The sun finally visited us yesterday here in Isafjordur, after hiding for two months behind the mountains. It´s a long tradition here to bake pancakes with wipped cream and marmelade on that day to celebrate the return of the sun. Now the days are getting longer and you can feel it that spring is getting closer, though few months still remains of winter.

Here is a beautiful shot taken by Agust Atlason below the Maritime Museum in Isafjordur. Agust is also our web designer.

It´s been cold and snowing lately in Iceland and the locals in Isafjordur are truly making the best of it. Many Icelanders think that the winter is the worst season of the year. I always ask them why they stick around since the winter can be pretty long. There are warmer places further South that should suit them better!
The winter is a great season for playing outside and we´ve been pretty busy skiing and climbing and it´s great to watch the local skiers rushing to the ski area after work, doing few laps on the cross country tracks or swinging down the slopes in the alpine area.

Have fun

Runar

Borea´s main operation area is the North Atlantic but adventures in general have no borders. Now captain, Siggi is off to Antarctica working on a sailing yacht during a 24 days expedition to this beautiful continent of fjords, islands and remarkable wildlife. He started yesterday from Ushuaia in Argentina and is now in Puerto Williams in Chile. The yacht Spirit of Sidney, will then continue through the Beagle Channel and to Antarctica.

We wish him a happy journey and a safe return

Scientists in the US have presented one of the most dramatic forecasts yet for the disappearance of Arctic sea ice. Their latest modelling studies indicate northern polar waters could be ice-free in summers within just 5-6 years.

Check out this article on BBC today: "Arctic summers ice-free by 2013"

The long-term average minimum polar sea ice cover, based on data from 1979 to 2000, is 6.74 million square km. In comparison, 2007 was lower by 2.61 million square km, an area approximately equal to the size of Alaska and Texas combined, or the size of 10 United Kingdoms.

This can, in the short term, mean that more ice will be in the Denmark Strait (between Iceland and Greenland) in certains periods of the year as more ice is breaking up in the Polar sea and drifting down along the east Greenland coast.