Day 5 -13th August 2023

 Day 5 Sunday.

A little later start around 7.00. I got up around 6.45, meeting Alan in the corridor, but decided to take another five minutes so missed an Ivory Gull that Alan saw, he did come down and shout but it was well gone by the time we got upstairs. After breakfast we sailed to Ny-London for the first landing of the day. This was an A to B walk and it was decided that I probably wouldn’t make it so I went back down to the shore. On the way I found a large patch of netted willow but no luck with the oyster plant. Boreal Jacob’s Ladder is only found around Islfjord, so no point in looking for that and no luck with the Oyster plant. 

After all the others had left we got in the boats and sailed round to the next bay where there was a lot of old engineering works. This was Ny-London, built by Mansford to use the marble mining business here. Unfortunately, the marble they quarried turned out to crumble as soon as they tried working with it. The house that was left has been kept and preserved and is used by the government for 8 weeks of the year. On the tour leaders first visit this spring it had been attacked by a polar bear who could smell the basic food left in the cabin. It ripped off bits of wood and doors, smashed the windows, chucked toilet rolls around but left the apples sitting on the table. The business eventually went bust so they couldn’t afford to retrieve much of the machinery so it was left to rot where it is. The engine was originally housed in a garage but that is long gone. Some of the houses were relocated to ny-Alesund and can be seen today.

Along the path there was quite a lot of bell Heather, unfortunately with the flowers over, but recognisable. As we were walking up the path I glanced round and running along the opposite bank was an Arctic Fox trotting along an obvious pathway. It walked up the slope, stopped and appeared to be eating something which Jonos suggested might be reindeer meat. He called the fox out and the first group over the ridge saw it but also spooked it and it trotted up the cliff and over the top. The last group also saw it as they were still on top as it came over the hill.

I returned to the boat and waited for the others, who missed the Fox before sailing across the fjord to our next landing on Ny-Alesund where we had a short walk and then time to our selves. This was the only landing with a proper dock so we just walked off. Our group moved off but we didn’t keep up so we diverted into the shop before spending a bit of time finding one of the most northerly Geocaches in the world. We pottered about looking at the plants and then diverted along a path but nothing much. We then followed a pipe line structure with Snow Buntings before making it to a gravel road with a pool, with views across the reserve to the sea. David noticed some birds on the pool, which turned out to be Juv Grey Phalaropes giving amazing views. 

There were Arctic Terns flying over, more Barnacle Geese, most with colour rings, and a group of seals on the beach. We saw Alan and Brenda and beckoned them over, dodging the wrath of Jonas. Brenda and I walked back to the road to find a loo and see if we could see Sean. The shop directed us to a white box back towards the ship, which we found quite easily. We started to walk back towards the shop as David, Jake and Alan were coming along. 

We met up and started walking back towards the ship when an Arctic fox was spotted in the distance. Shortly after the tern colony flew up and started alarming. A fox crossed the road in front of us and trotted down towards the old train. It found something to gnaw on and gave really good views before trotting onwards and disappearing under the derelict train. It did appear further away around the pool but then disappeared.

Sean was coming back from the boat as he thought he had lost his backpack. Alan took him quickly round to the phalarope pool as Sean remembered he had probably left his bag back by the table. We walked back to the boat, got on board before we set sail back towards Longyearbyen. Along the way we had minke whales and white-beaked dolphins. A cup of tea to toast the midnight sun. I went down to pack before turning in.

 

Day 4 - 12th August 2023

  Day 4 Saturday

Woke up at about 5.30 then back till 6.15, got up, went to the shower and washed my hair. Then up on deck until breakfast. During breakfast, David called an Ivory gull.  Most of us jumped up,and went on deck. The gull had passed forward but another flew up from the stern and headed quickly past. The usual birds were around with an increase in Black guillemots. The ship moved to an bay where there was a Trackers hut. We were third off and then walked along the beach to,the hut. It was built by Hilmar Nois . It was called the Texas Bar as he really wanted to visit Texas and this was the closest thing. The others walked over the brow of the hill and then walked along a trail with fox trails and some flowers. Along the way there was a bird colony with kittiwake, bulk guilt, glaucoos gulls and reindeer poo. After returning to the boat, we set sail for a brief visit to the Monanco glacier. There was a lot of sea ice/ icebergs and it was fascinating to watch them as the bow wave hit, some turned over, some just bounces and some didn’t move. Our next stop was for the hot springs. 

Our group were second off the boat and we collected on the beach before walking up the slope towards the pool. The pool was at the top of a yellow coloured mound, formed from the minerals that have been extruded by the hot pool. We weren’t allowed to walk too close, as past visitors had eroded a lot of the mound. There was a small pool to the left which drained down the hillside in a small trickle. The others went on for a walk to a second pool and then on to the next bay before catching the boat back. I stayed and spent a bit of time looking round at the flowers before w walked back down to the coast. Standing on the beach there was a seal swimming just offshore  . We spent quite a bit of time watching it and trying to photograph it. It was identified as a Bearded seal and the photos proved it. When it was time to get the boat the driver was asked to try and take us nearer the seal. The driver took it very gently but it dived, we waited and it popped o just behind the boat, however, the other two boats roared off the coast so it dived and we returned to the ship.

Sail to Morden, blue whales, walrus 80th meridian, champagne. 

Day 3 - 11th. August 2023

 Day 3. 

Got up at 6.30 ish. Our first landing was on Gravneset Island in Magdelenja fjord. We were sorted by language and as the English speakers was by far the largest group, usually it was split in two. We first had to sort our life jackets and as we were the first group off, we were soon walking in our groups along the sand to a board that commemorates the whalers who lived and died here. The graveyard is a protected monument and one of the few places that has a fence. We had a talk about whaling and the whalers who lived here. As there are no trees on Svalbard, all wood had to brought in with them. We had a look at the remains of the blubber ovens. Then there was a walk up the cliff while I stayed down by a big rock. A couple of Arctic Terns sat on top of the rock and occasionally vocalised. 

The others walked up and saw some walruses in the distance, there were snow buntings and the usual kittiwakes and arctic terns, blk guillie about. As we came down it was time for a swim! We changed on the beach and Brenda, Sean, Jake and I went in . Brenda and I were more careful and it took a couple of efforts to finally find the courage to dip in. It was cold but not as unpleasant as I expected. Sean and Jake ran in and dived before playing with some ice. 

We went back to the boat and just as we were finishing lunch a call came that they had located a Polar bear on an island called Mosoya. We collected bins, cameras etc and ran up to the front in different parts of the ship. The bear wasn’t in sight to start with, but soon walked over the col and lay down in full view. It washed its paws, played with something, rolled over on its back and gave excellent views. Brilliant!

Our next landing was at the Smeerenburgbreen glacier where we walked over some moraine to stand on the end of the glaciers. It was quite interesting to see the surface of the glacier, which was much less slippery than I expected.  for walrus, 2 Brad seal, landings for whaling talk, with swim, back to ship, lunch, on to glacier landing. Just before dinner, walrus and b/seal. Blue whale in evening

Dinner 

Day 2 - 10th August.

 Day 2. 

Day 2. Woke up about 6.30, got up, sorted bits out, semi packed, went for breakfast around 7. Nice buffet, bacon, eggs, ham, cheese etc. got a taxi ordered to the airport pits with collection at 10.45 so that we could check our luggage out at 11, before lunch at 11.30 which was beef, roast pots etc. 

The coach came for us at 12.45 for our ‘tour’. Our first stop was the Radison to collect the other guests, then the polar bear sign, as we had already visited we birded while the others took photos. Then it was on to the Barents camp site where we had a talk about the sled dogs, petted them, then went into a building for a talk on Polar Bears accompanied by a hot blackcurrant drink and pancake with blackcurrant jam. Then it was on to the museum where we looked at some of the history of Svalbard and the various animals, including Polar Bear, Arctic fox and various seals, before going to the quayside to board at about 4pm. We checked in, collected our keys and complimentary souvenir card and found our rooms. 😳😳😳 they were minute!!!

We settled in, trying to sort out how on earth we could fit ourselves into the tiny berths. Then we went up on deck for an introduction to our guides and our safety briefings. The ever present Fulmar were everywhere in both light and dark plumages.

As we sailed out of Adventfjorden we got our first look at the Arctic scenery. We passed evidence of past mining at Grummant and then sailed north across the Isfjord. We sailed past the Alkhornet cliffs which were quieter than expected but still had lots of birds in the distance. As we sailed across the fjord there were several sightings of Fin Whale dotted about. 

We headed to Ymerbukte for dinner, which was delicious, and then headed out of Isfjord towards the open sea and the north. After dinner we stayed up on deck until about 11before turning in.  

Trip to Svalbard. Wednesday 9th August

 With the main target of Polar Bear in mind we booked a 4 night cruise with Hurtigruten on the Nordstjernan. The package included flights and an overnight stay on Tuesday and Monday nights.

Our flight was 7.05am out, via a two hour stopover in Oslo, which was extended by a couple of hours so it was a very early start for David, Sean and myself, heading to Heathrow. We met up with Jake in Terminal 2, checked in our luggage, went through security, where they were trialling a new system, so we didn’t have to take our laptops out, and had a body scanner board to pass through. This flagged up my right foot so I had to go to one side and have a manual check, a scan and then place one foot after the other in a foot scanner, all of which were green.

We met up with Alan and Brenda, found somewhere for breakfast and then went to our gate for our flights. The flight to Oslo was fine and we had a cup of tea and a snack before our onward flight to Longyearbyen. The approach over the island was very arctic, with glaciers, sea ice and razor sharp ridges. 

We landed and deplaned to some lovely views but the official making sure everyone got off the plane and into the airport safely got very cross with everyone taking photos of the airport and kept saying, ‘ Move on, it’s just an airport, you’ve been to other airports, you don’t need photos’ which everyone ignored. 

We collected out luggage after the ‘obligatory’ picture with the Polar Bear on the luggage reclaim and made our way to the bus which took us, via half the hotels and cruisers in Longyearbyen to the Coal Miners Cabins. We checked in, sorted our stuff and had a quick look round before going for a very nice fish soup and bread supper. 

After our meal we went for a longer walk than intended down to the town and along to the dog pens. I gave up half way and stayed by the river while the others walked on. As it was a longer walk than expected, David and Jake came back and we hailed a taxi to take us to the polar bear sign,  heck out the dog pens, pick up the others and return to the Coal Miner’s Cabins. There were lots of Arctic Terns flying back and forth feeding chicks. There were also flocks of Barnacle Geese but their young were much bigger. The dog owners asked us not to go near the pens and said they didn’t like their dogs being photographed so we moved away. 

It was hard to get to sleep as it was 24 hour daylight and the curtains weren’t that dark but the long day meant that I dropped off very

We settled in, trying to sort out how on earth we could fit ourselves into the tiny berths. Then we went up on deck for an introduction to our guides and our safety briefings, 

As we sailed out of Adventfjorden we got our first look at the Arctic scenery. We passed evidence of past mining at Grummant and then sailed north across the Isfjord. We sailed past the Alkhornet cliffs which were quieter than expected but still had lots of birds in the distance. As we sailed across the fjord there were several sightings of Fin Whale dotted about. We headed to Ymerbukte for dinner, which was delicious, and then headed out of Isfjord towards the open sea and the north.

After dinner we stayed up on deck until about 11before turning in.