The adventure continues

Day 1

All aboard and even those unlucky with lost luggage set of towards Barenstburg with a smile. The expedition cruise had started.  With the clear blue sky Barentsburg was bathing in sunlight. We enjoyed a culture show and a guided trip in the Russian mining town before set out towards the mouth of Isfjorden and the start of our expedition.

Day 2

Bright and shiny we encountered a nice meeting with four Polar bears two females and two cubs in the Kongsfjord. Arriving Ny-Ålesund, the northern most settlement we got a good overview of the old mining town which is now a research town. Stories of old explorers succeeding and failing were told and still visual like the Amundsen mast. Leaving the Kongsfjord we met two Polar bears cooling down in the waters nearby land before we sailed into the ocean fog. In the Magdalenafjord the clouds made the scenery moody and thrilling. We set out on a hike and got to walk all the way to Gullibreen were we could enjoy the forces of nature watching the glacier calving and creating small tsunami waves. Those still awake at 2am got to see the most popular sand beach in the north – Moffen. Right after we got company of several whales whereas two of them were confirmed to be Blue Whales, the biggest animal that has ever lived.

Day 3

We reached our northern most point the sea ice edge 81.50 north. Here we met with the king of the Arctic and some ringed seals while cruising in and near by drift ice. The ivory gull, pomarine scua, guillmot, puffin, fulmar, arctic scua and little auks was flying around the ship. We cruised passed the northern most Island at Spitsbergen, Rossøya and headed towards Phippsøya. The smelly walruses lied on the beach stuffed with bivalves and clams. The beaches here was full of plastic that has arrives with currents up to the pristine arctic and everyone contributed to clean as best as we could.

Day 4

Alkefjellet – The New York of birdcliffs was the sight we woke up to on day 4. To get really close to this amazing place we had a cruise for all guests. We got close enough to both see and smell the thousands and thousands of Brunich`s Guillmots nesting there. It’s a truly fantastic experience to get this close to the hectic life in the birdcliff. Just the sound from all the birds is enough to take your breath away. Later that day we did a landing at Torellneset. The welcome commity was in the form of a big group of smelly walruses. The Walrus is a fascinating creature that always puts on a good show. Some of the guests were lucky enough to get onto the Mariaglacier, a part of Vegafonna. It was a cold hike with hard winds, but the view up there is world class and made it all worth it.

Day 5

This morning we woke up to a white world outside. The plan was to make a landing at Kapp Walburg in Freemannsundet, but when we couldn’t even see land it looked quite unlikely for a while. This being an expedition cruise we sent our expedition team on shore and after making sure there was no Polar bears around we started our landing. After a while the fog lifted and we could enjoy this beautiful place together with the Kittiwakes, polar foxes and some even found droppings from the white king himself.

Day 6

Austre Burgerbukta welcomed us with high mountain peaks and remains of Polar bear lunches. A dead fox could show us how long decomposing takes in the high arctic being almost intact after already two years. Here we stood and felt the arctic weather and the pure and ruff wind coming down from the two beautiful glacier fronts, Mühlbacher glacier and Kvalfanger glacier. We cruised in the beautiful Brepollen area and stood on deck imagining the vastness of the glacier connecting to each other only 50 years ago. Sailing out of Hornsund heading northwards on the west coat the Gulfstream collaborated with the winds to make in a bit bumpy, but the show must go on and the crew show put a lot of smiles onto our faces.

Day 7

Arriving Alkehornet in Isfjorden the fog was dense and the wind speeding at 17m/s. We sailed forwards to Ymerbukta and the Esmark glacier. Here we were sheltered from the rough seas and could set out on our expeditions. Some were kayaking and some took on crampons and went hiking on the glacier. The rest of us hiking up the moraine and some found beautiful fossils of ferns. After we got the wet clothes off and had a warm shower and lunch we had a farewell cocktail with the captain and his crew. The last expedition was the ghost town of Pyramiden, once holding over 3000 residents. Nordenskiöld glacier with its magnificent beauty was a perfect last stop before we set sailed towards the safe harbor of Longyearbyen.

Fantastic week around Svalbard

We started our circumnavigation of Spitsbergen with a visit to the Russian settlement Barentsburg. A short sightseeing with local guides gave a good overview about the history and living condition of today’s inhabitants of this still active mining town. A culture show with dances and singing brought us closer to Russian culture.

The second day started quite cloudy and foggy in Krossfjorden, but it was highlighted by a spotting of a polar bear with a cub, resting under a cliff at Signehamna. We continued our way to Ny Alesund and were lucky to see another polar bear with a cub quite close to the settlement. We got to know that Ny Alesund was once the most northern permanent settlement in the world, a mining community until they closed it down in 1963. Now it’s a research station with 30 – 100 scientists, depending on the season. After the short introduction to New Alesund we had enough time to explore ourselves and see the remains of polar expeditions which started from there.

The third day became very busy, but started with a calm landing in Raudfjorden, at Alicehamna. The afternoon landing at Ytre Norskoya had to be cancelled, because we spotted a polar bear in the area. But on our way we met a very playful humpback whale, that was giving a big show around the ship. So the expedition team decided to go to Magdalenefjorden instead, what proved to be a very good decision, as it was incredible there. Sunny, warm, no wind and white sand – so also perfect  swimming conditions for the brave, that were not scared of the 6 degrees cold water. During the night we passed 80° north and Moffen Island.

On our fourth day we started with a polar circle boat trip to Alkefjellet, “The New York” for the Brünnich´s Guillemots – that nest in this huge basalt formations and were flying around us at all times.  Despite of the fog we could do the afternoon landing at Torellnesset as well, where we could go really close to a big walrus colony laying at the beach. The fog that closed in stayed also the whole night and even the next day. 

So we had a day on the sea, closed in by fog and clouds, but perfect for a resting day, watching the ice floats and for lectures. All our landings to Kapp Waldburg, Kapp Lee were cancelled.

The sixth day in Hornsund started with cold wind and rain, but our landing at Burgerbukta with different activities like glacierwalking, kajaking and a trip with the polar circle boat could start like planned, just before we left the area we saw beluga whales next to the ship. During the night we went out a bit into the open sea to get the chance to see some whales.

Our last day on sea started with a landing in Isfjorden, in Trygghmana, were we had sunny conditions again, perfect for our glacierwalk and for the polar circle boat tour. The trip continued to the abandoned mining settlement Pyramiden along the various landscape of the Isfjorden. The evening we spent either in Pyramiden or in front of the beautiful glacier front of Nordenskiölbreen.

We reached Longyearbyen harbor during the night full of nice memories and pictures in our heads.   

Pay phone in Barentsburg

Fantastic culture show in Barentsburg

First polarbear this trip

The worlds northernmost train in Ny Ålesund

The worlds northermost settlement

Polarbear and cub just outside Ny Ålesund

Classic Svalbard view

Always on the lookout

Alicehamna

Kayak adventure in arctic waters

Swimmers in Magdalenafjord

The beautiful Magdalenafjord

Manuel found a polarbear on Ytre Norskøya so we had to cancel the landing. After all the polarbear is the king, and we are just visitors. 

Humpback whale

Very close to the ship

Birdcliff of Alkefjellet

Thousands of Guillemots 

Very hectic activity

The New York of birdcliffs

Torellneset

Beachbum

A shy Walrus

Out cruising in the ice

Kvalfangerbreen

Small man in big nature

Magic kayaktrip in the ice

Glacierhike in Burgerbukta

Born this year and almost ready for winter

Reindeer in the green fields of Alkhornet

The famous Alkhornet

Isfjorden

Early in the morning we reached our landing site Alkhornet located in the Isfjorden area and located at the northern entrance of Isfjorden.  The area has a striking landscape with a large bird cliff with a lush vegetation at its base.  The bird cliff consisted mainly of Guillemots and Kittiwakes but some glaucous gulls and artic skuas do also nest there.  We also had the chance to see many Rain Deer of different ages and gender.

During the afternoon we headed deep inside Isfjorden reaching Brucebyen and Nordenskjoldbreen, some of us went to an excursion to the partially abandoned Russian mining town of Pyramiden. 

In the afternoon we also gathered for the Captains Farewell Cocktail in the panorama lounge.

Our super expedition team!

Burgebukta, Hornsund and whales

 Today we reached Hornsund, a beautiful fjord system on the south west corner of Spitsbergen. This is the place where Wanny Wolstad overwintered for five years as a trapper. Our destination was Burgebukta, a bay on the north side of Hornsund. We were a little bit delayed due to ice conditions, but the weather was very nice, with high clouds, no winds and five  degrees Celsius. 

16 passengers including two of the expedition team members went glacier hiking on Burgebreen, and we had a good time watching the different ice formations on the glaciers. 

There was a lot of activities this morning, so we also had groups who went kayaking, and two groups who went cruising in Hornsund with the big polar circle boats.

After a long and nice landing in Burgebukta we went cruising with Fram in Hornsund, and the raw mountains and glacier fronts gave us a magnificent view. In the evening it was time for our famous crew show in the panorama lounge, and we also had a passenger who performed a lovely song for us. We had some great musical experiences as well as dancing performances, and from time to time it was interrupted by whale sightings on the sea.