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.
