Day 7, 27.08, Kulhus

After a couple of days with clouds, heavy fog, rain and sleet we woke up to clearing weather. Finally NE-Greenland was going to show us her beauty. A thin cover of sugar snow was on the mountains and the sun forced away the last clouds, reveiling the pack-ice. Not long after we found the first polar-bear, then the second and the third. The deck was bustling with activity and thousands of photos were shot. One bear found a seal to eat and one did not even bother to wake up as we slowly drifted towards him/her. The day had only started and more was to come…

In 1908 during the Denmark expedition geologist Håkon Høeg Jarners found an great layer of coal, which therefore was called ”Jarner’s coalmine”. It later changed name to Kulhus, meaning Coalhouse, as Lauge Koch built an expedition station in the area in 1932. It was made for traveling, but in 1932-33 and 1934-35 four and three people, respectively, overwintered on the station. The Sirius patrol used the station occasionally up until 1960s. The area has supplied many stoves along the nearby coast with coal.

We landed in beautiful sunny weather. The wind had picked up since we were in the pack-ice along with large swells. With excellent and cold work the expedition team and the crew managed to everyone safely on the shore and back on the ship, though it was a wet experience. Being a bit wet does not matter when you have a day like this ;0)

Most of us had a good walk up to flat plains behind the old station with a stunning view of mountains from 1000-1800 m. Names like Matterhorn gives associations to the people and places expeditions came from which gave the names.

At the landing site at the beach it was possible to see and touch coal seams. The yellow coloured sandstone next to the coal was a beautiful contrast in the evening sun.

During dinner we slowly sailed south and met a narrow belt of pack ice where we found a big whalrus enjoying the sun and the hundreds of cameras on the Fram.

Day 6, 26.08, Aalborghus

The weather was not as good as many hoped for, but we were eager to get ashore to see and enjoy today’s destination. The destination was Aalborghus, a former Danish trappers’ station at Gefion Havn on the south side of Godfred Hansen Ø. The first group was set ashore at 8.30 hrs to start their exploring. Even the huts Danish flag was put up by one of the passengers which made the hut even more welcoming.

The area was, as most of the other stations on Greenland filled with history. The first building erected on the site was a trappers hut built in 1933. But when a trapper team of two arrived in august 1938 they build a hut in three days. The name Aalborghus was given as the house was built with funds raised in Aalborg and Nørresund, by a company called Nanok. The station was then manned in from 1938-41 and 1945-52, were also a shed was built. This contained a rather unusual toilette; even though it was only a bit more than one square meter it was combined with a sauna. The huts were later used and maintained by Sirius until 1988. After this it was left for itself until Sirius and the Danish Navy again did renovations both in 1999, 2002 and 2006. In 2006 the Queen decided to sponsored a new stove too the hut, after a previous visit by the queen and prince of Denmark. We could also see that someone else had visited the area recently, as it was polar bear track straight outside of the hut.

After venturing the huts, the guests could choose between two small hikes or both. They both gave beautiful scenery, one with a great overview of the area and the other one overlooking an area with plenty of huge stranded icebergs.

After boarding the ship, the guest could get back their warmth with a nice lunch. Following evening two members of the Expedition team held some very exciting lectures about their own experiences; Majken about her native country, Greenland and Bjarki about his three years as a member of the Sirius patrol.

Finishing off with a great dinner and a briefing for the following day, everyone seemed happy with another great day at the ship.  

Day 5, 25.08, Danmarkshavn and Hvalrossodden

This morning we finally reached land. But unfortunately the fog and rain from the previous sea days had followed us, and this was the weather we met on our first landing in Danmarkshavn. It was set up in 1948 and has between 5-10 workers today. This place is also visited by the Sirius Patrol and the passengers went to the trappers hut Danmarks Minde. Though it was a bit cold, rainy and foggy most of the passengers were very excited to away from the ship again. We flagged a route for them to follow throughout the place and they went on their own small adventures. Since Danmarkshavn is used as a weather station today, we also watched the weather balloon being sent on its way. Some of the biggest attractions today was of course the trappers hut, but also the three Greenlandic dogs moved to the station from Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund). Very friendly and they even came down to the landing sight to great the passengers. A little past noon we went on our way again and next stop was Hvalrosodden in the afternoon. This time Greenland showed herself from a much better point of view as the weather had cleared up.

A beautiful sandy beach in the middle of… Well, pretty much nowhere? Hvalrossodden is a former Danish trapper station built in 1920. It was used for this purpose until the 1960’s. Today it is being maintained by the Sirius Patrol. Smaller icebergs had been stranded here because of the tide, so they were very popular amongst the passengers. So was the variety of different colored rocks and the huts nearby the beach. Not everyone went out this time, but that is also understandable. You get a lot of fresh air. Especially up here in the north where there was fresh new snow on all the mountaintops and a steady breeze from the water.        

Day 4, 24.08, still at sea

Still at sea we continued the lectures about Greenland and the bridge visits. The weather had deteriorated with more clouds and fog. During the night we had sailed along the edge of the pack-ice to find a hole which could lead us closer to the coast of Greenland. Due to the fog it was difficult to find the easy way through the ice, which caused slower speed and the hope of a landing late this very afternoon. 

Day 3, 23.08, First day at sea

Our first day at sea was a very calm one. The sea was completely flat so no worries about getting sea-sick. The weather was light clouds and we had a temperature in the sea of about 7 degrees.

During the day lectures were given on different topics about Greenland by members of the expedition team, to bring our clients up to date on what we hope to see on our trip.

Bridge visits to how this ship is being run was also possible for everyone.

Day 2, 22.08, Ny-Ålesund and Magdalenefjorden

Early in the morning we woke up to our first real day on this exploration cruise. The weather was a bit cloudy, but turned out to the better.

The origin of the Ny-Ålesund settlement was coal mining, but after a serious accident in 1962 mining was ended. Today the settlement is an international scientific station conducting Arctic research.

Ny-Ålesund was also the starting point for several attempts to reach the North Pole by planes and air-ships. Amundsen, Ellsworth and Nobile are some of the historic names linked to this beautiful place. Several thousand tourists visit the settlement every year, most in the short and hectic summer.

Guided tours were offered around the settlement to those who wanted extra information by our guides to see the remnants of the old mining town and the different scientific stations. This was also the last chance to use the credit card on land until we hit Scoresbysund in NE-Greenland.

At lunch time it was time to leave Ny-Ålesund and head north to our next stop, Magdalenefjorden and 80N.

Enjoying a delicious lunch we passed Sjubreene aka the seven glaciers in beautiful weather.

In the afternoon we entered the fjord Magdalenefjorden surrounded by pointy peaks and glaciers and dropped anchor at Trinity harbour. It did not take much imagination to get the same feeling as Willem Barentz had when he discovered Svalbard in 1596.

Gravneset in Magdalenefjorden is a large cemetery, dating from the whaling period consisting of of 130 graves. The funerals took place over a period of almost 200 years, with the earliest graves dating from the early 1600s and the more recent ones dating from the late 1700s. On the beach by the cemetery there are four blubber ovens.

The expedition team are always the first to go ashore, to make sure everything is safe for our clients. Some went on a cayak trip while the rest had a good walk along the beach to look at the blubber ovens and have a closer look at the beautiful mountains and glaciers.

A colony of wahlrus had been discovered, so on the return to the ship everyone had a chance of a closer look to these lazy creatures weighing 1-2 tons.

During the evening we headed north towards Danskøya on our way to 80N. On our way we met the misty and mysterious fog.

The discussion onboard has been the tremors in a volcanic area in Iceland, but as we move out of coverage of the satellites we can’t do anything else but wait and hope for the best. At least the geologist onboard are very interested in this ;0)

Day 1, 21.08.2014, leaving Longyearbyen and visit to Barentsburg

The first day on the boat started with sunny and great weather. After boarding 212 passengers from 16 different nations, Fram left Longyearbyen at 1800 hrs. After getting their new blue jackets handed out, all guests were ready for a great adventure. And it already started after 10 min when we got our first great arctic experience; a curious polar bear peaking in windows on two legs and roaming the area on Reveneset.

After a delicious dinner we came alongside the pier in Barentsburg at 2100 hrs. Barentsburg showed its self from its best side with beautiful weather and local guides met us and took us through Barentsburg history and daily life. This Russian coal-mining township has been known as the most atmospheric old settlement north of the Arctic Circle. Recent months the township has gotten a major face-lift partly because the Russian government wants to increase the tourism.

Grønfjorden, where Barentsburg is located, has for centuries been a resting place for whalers and a camp for hunters. Industrial activity started the first decennium after 1900, with whale-processing base and coal extraction. After that several companies and nationalities’ had been extracting coal, the settlement and the surrounding areas passed on to a Soviet state-owned company in 1932.

The settlement was largely destroyed during the Second World War, but was rebuilt again in 1948 and 1962. During the Cold War the settlement was base to suspicious activity as for example an oversized helicopter base.  Before 1990, there was between 1100 and 1450 inhabitants and included kindergarden, school, a large hospital, a library, a large research centre and a swimming pool. But with the end of the Soviet Union the settlement endured a hard time in several ways. In 2000 Russia started to remember its remote outpost on Svalbard again and its strategic value; more subsides are now given, research is coming back and a new mine is being established. Today the number of inhabitants is around 470.

After ended tour we got some time to stroll around before heading for the Cultural house where the locals, including men from the mine, had set up a very warming and nice folklore show.

After waving goodbye to Barentsburg at 2305, we sailed northwards along Prince Karl’s Forland. Some of the guest went up in the bar to enjoy their first beautiful evening on Fram, while others said goodnight and headed for a well-deserved sleep.

Whisky Time! Oh, and a few bears…

And now, folks, something really exclusive. It’s got to do with ice, although many say that it doesn’t belong there at all: I’m talking about whisky. Not just any honey-colored liquid, but something entirely unique - our MV FRAM expedition whisky. 

Distilled 23 and 25 years ago, this magnificent single malt has traveled on our ship in huge barrels across the globe, both Polar Circles and the Equator were crossed before the bottling. The barrels were even baptized by Neptune himself…

Everything with this whisky is expedition, is FRAM, is unrepeatable. Even the wooden boxes were handmade (!) here on the ship. The quality control, the bottling, the labeling - all done here.

And it will be sold ONLY only board FRAM, mind you. Very soon after the world caught wind of this amazing product we had many request to sell some bottles to stores, distilleries, large sums were mentioned - but we don’t! 

To drink MV FRAM expedition whisky, you have to be on FRAM. Period.

Now all work is done, and the whisky can be served.

Doesn’t that call for a toast…?
And that's not the end of it - we are up for more!!

After this little detour, let’s get back to business:

In the morning we visited the probably most impressive glacier in the area, the Monacobreen. Big, mighty icebergs were drifting majestically in the silent Liefdefjord, creating an amazing atmosphere, from wherever you watched it.

We also used the time for some lectures and bridge visits, now everybody knows how this ship works…

And as if we haven’t had enough polar bears already, here comes the announcement: This time it is a female with a cub, now that’s new in our collection!

Not far away from this we visit the certainly most sophisticated trapper hut in the whole of Svalbard, Mushamna. The craftsmanship of this block house is outstanding, everybody agrees that here, in this wooden palace, it would be not so bad to spend a couple of months.

Especially with the wonderful hinterland, which we explore with a large group of interested hikers. A whole array of glaciers come down into a vast tundra valley, decorated with a braided river, glittering in the afternoon light.

And what can we say? There was another polar bear waiting for us, a yellowish dot on the dark flanks of the mountains. Fortunately in a safe distance, so everybody got a good peek at it before it took off, approached the fjord, and posed for the ones who had stayed or returned on the ship.

After all this it was show time on deck seven, but still something else followed: As we were a little unlucky with the weather at Moffen yesterday, Captain Arild decided to give it another go. And this time it was perfect.

What. A. Day.

A Pile of Walruses

We awoke on day five of our odyssey to find heaving grey seas and an overcast sky. Northern fulmars reveled in the chaos, skimming over the wave-tops and past the port-holes. In contrast, the more frantic looking little auks flapped hysterically to escape from the path of the ship. As ever, we are at the mercy of the seas and the conditions demanded we abandoned our proposed morning landing and continue up the Hinlopen Strait, seeking more sheltered attractions.

Our route took us close by a bird cliff of some fifty meters, disappearing into the mist high above the ship. The rock, stained with guano from years of occupation, hosts the nests of the Brünnich's guillemot in their tens of thousands. From all sides the birds soared out of the fret, calling to one another. The scene appeared almost otherworldly; a strip of rock caught between the sea and the mist, dyed a ghostly hue by the low light conditions.

Fram ploughed on, seeking calmer waters in which to land. We found them at Kinnvika; a small settlement established to host a scientific collaboration in the 1950's. It was constructed at exactly eighty degrees north and now lies abandoned, though it remains well-maintained. 

The terrain on which it is built is inhospitable to say the least. Life, as adaptable as it is, has struggled to gain a foothold here. The ground is bare rock, packed together and cycled into geometric formations by the permafrost.

The fog lifted for just long enough to enable the guests to spend a few happy hours wandering about the fascinating site, taking in the abandoned buildings and machines which are largely accessible.

Back on board, the mist descended again as dinner was being served, so that our final stop of the evening, the island of Moffen, came out of nowhere. This bizarre place lies some kilometers of the coast of Spitsbergen and takes the form of a shingle doughnut, the hole in the middle filled by a brackish lake. 

It is a protected nature reserve and is home to several rare species of bird, the Arctic fox and an abundance of walruses. As these creatures gave the whole ship a lesson on relaxation, a discussion opened up as to what the collective noun for a group of walruses should be. We settled on a "pile" of walruses (the rather disappointing correct answer is "herd")

Ice Time, Bear Time

The second half of yesterday presented us with strong winds coming from the North. Uh, oh… This is where we want to go, this is where the ice is coming from, this is where the mouth of the Hinlopenstretet opens up like a funnel towards the ice.

That means one thing: Expedition. Only one way to find out what the conditions are - go there and see for yourself.

But before we get hit by the ice we want to hit it ourself. The ice edge seems to be on the eastern shores of Nordaustlandet, pretty far south. So we approach the vast expanse of white, lower the Polar Cirkel Boats and take a ride into the endless brightness. It is a mind-blowing experience, knowing that from here to the North Pole you might even walk. So much space!

Everbody’s faces were glowing on return, not so much of the morning temperatures, but rather of enthusiasm.

Well, there is no free lunch… The ice that gave us this wonderful morning experience suddenly seemed to be closing in from all sides. So FRAM had to show what she’s got, for the next hours we were crunching through the ice sheet with much less speed than anticipated. Here goes the afternoon landing. The question is even more pressing: Will we be able to go through Hinlopen Strait in the first place? What if…?

Well, our Expedition Leader Karin managed to get the positions of two other expedition vessels on the East side of Spitsbergen, even talk to the captain of one of them. The information was a relief: Not only had they found a clear passage, but also our next stop, Torellneset, was not iced over.

So here we go, into the ice a little more!

Luck favors the brave. And so - just before the afternoon lectures were about to start - we hear the familiar “bing-bong” from the bridge: Polar Bear on the ice! This is what we were yet missing on this voyage, the bears where they really belong to!

And it proved to be the best possible bears you can imagine. First resting on the ice, occasionally lifting the head, yawning, sticking out the tongue, then slowly walking away, giving us ample opportunity to get the best shots, in perfect light.

Of course the lectures (one of them about - ice, of course…) were interrupted and only continued after the “bear was over”.

In the evening the material that kept us busy was chiseled into something beautiful during the food and ice carving demonstration.