bridge with the captain and his crew. The National Geographic Explorer has a 24/7 open bridge policy and it’s great fun to be up there “helping” steer this amazing ship.

And, of course, there’s the food. And the teas. And the cocktail hours held while the naturalists give a recap of the days’ events.

So you see, it’s really been quite impossible to sit down and write a blog posting or upload photos.

But we hope to make it up to you all soon. Once we’re back in Oslo, on June 11th, we should once again have reliable internet access. And we should have some great tales to share of the Norwegian Arctic and its inhabitants, particularly the polar bears.

So please stay tuned. We thank you for your support and your patience.