Bear Island (Bjornoya) is a lump of rock in the Barents Sea 250 miles northeast of mainland Norway. It supports a huge number of breeding seabirds.

Fulmar - Related to the Albatross. It has a tube nose that is used to smell food.

We boarded zodiacs to cruise along the shoreline.

Estimates are that over a million seabirds may be found around the island in the summer.

 

They nest high on the cliffs

Guillemots lay eggs on the cliff edge without any nest.

Their eggs are not round. They have a narrow end so they do not roll off the edge.

The guillemot that is standing with its back to us is protecting its egg.

We cruised in and out of several caves along the island.

Birds were nesting inside the cave

More Guillemots

Three types of Guillemots - Brunnich, Common and Bridled.

Fred enjoys the Zodiac cruise

Shipwreck of the Russian Petrozavodsk in 2009. It is said that the crew had too much Vodka to drink!

We spotted some Atlantic Puffins on shore

Atlantic Puffins

While we were cruising, some of the crew went fishing and brought back some cod for our dinner.