...from one of our trainees

Today’s blog is written by Johannes C. Apon, Arctic Nature Guide and owner of Outdoorlife Norway.

I feel lucky to have gotten the opportunity to join the M/S Fram, as a trainee, on her expedition from Longyearbyen on Svalbard to Bergen on mainland Norway. Being new on this vessel, and having grown up in the flat Netherlands, I feel grateful to participate in the many logistical processes on board, work together with inspiring colleagues, interact with our lovely guests from all around the world, and visit all these beautiful places on Svalbard and along the Norwegian coast. Blue glaciers and ice bergs, rugged mountains, breathtaking fjords, dancing Northern Lights and majestic creatures like the polar bear, fin whales and eagles: this expedition has it all.

Today’s landing took place at the village of Oppeid, on the island of Hamarøy in Northern Norway. Hamarøy is best known for being home to Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), a famous Norwegian author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. In Oppeid, the guests got the opportunity to visit the Hamsun Centre, devoted to Hamsun’s life and writing, and famous for its architecture.

Landings (going on shore) provide a very nice opportunity to stretch your legs, explore and interact with nature from a different perspective. While our guests were enjoying the architecture and scenery, Expedition Team members Stian and Thomas – who together with me, for reasons we can only speculate on, go under the nick-name “Backstreet Boys”, given to us by the crew and rapidly adopted by the passengers – took a little group of enthusiasts on an extended hike to a hill top. From here, they enjoyed some very scenic views.

I was invited to join our Danish (living on Greenland) kayak guide Jimmy as second guide and of course I said yes. Together with nine guests, we made a three hour long easy-going paddling excursion along the shore, following the inlets and bays around Hamarøy. The guests were paddling in pairs in tandem kayaks. After they had figured out how to coordinate the paddling and steering, I noticed how silent the group became. We didn’t say much. We didn’t think much. We just enjoyed the beauty around us and interacted with nature. Noticed the bright autumn colors of the forest on shore. Felt the clear cold Arctic water running through our fingers. Pointed at starfish and other small creatures on the sea bottom. Sensed the absence of noise. Ate delicious chocolate while resting on a desolate beach in a small bay. We simply seized the moment, without any concerns or distractions. That must be one of the highest commodities in our modern society. After the trip, the guests thanked Jimmy and me for the trip. But we hadn’t done much more than let nature speak for itself.

Back at what after just a week already feels like home, the M/S Fram set its “sails” for Kjerringøy, a small peninsula, to enjoy white sand beaches and sharp mountain peaks plunging straight into the sea. And I was ready to create and share another memorable nature experience. Being an Expedition Team member is a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Trollfjord, Svolvær, Reine and Å

We continued south along the Norwegian Lofoten Islands to almost the end today. In the early morning we found ourselves in a very narrow and very famous fiord called Trollfjord. At the entrance, the fiord is only 100 metres wide but it is plenty deep for a ship like the Fram. In fact all the Hurtigruten ships travel into the fiord in the summer time both going north and south. Some passengers decided to take the optional Polar Cirkel boat ride out of the fiord, which was spectacular with the morning light hitting the tops of the mountains and the Fram following behind. The light show continued as we exited the fiord and into Raftsund and ran south towards Vestfjorden and open water. Along the way we had great views of several majestic European Sea Eagles.

Eventually the Polar Cirkel boats and the Fram ended their respective journeys in Svolvær, a bustling centre in the Lofoten region. Their we stopped at the quayside for several ours and enjoyed all that this delightful town had to offer. It became clear in Svolvær and later on in the day in Å, how important fishing, and in particular cod, is to the local economy of the Lofoten Islands. We saw the drying racks for salt cod in several places, including the town of Svolvær.

Later in the afternoon we were planning a landing at the southern tip of the Lofoten chain, at Å, but wind conditions were not good for tendering to the shore there so we adjusted our plans and went alongside at Reine, then bussed down to Å. There,we were treated to a fantastic tour of this historic community, which still has cod liver oil running through its veins!

Just a more than perfect day

We started our day with whale watching around 07:00 hours. The sea in front of Bleiksegga is famous for its population of Sperm Whales, but this morning we were not successful in seeing any. The only whales we should see today have been the whale pictures in Tomas´ whale lecture!

FRAM reached our destination of the today, Skipnes and Tinden, after lunch at 13:00. The weather has been magnificent. The sun was shining out of a clear blue sky. The autumn vegetation - like the northern birches - was glimmering in the sun.

Skipnes and Tinden are two old fishing settlements, but today they have more importance for the tourism than for the fishing industry. Most of the houses are now a museum and we all had the possibility for a guided tour of the buildings

Off the Skipnes wharf we saw several types of jellyfish swimming. 

Those passengers who liked to hike got the possibility for a good nature walk from one settlement to the other one. The others moved between the villages in our Polarcirkel boats. Most of the passengers took the chance for a hike through the tundra, especially under this amazing weather conditions. Even though the hike was perhaps for some guests a bit hard, we have to say: “congratulations to everybody, you have been brave passengers”. Along the hike we were delighted to see many plant and fungi species.

Even nearly everybody has been quite tired after such a sunny and active landing we could not go to bed early. An amazing Northern Light forced us to dress up warm again and to stay outside for a longer time. Many photos have
been taken this evening, but to stand once under the Northern Light, that gives a feeling you will never ever forget.

North Norway and Tromsø- Getting warmer

As we sailed south from Bjørnøya, you could feel the air getting just a little warmer. This morning we could see land- the north coast of Norway. And then we saw trees cladding the hills on one side of the sound we sailed through on our way to Tromsø. Having not seen any trees for the last few days, they were a delight, made more so by their changing colours of autumn. Some snow squalls ran over us as if to remind that we were after all at 70° north!

We arrived into Tromsø just after lunch in brilliant light and blue skies. The sun never gets really high in the sky in the Arctic, even in mid-summer, but now the sun stays relatively low and makes for wonderful images. There is also a warmth to the light, belying the temperatures, which were around 5°C. Tromsø has many old buildings, unlike Finnmarken to the north and east- the most northerly part of Norway- which lost many buildings at the end of WWII.

Old warehouses stand at the old shoreline, all with their characteristic little winch houses at the top front.

The first residence in Tromsø to have electricity

One of the modern buildings in Tromsø- The Polaria- Polar Aquarium

Tromsø is a fine place, sophisticated and bustling, but always with the reminder of where you are provided by the surrounding mountains, this day covered in a light dusting of snow that had fallen the previous evening. We had about 6 hours to enjoy the place, which people did by visiting the city of over 70,000 people, taking a guided walk around the city, or climbing the mountain over on the mainland and coming down by cable car. There is so much to see and do in Tromsø that you really need a week to sample the restaurants and coffee shops, visit the museum, aquarium and many historical points of interest. One thing is clear, Roald Amundsen figures prominently in this city!

It is the sort of place that beckons you back, as evidenced by the many people on-board the Fram for whom this is not the first trip, nor will it be their last.

Our last day in Svalbard has come!

We spent our morning on a very nice beach on Bear Island- Bjørnøya in Norwegian, the southernmost tip of Svalbard in the middle of the Barents Sea. The island was discovered (documented) by the Dutch explorers William Barentz and Jacob van Heemskerk in 1596, but for sure the Vikings knew about the island already. We had strong wind and snow showers during the morning, but the bay was quite sheltered and so we could enjoy our time onshore. Next to the beach we had a wonderful bird cliff where lots of Northern Fulmars were still sitting on their nests at the end of the breeding period. We could easily watch them interacting, calling and flying in and out of the colony. Bear Island is very famous for all different kind of sea birds like Kittiwakes and Guillimots and others. The Island is an Nature reserve since 2002, but we came a bit late in the season so that most birds had left their colony already.

The weather has been very impressive. Heavy snow showers chanced with clear blue sky and sunshine. On our way back we had the possibility for a short PolarCircleBoat cruise along the coast before we had to say “good bye” to Svalbard.

The afternoon we spent on board on our way to Norway. Lectures, given by our Lecture staff and our board photographer, gave us again more information about everything we have seen or we will see in Norway. We are already looking forward to our next destinations.

Tomorrow we will reach Tromsø and our Greenlandic staff member Aka has to leave the ship after she has been such an unbelievable help for us especially when we cruised in Greenland. She put her feelings and experiences she got here on board in a nice poem. Read it and enjoy it.

Chilly fall gratitude

by Aka S. Bendtsen, Expedition Team member.

Early morning in the fjords

Mountains use the seamirror

with their white glacier-coat to look cool

Look out the window

Fresh clear air

Or snow, wind and fog

Bright white  icebergs sailing by

Different colored striped mountains we pass by

Get dressed warmly

Get the equipment ready

Before every landing we have to do

Before time passes by

The ground has its fall colours

Not much snow yet

Night frost though

The fox is not white yet

The geese are not gone yet

The bearded seals are laying on icefloes

The polarbear track now and then on the ground

The polarbear is hiding from us

We see a glimpse of it though

The huts can still be entered

without shifting the snow yet

The ground is dangerously slippery though

Svalbard /Spitsbergen mit der spitze Berge

Already winter with snowy winterstorms

With birdcliffs and long glacier fronts

Northern lights will play

up in the sky where ever you go up north

Only if the skies let you though

I thank you Fram

for the  new journeys

Adventures whereever you go

With friends we call colleagues.

To see nice new places

We have to say goodbye sometimes to you though

That´s a glimpse of an adventurous life of a chilly fall on-board with Fram expedition.

A glad one.

With gratitude.