Friday 31 July 2015

Circumnavigation Spitsbergen, day 2


This day we woke up once more to a beautiful weather. We started the day in Ny-Ålesund, a Norwegian research settlement situated in Kongsfjorden or Kings Bay on North West Spitsbergen. There is a lot of different nations doing research in Ny-Ålesund, so the town mainly consists of research stations from the different countries that are present. 


Some lucky few spotted an Arctic fox, otherwise we were guided around in the town by the expedition team and we were able to visit the local shop and walk freely around the town after that.


After Ny-Ålesund we headed for the famous Magdalendafjorden and Gravneset, where over 100 whalers were buried during the 1600s and 1700s


We had the opportunity to walk to Gullybreen, a calving glacier and some of us could clearly see the magnificent calvings from the glacier. Since the weather was still very nice and warm (!!) some of us went for a refreshing swim on the white sandy beach on Gravneset. 



 After some hours, when everyone was on board again, we continued our voyage, going north along the coast of western Spitsbergen, and we could enjoy the view on deck in the sun.