20th - Home

Wakeup call at 0630 which not only was earlier than usual, it felt very early after only 4 hours of sleep (I blame it on good company in the bar). At 0645 bags were to be placed outside the cabins to be brought to shore. I put mine out, returned to the cabin to get something and came back out – less than a minute later and the bag was already gone. Service was swift (or they were looking forward to getting rid of us). Breakfast was at 0700 and at 0745 we started disembarkment for the last time.

There isn’t much to see and do in Longyearbyen, fortunately we were holed up at the hotel where there was free wifi. I visited the Svalbard museum which showed a bit of history, wildlife etc., to pass the time and an hour or so later I exited again. A quick lunch was had before the bus came to pick us up and bring us to the airport.

The flight had a few surprises; I had tickets for SAS Plus which meant that despite the short distances flown I was served food (well, snack at best) and drinks that the plebs (those in the cheap seats) would have to pay for. We had a layover in Tromsø and despite all of us were going to Oslo we all had to exit the plane. We were also told by the purser that if we were continuing to Oslo we would have to retrieve our bags and check it in again. Weirdos. So we all grabbed our stuff and exited and went to the baggage claim. A lot of bags arrived, but not ours. After waiting 10-ish minutes (with app. 40 minutes between arrival and departure) someone found out that what we had been told was not entirely correct; if you were going to Oslo but not further you would have to grab your bags, but if Oslo only was a layover you didn’t need to do anything. So with time getting critical we rushed through customs and went back through security (which suddenly got clogged by all the passengers that arrived at once) and returned to the plane.

On the flight towards Oslo we were told that an error had been made and no fresh water had been loaded onto the plane so coffee and tea could not be served (in SAS Plus we still had access to bottled water). Also, the toilets would only work for a limited time. Half way to Oslo they locked off the toilets as they had run out of water. Luckily it was a one our flight and not a long intercontinental one…

Arriving in Oslo and continuing on the last stretch to Copenhagen went without a hitch. My bag even made it all the way!

Big thanks to the staff members Sarah Auffret (Expedition Leader), Dr. Julia Lindow (Ass. Expedition Leader), Thomas G. Smith (Firearms Master), Guy Esparon (Naturalist), John Kernan (Biologist), Diego Punta Fernandez (Staff Assistant/Naturalist), Jacqueline Deely (Photographer), Kevin Closs (Musician), Terence "Scobie" Pye (Zodiac Technician), Jonathan R. Green (Geologist), Truls Kuhle (Staff Assistant/Naturalist), Wayne Brown (Staff Assistant/Naturalist), Carol Francis (Historian), Phil Hunter (Staff Assistant/Naturalist) and Dr. Susie Newton (Ship's Doctor) for being such great guides. Big thanks to the crew members Andriy Domanin (Captain), Josi Silva (Hotel Manager), Margaret Krzyzelewski (Deck Cadet) and the remaining 48 crew members I don’t know/remember the name of (bartenders, waiters, housekeeping etc.). Big thanks to Danni, Alison, Trevor, Nicolle, Jana, Carina, Christel and everybody else I don’t (but probably should) remember the name of. Thanks for the company, thanks for a great tour, and hope I’ll get to see you again some time.

And for some that will happen; being the same ship I’m joining in Antarctica some of the crew and staff will be the same. And after this tour, now knowing what I can expect, I am even more excited about Antarctica than before.

We even received a diploma for going that far north!

A map of the route.

19th - мать Россия

Morning as usual and today’s plans would be simpler than usual as today we only had plans for the morning. We visited Pyramiden in Billefjorden, an old Russian coal mining town app. 4 hours from Longyearbyen. At its peak it had 1200 people living and working there, but with the mining ending in 1998 the town was now inhabited by 6-7 people at any time. It’s a ghost town now and according to one of our guides it’s near identical with the numerous towns spread out over all north-eastern Siberia. Being a Russian mining ton it was technically Russian ground we were walking on but at least the usual passport and visa mess wasn’t necessary.

The town was horrendously bleak, nothing like I have ever seen before. According to the local guide, Sasha, he has been here 4 years and have no plans to leave as he enjoys spending time here. It must require a special mental attitude to cope with this environment. But we are all different so it he likes it here it’s all good. People are in the process of cleaning the surrounding area to get rid of trash and destroyed buildings while keeping the center and those buildings intact. A lot has changed since 1998 but there is still quite a bit to go.

Sasha. 

The center of town, called Champs-Élysées. You can see the similarities, right? The grass seen here is the only grass in all of Svalbard. Imported from Ukraine. Still going strong after all these years.

We visited the former main administration building (now visitor’s center) where they had a few old yellowed photos and rooms in various stages of disrepair. I doubt anything has been done to the building since the mining was shut down. There was a gymnasium that looked very well kept and I am assuming it’s because they still occasionally use it. There was also a large auditorium and that didn’t look much worn, either.

The northern-most statue of Lenin in front of the visitor's center.

It might be a ghost town but the view is nice.

The building contains a swimmingpool which was used for training by the Russian olympic swimmers.

Coming inside it was clear that there had been close to no upkeep.

The bar was very nice and felt almost out of place sitting in between the other buildings.

While bringing the ship around into Tempelfjorden we were briefed on disembarkment procedures for tomorrow; if you have a flight out when most of the passengers do (including me) we disembark early morning and all luggage not needed until leaving Longyearbyen will be taken directly to the airport. Nice service!

In the evening we had a raffle and auction (with all earnings going in full to Planeterra). The raffle tickets had been sold the last couple of days in the reception and the winners were drawn tonight. The auction was for the G flag that had been waving in the front of the ship on the tour which would be signed by staff and whatever crew you’d get your hands on. I skipped the raffle so I had more freedom to go for the flag, we ended up being two fighting for it but when he bumped the bid to 300 USD I had to realize that he had beaten me. And I heard later that he had donated the flag to the two young siblings (14 & 15 years old) that had also been on the tour.

So not only did he outbid me, he also turned out to be a better person than me.

Bastard.

The flag in question.

18th - Polar plunging

Wake up and breakfast as usual. Soon after we were off at 14^th of July Bay and Glacier; we did some bird watching from the zodiacs for a while before we went on land and had an hour and a bit to walk around by ourselves and look at flora and birds. It was nice for once to be on land and being able to choose your own pace and walk around by yourself.

Reindeers.

Puffins.

Arctic fox.

Snow bunting.

Moss campion. Taking full advantage of the sun it flowers first on the south side and slowly works it way across its hemispherical shape and flowers on the north side in the end. Also called the compass plant.

In the afternoon we relocated to Ny London in Kongsfjorden nearby with similar plan(s). It has previous been a mining industry for marble (it ended when people realized the low quality of the marble) and apart from bird watching we had the opportunity to look at the geology and marble patterns. On land we had a tour of the historical sites before given the opportunity to go into the water from the beach. I was part of the last group landing (did another photographic cruise) and were therefore only given a very short version of the tour (which I didn’t mind at all) but in spite of this we still got delayed and didn’t make it back to the beach in time to see people jumping in. I had not made up my mind yet whether to do it or not – but had dressed for the occasion if I ended up going for it – but coming back to the beach after all the action I ended up not going. Would I have done it if I had been able to do it together with everyone else? Bravery in numbers? I want to say yes but I honestly don’t know. In the end around 20 people ended up jumping in.

A nesting long-tailed skua.

Late on the ship, around 2330, a whale was spotted on the horizon. The only reason it was seen was because we could see it blow. Due to the distance it was impossible to identify it.

17th - Ice, ice, baby!

With wakeup and breakfast as usual times we were immediately called to the zodiacs so we could have a ride out near the glacier we had arrived at, Monacobreen at the end of Liefdefjorden. It was a beautiful view with areas and clumps of blue ice. With no reference of size, it was impossible to estimate how big it was, but we were informed that we had cast anchor 2 km away and app. 4-5 miles wide, which was hard to believe. Also, when cruising around there was a safety distance of 500m to the glacier which also was hard to visualize.

There were small and large chunks of ice floating around in the water and some of them were clear clean ice. A few of these were collected for the bar to be used in drinks.

The afternoon we moved to Mushamna in Woodfjorden to do a landing and visit/see a building owned by Sysselmannen (basically Svalbard’s ambassador). 16 people could sign up to do a photographic ride where we would cruise around looking at birds instead of going directly to land and I was lucky enough to make it onto the list. We spent close to two hours looking at birds and the highlight was spotting king eiders. When arriving on land we got a quick tour and description of the building followed by looking at 3 walruses further down the beach. After this limited tour (which I don’t mind) we returned to the ship for the rest of the day.

Black guillemot.

Drama in the air when someone wants something somebody else has (in this case a fish).

King eiders.

Arctic skua.

Common eiders.

More walruses.

Purple sandpipers.

The house of Sysselmannen.

16th - The bear necessities

We were woken up at 0700 again with the usual messages, but this one included the announcement that a bear had been spotted though at a distance. People were out looking before breakfast but while it was far away – not quite as far as yesterday – the air was crisp clear so it was easy to see it when you found in on the ice.

Morning bear.

The morning was spent drifting around and spotting the occasional bears that came within viewing distance.

During looking at polar bears (it was crowded around here) one of the bartenders came out and served hot chocolate with kahlua. They took really good care of us.

Lunch was had (people slowly trickled in during the hour due to watching bears as opposed to the usual where most show up at 1200) and afterwards we took the zodiacs to have a cruise around the nearby ice. Saw only birds and 1-2 seals, but it was beautiful surroundings. It was basically the edge of the northern ice cap. Our zodiac was employed for a rescue mission when one of the others’ engine broke down. When they ended up transferring people directly to another zodiac instead of via the ship (due to currents and winds) we were all holding cameras ready in case of any accidental moves.

The MS Expedition.

There are around 12 guides and 51 crew members. That was more than I had expected (especially with the latter), but it keeps the ship going at a very satisfactory pace. In comparison we are app. 120 passengers.

The zodiacs were called in by the ship’s captain sudden due to the sudden appearance of fog rolling in. It moved quickly and those furthest away were suddenly visibly fading away. It was suddenly obvious why the radio call had such urgency to it.

It went from clear as seen above to this within minutes.

The rest of the afternoon was supposed to be calm, but 3 polar bears were spotted. Then a few more. Then a large one only 100-200 meters from the bow of the ship. We were slowly drifting through the ice and the bear didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry of getting away from the ship which meant that it spent quite a while close to us which made it easy for everyone to get some nice closeups. We were in the middle of an ice field and according to reports we were surrounded by at least 8 individuals.

This is how a healthy bear should look like, not anything near the skinny one spotted at Smeerenburg.

When even the kitchen staff comes out to look at the bear you start realizing how close we really are to it.

As we slowly crept forward we reached the open water in a north-bound direction which meant that, during dinner, we got a blow from the horn signaling us crossing the 81^st degree.

After dinner there was a costume party in the bar and much fun was had accompanied by the crew band Monkey Eating Eagles who took over for our musician, Kevin, for the night. 

Romans, guillemots, Santa's helpers, walrus, boxer, wine chest and more.

The Monkey Eating Eagles.