Bear City!!

 

This morning we went Polar Bear watching from the Polar Cirkel boats.  If you’re not jealous, you should be.  It was an incredible experience.  We had heard reports of a whale carcass washed up on shore.  Knowing that whale carcasses attract Polar Bears we decided to investigate.  As we approached the northern shore on Edgeøya in Freemansundet we counted at least thirteen bears!

There was hardly anything left of the whale. Along the shoreline you could see scattered vertebrae, many of them still connected to one another.  There were large jaw and rib bones and other unidentifiable bits of the skeleton. It was a baleen whale but we couldn’t get close enough to tell which species.  That had something to do with the seven Polar Bears in the immediate vicinity of the carcass.  It was much larger than a Minke Whale and smaller than an adult Fin Whale. 

I pictured a scenario where the whale had died at sea from unknown causes.  Eventually it would have bloated and then floated from gases formed in the body cavity.  Then, like all the drift wood in the area, it was probably deposited by currents on this remote beach.

It looked like most of the meat and blubber had been stripped clean, yet these nearly bare bones were still enough to attract at least thirteen Polar Bears.  That tells you something about how little food there is in this area at this time of year for the bears. Most of the bears looked to be in reasonable shape.  There was however, one very skinny adult bear that appeared rather weak. It waited lying submissively near the whale bones. At times it would get up and half-heartedly paw and sniff at the remains.  There didn’t appear to be enough to interest even this starving bear.

Later in the morning a rather plump female bear lumbered down to the beach.  She was wearing a large tracking collar.  She plopped herself down beside part of the carcass resting her head on the vertebrae thereby proclaiming to the other bears in the area, “this is mine.”

Expedition Team getting ready at Kapp Lee

The bears were not bothered by us in the Polar Cirkel boats.  Indeed, they mostly ignored us.  It was unlikely that we were their first visitors.  By 13:00 almost everyone on the ship had seen the bears including many of the crew. 

In the late afternoon we landed at a beautiful spot called Kapp Lee which was further south and west on the Island of Edgeøya. Once again there was the reminder of the extensive hunting that happened in Svalbard.  The area above the beach is littered with old Walrus bones.  On the north end of the beach you could see the tracks in the sand where Walruses had recently been hauled out, perhaps even earlier this same day.

Walrus bones at Kapp Lee

Just above the landing site were three small huts.  One of the huts was in an interesting octagonal shape that had been used by Norwegian trappers. 

View from 279 metres at Kapp Lee

We had the options of going on a short or long hike.  The Expedition Team stressed the importance of walking in single file, especially in the wet muddy areas.  Despite their warnings of the possibility of getting stuck knee deep in the mud, several people wandered off the preferred track and needed rescuing from the sucking sludge.

The long hike continued up a dry, easy slope on the back side of the cliffs of Kapp Lee.  Along the way we could see reindeer grazing on distant slopes and even found several fossil fragments. At the top we had a fantastic view where we gathered for a group photo.  The hike took three hours to complete.  This time, on the way back, everyone made sure to stay in single file through the muddy areas!

Kinnvika, Alkefjellet & Torellneset

Polar Cirkel boat ride to the beach at Kinnvika

 Although we reached our most northerly point yesterday (81˚29’N), we are still very high in the Arctic.  Our landing this morning at Kinnvika in Murchisonfjorden was at 80˚00’ N.  That’s only 600 nautical miles (690 land miles, 1,111 kilometres) from Santa’s house (he lives at the North Pole and not in Greenland, as some people from Greenland and Denmark would have you believe).

Helicopter used by researchers at Kinnvika

And as you might expect we are experiencing Arctic temperatures.  When we landed at 08:30 the air temperature was 2˚C with a thirteen-knot wind blowing on shore.  Factoring in the wind chill, we were experiencing –11˚C.  It was a tad chilly.  With the cooler weather it made it easier to imagine what it might be like to stay here for an extended period like the many scientists did in the first International Geophysical Year in 1957.

Historic buildings at Kinnvika

Nine of the eleven buildings they constructed for that project still stand today.  The men stationed at Kinnvika were studying many things including geomagnetism, atmospheric chemistry, observations of the sun, the ionosphere, geomagnetism, aurora and cosmic rays.  They were a small but important part of a global research project involving 60,000 scientists from 60 nations.

Like the air and the clouds above us, the landscape was cold and grey.  We meandered through the science ghost town and into the Arctic Tundra beyond.  We walked on sharp shards of rock that had been splintered and shattered by the freezing, melting and refreezing of water countless times over countless millennia.

In the afternoon we cruised along the incredible sea bird cliffs of Alkefjellet from the comfort of Fram.  The water was deep where the cliffs met the sea enabling us to come very close to the rock face.  Black-legged Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Puffins perched precariously on thousands of tiny ledges.  A confusion of birds filled the sky.  How they avoided avian collisions was beyond my ken.

Soon after the amazing cliffs of Alkefjellet Fram cautiously approached the low sandy beach at Torellneset where a group of about twenty male walruses were hauled out in a tight thigmotactic cluster.  To have such an extraordinary opportunity to witness these splendid animals in such a wild and remote location was indeed a very special privilege.

We still had many miles to sail through the night so after about fifteen minutes we went back on course moving steadily eastward on the northern section of  our circumnavigation of Svalbard.

Hello or Farewell...?

After this peaceful and beautifully lit crossing (the saying seems true: A different time can be a different place), we reach the steep fjord of Isafjördur, flanked by now snow-capped volcanic mountain.

So, that's it? Last day of exploring. It feels a little odd, cuts into curiosity and the capability to enjoy without a second thought. But then again, what a time lies behind us! We have bee travelling through the wildest areas of the northern hemisphere, being spoilt by sun and blue skies, too. We have met people from these wild parts, seen immense sceneries, building memories that will last for a lifetime. This certainly is worth celebrating. And that's just what we do in the late afternoon, when Captain Rune welcomes us for a last time for the Farewell cocktail. And as we sail into the night, the trip passes in front of the inner eye. A time that was...