Arctic Exploration

Svalbard, High Arctic, July 2009

Michelle and I had been on the waitlist for a voyage on the National Geographic Explorer to the arctic. The trip is titled in the Land of the Ice Bear and we were very hopeful that we would be able to take advantage of already being in Europe and one of these trips fit nicely into one of our breaks from the Panorama. Luckily for us they had an available cabin and we made the cut! July 25th we flew from Athens to Oslo, Norway and we were able to explore Oslo at least for an evening. The next day we caught the group flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen which is the main town on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. We went along with the normal group tour to explore the town and then boarded the Explorer late in the afternoon. It was great to get to see the new ship but even greater to catch up with some old friends. When we saw our cabin we were amazed. Michelle and I haven’t had that much living space in as long as we can remember. It was a lower category cabin but to us it was huge!
Our first day out found us cruising in Hornsund which is one of the southernmost fjords in the Svalbard area. Two polar bears were spotted on the beach. The first was obvious but the second wasn’t spotted till much later and it was a testament to how well they can blend in. That afternoon we landed at Gåshamna (Goose Harbour) and took a hike around the area. By the time we returned to the ship the wind and chop had picked up which made it a wet and windy Zodiac ride back to the ship. Man, that was some cold seawater on my head.
On our second day out we cruised through the ice in the fog which was a bit surreal. During the day we landed at Diskobukta on Edgeoya Island for some more exploration of the area. The landing showed signs of earlier whaling days and the number of animals that must have been taken during the active whaling of the 17th century. Late in the day a polar bear was spotted on the open ice and it was a great site. He wandered around the ship and seemed a bit curious as to what we were and where we were going.
We spent the next day wandering in the ice. It was too foggy to go ashore (can’t see the polar bears) so the ship searched in the ice for wildlife. Lots of good ice and late in the day great sightings of a polar bear mom and her cub that wandered by the ship along the ice edge.
The fourth day started with some distant views of a number of polar bears on the shore at Bjorn Sundet. There were many to be observed and counted during the early hours of the morning as well as an arctic fox that arrived on the scene. Later on the ship ‘bow’d’ up to Kapp Fanshawe and the thousands of birds that lived there. From here the ship steamed north, as far north as possible. We were headed for as close to the North Pole as we could get in the time that we had. Around midnight (It never gets dark this time of year, at all) we had a celebration of sorts as the ship reached 80 40.43 N, 15 59.15 E and we passed through a section of the Polar Ice Basin. It was pretty cool to be less than 600 nautical miles from the North Pole and be able to go back to a warm bed for the night.  This was a new record for the National Geographic Explorer.
Day 5 found us approaching Moffen Island to view some walruses hauled out on this isolated spot. Later on in the morning the ship motored into Woodfjorden, and made a landing at Kileneset. There was an old German weather reporting station there as well as a number of reindeer as we explored the beach and the surrounding tundra. In the afternoon the ship repositioned to Monaco glacier for an afternoon of Zodiac cruises and kayaking. I went for a Zodiac ride and Michelle opted for the ‘long’ massage for the afternoon.
On the last day we spent the morning out to the West of Svalbard in search of whales. Blue whales and fin whales appeared regularly with lots of good views from the ship. Eventually we ran out of time but not out of mammals in that they continued to appear as we made our way back towards land. Late in the afternoon, actually it was after dinner, we landed at Prince Karls Forland to view some walruses hauled out at a bit of a closer range. It was a good, last photo opportunity before we packed everything away in preparation to return to Greece.
We had a blast and it was great fun to catch up with Mike Greenfelder, Kendra Nelson, Ryan Wallace, Steve MacLean, Tom Ritchie, Jason Kelley and Kim Heacox. We boarded the group flight with the rest of the guests for Oslo and laid low in the hotel for the evening. Before we knew it we were back aboard the Panorama in a totally different geographic area with drastically different air and water temperatures. Just how did we get to and from the arctic in a little over a week? And was that really a polar bear, two, three or eight that I was looking down on? It’s crazy when you think about it. It was more than a 40 degree change in latitude and a 40 degree change in water temperature. The Arctic was great fun but we’d much rather swim in the Mediterranean when you get right down to it.