A beach with some ice in front of it, a hill in the background, some dark rocks with the occasional streamlet coming down from them. Quaint, but not spectacular - one would think. But this is one of the situation where knowledge about a place works wonders: Murray Island’s rocks are part of the Canadian Shield and so a “family member” of the very, very old continental cores of our planet. When Earth cooled down more than 4 billion years ago it started to build a skin that turned crust millions of years later. This crust, nucleus of the surrounding landscape, is still here, ready for us to walk on it. This surely adds to everybody’s experience, when we begin our first landing in polar bear country. This means that the Expedition Team builds a perimeter which they guard with their rifles, so all can walk safely and enjoy the views. No bear in sight, so we have an undisturbed landing. Good start.