Spitsbergen Circumnavigation: Svalbard Odyssey

Today we will be met at the airport in Longyearbyen and taken on a sightseeing tour to explore the remote outskirts and ‘Capital’ of Spitsbergen, including a stop at the local museum. After the tour you will be transferred to the port in the late afternoon and board  the Greg Mortimer. The voyage commences, cruising out of the beautiful Isfjorden, escorted by gliding fulmars and perhaps the occasional puffin.

We may cruise northwards along the West Coast of Spitsbergen, perhaps stopping at intriguing places like Kongsfjorden or Magdalenefjorden. Kongsfjorden (Kings Bay) is incredibly scenic, the fjord is headed by two giant glaciers. We spend long periods ashore hiking on the lush tundra amongst the summer flowers and observing the remarkable bird cliffs near the 14th July Glacier, where even a few puffins nest between the cracks in the cliffs. We keep watch for polar bears and Arctic foxes.

We feel a sense of history at the 350-year-old remains of a Dutch whaling settlement Smeerenberg on Amsterdamoya. The name Smeerenberg literally means blubber town in Dutch. It is a place of extraordinary legends that are myths: of thousands of men living there during the 1630’s, with a complete town with shops, gambling dens and the like. In reality 400 men and fifteen ships visited Smeerenberg during its peak in the 1630’s for whaling. Smeerenberg was excavated in 1979-81, which proved the latter, sometimes though, modern authors still tell the extraordinary tales of Smeerenberg.

As we work our way along the North Coast we explore rarely visited places such as Woodfjorden and Leifdefjorden in search of the mighty polar bear. From Zodiacs we enjoy magnificent views of sweeping glaciers winding their way into the sea. We may walk on smooth raised beach terraces to a magnificent viewpoint or hike in the mountains on the tundra where pretty colored wildflowers and lichen grows and where reindeer graze. We may visit trapper huts of yesteryear where Russians and Pomars would hunt and survive the cold harsh winters. We will all the while be remaining alert for wandering polar bears and their cubs.

We might come face-to-face with the formidable pack ice of the Arctic Ocean, keeping our eyes peeled for bobbing walrus feeding on clams or hauled out on the beach in wallows. We will listen to the cacophony of the impressive population of sea birds and see them feeding.

Along the east coast of Spitsbergen we enter a different world – a polar desert. If ice conditions allow we will pass south through the narrow Hinlopen Strait. The strait is flanked by creamy colored slabs of rock that are rich in fossils, as we discover for ourselves when we go ashore.

We may visit Alkefjellet in the Strait, where a series of 300 ft (100 m) high dolerite towers are home to millions of Brunnich’s guillemots – the penguins of the north – that occupy every available nook and cranny. Elsewhere we seek out eider ducks and geese, and hope to spot Arctic fox and the beautiful ivory gulls.

As Greg Mortimer passes between Spitsbergen and the smaller islands of Barentsoya and Edgeoya, we cross the main polar bear migration route and the beautiful fertile plains of Sundeneset. The spongy ground is richly covered with bright green mosses, a variety of delicate and colorful flowers, particularly the yellow marsh (bog) saxifrage, various mushrooms, fungi, clear bubbling streams and small tarns. Tiny (micro) flowers such as Mouse Ears grow in Spitsbergen creating fairy like mossy rock gardens. We explore this beautiful terrain on foot, marveling at the contrast between the colorful soft ground and the barren, rocky terrain from further north. Reindeer antlers lie scattered along the ground. We round South Cape, Spitsbergen’s most southerly point, before continuing northwards.

We enter the spectacular Hornsund Fjord where we may take an early morning Zodiac cruise to admire the beautiful ice walls of the Samarin Glacier or take a stroll beneath the towering seabird cliffs at Sofiebogen. In Bellsund Fjord we are always on the lookout for beluga whales. Bellsund Fjord is a fjord that splits into two branches. It was named Bellsund after a nearby bell shaped mountain by William Barentsz in 1596. We may visit the remnants of a Norwegian beluga whaling station from the 1930’s. Across the fjord at Våraolbukta is lush and stunning landscape where reindeer roam, Arctic flowers bloom in abundance and Arctic fox may be seen patrolling the little auk colony, where several thousand birds nest here amongst the boulders, coming and going in huge flocks.

During the early morning we cruise back into Longyearbyen. After bidding farewell to new found friends, we are transferred into town and later to the airport.