Walrus breath and icebergs in the Great Blue North

Yesterday, we took an early coffee break while there was still light out (we get around 3 hours of twilight at lunchtime now) and went for a drive out to see some breathing holes in the ice that were being used by walrus trapped after freeze-up.

There are lots of icebergs frozen close to town this year.

We got out to the lead that had the walrus breathing holes.  The lead (crack in the ice) where they breathe had expanded, so we couldn't get too close to them, they could hear the truck coming and swim further each time we stopped.  Still, we could see the spray and steam in the distance when they breathed.  My phone camera can't capture it though, especially in the low light.

Here's me with the moon in the background.  It was around 1:30 pm.  The light you see on the ice behind me is from the headlights of our vehicle.

One of the breathing holes, the light is from the headlights of the truck.

On the way back to town we saw more 'bergs in the blue twilight:

That one was cool so we got out and had a closer look:

It was cold, around -35.  My poor little fingers were suffering using the iPhone camera that I took these photos with (I left my SLR at home for this trip).  It was worth it though, it's beautiful out there in the twilight right now.