July 11
Today was primarily spent in "hurry up and wait" mode. After breakfast at the hotel's daily buffet, we packed our checked bags and had them ready for the Quark luggage ninjas to take them to the airport just before lunch. Quark provided us with a buffet lunch, and shortly afterward, they led us in two groups over to the airport. Although we were on a charter flight, the airport process was the same as a regular flight. And just like many regular flights, it was delayed by over an hour! The 114 passengers on our expedition arrived in Longyearbyen after the three-hour flight. Quark representatives met us at the airport, where we transferred our bags onto three buses for the very short (five-minute) drive to the port to embark on the Ocean Adventurer, our floating home for the next two weeks.
As we arrived late, we quickly checked out our room and headed to the dining room for dinner. Afterward, Ryan (the Expedition Leader) gave us the mandatory safety briefing and lifeboat drill to familiarize everyone on board with the procedure we would follow in the (hopefully unlikely) event of us needing to evacuate the ship. They decided that everything else could wait until the following morning, and we set sail from Longyearbyen and headed north along the coast of the archipelago's main island, Spitsbergen. Overnight, there was some rough water, but nothing compared to our Drake Passage crossings on the way to Antarctica.
July 12
Somewhat sleep-deprived, we approached the day with excitement and curiosity. And we were not at all disappointed. Quark approaches their expeditions with flexibility in mind, and they focus on the experiences and sights we encounter and throw the schedule out of the window whenever needed. While we were supposed to have the rest of our briefing around 10 am, we got an announcement that there had been a whale sighted and they would delay the briefing, and everyone was invited up to the decks at the bow of the ship to view the whale. It turned out to be a Blue Whale – the largest creature on earth with a heart the size of a small car. WOW!
After the whale dove and came up a few times, showing its tail, we came back inside for the briefing; Ryan was almost finished the briefing when another Expedition Team member came in to discreetly give him a message. He quickly finished the briefing and informed us that a polar bear was sighted and it was feeding on a walrus carcass. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is the first morning and we are already seeing these amazing things. So, yes, we quickly returned to the bow decks to see this incredible sight. We watched the bear for about half an hour as it did its best to dig into the tough skin of the carcass to eat the fat and meat. We learned that the carcass had been on the shore for about two weeks, and several bears had been spotted feeding on it.
After lunch we headed out for our first zodiac excursion in Lilliehookbreen, a beautiful glacier at the end of a fjord. We saw several species of birds and a few glacial calving events.
Many Quark's Expedition Team members have specialties and share their knowledge with guests. There is an ornithologist, biologist, photographer, historian and a geologist/glaciologist. Usually, there is a presentation on a different subject each evening, but as everyone was tired after such a busy day, there wasn't a presentation that evening. While some guests may have mingled in the lounge, we chose to go to bed reasonably early to catch up on some of the sleep we missed the night before. The ship wasn't moving overnight, so it was much smoother and we could get some sleep.
July 13
We woke up early to a noise that sounded like rain but wasn't coming from outside. We opened the door to the hallway and found that there was a leak coming from the ceiling. We notified the bridge, as it was too early for reception to be open, and they quickly sent someone down to start to deal with it. As we were up well before breakfast, Bayne took the opportunity to write more.
Today we had a zodiac tour scheduled for the morning and a hike in the afternoon. The zodiac tour went ahead as planned, and we saw a couple of Svalbard Reindeer (a subspecies only found in this area), an Arctic fox, and many more birds. That means we have seen all the land mammals found in Svalbard as there are only three.
The afternoon excursion had to be changed from the landing and hike as there was too much fog. If there is too much fog, it is unsafe for us to go to shore as they don't have the visibility to ensure no polar bears are nearby. We appreciate their dedication to safety!
Instead of the hike, Quark made last-minute arrangements for us to visit a small town (Ny Alesund) which is not usually on their itinerary. We could safely move around within the town limits without an armed Expedition Team member. The town used to be a mining town but is now used as a multi-country research base where several countries have different research stations to allow them to conduct Arctic research. The town also has a lot of history as it was the launching site for several attempts to find the North Pole. The historian on the trip took groups of passengers (with other armed team members) to a mast that was used by Roald Amundson to launch an airship on one of the attempts.
There was also a small store where we picked up some souvenirs and a museum where we learned more about the history.
After dinner, the photographer did the evening presentation. He gave some great pointers on composition and techniques, which we are sure will be handy on the trip.
July 14
This morning, the plan was to visit Sarstangen on the western side of Spitsbergen, where a sandy spit is often used as walrus haul-out. However, there weren't any walruses around when we went by (I guess you can't win them all), so the crew moved up our afternoon activity to the morning. We explored Fjortende Julibukta (14th of July Bay on July 14th!) via zodiac, where we saw five reindeer, Atlantic Puffins, a Harbour Seal and other birds.
As we had already completed our afternoon excursion in the morning, some of the Expedition Team did presentations on Polar Bears and Geology 101 as we sailed further north. Philippa also used this time to catch up on the blogging, as we were getting very behind since arriving on the ship.
Throughout the afternoon and early evening, we forged a path north at a breakneck pace past the 80th parallel to the edge of the sea ice. Once there, the Expedition Team invited everyone onto the bow decks to celebrate the milestone with a toast as we marvelled at the beauty of the ice around us. Some of the Expedition Crew dressed in polar bear and walrus costumes – it was lots of fun!
July 15
The advantage of heading far from where we had been is that we could leave the clouds and fog behind and finally find some sunny skies. We moved from the west side of Spitsbergen to the east side (between Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet). As a result of the clearer weather, we got out on our first hike. We organized ourselves into four groups based on the speed we thought we would want to hike (chargers, medium fast, medium, and contemplative) and landed at Idunneset in Wahlenbergfjorden. We chose the medium group to ensure we had a lot of time for photographs as there were many alpine flowers and even some "trees" to take pictures of. The trees are Polar Willow and, even though they are only a centimetre or two tall, are considered trees due to their DNA. However, there were flowers that are taller than them! We also saw Svalbard Poppies, Saxifrages and Spider Plants.
For the afternoon excursion, we moved to the other side of the Hinlopen Strait to Alkefjellet where a massive cliff is covered with nesting Brunnich's Guillemots. Some estimates put the population at over 50,000 nesting pairs. It was incredible to cruise along the cliff face and see a bird on practically every little ledge. Needless to say, there was a significant amount of bird droppings on the rock as well.
We were just about to have our daily recap before dinner when one of our trusty guides had spotted a polar bear. They delayed the recap until after dinner, and they manuevered the ship as best they could to take a look at the bear. This bear was the "polar" opposite in activity level to the first bear we saw. This one was sleeping on the top of a rocky hill. In all the time we watched him, he only moved once!
Along with our daily recap after dinner, we had presentations about the geology of the cliffs and the flora we had seen on our hike. By then, it was 10 pm and time for us to crawl into bed.
July 16
After dinner last night, the ship had moved into an excellent position to access a walrus haul-out at Torellneset. We got some views of the area from a distance, and there were lots of walrus on the beach and in the water. However, when they sent out the scouting team this morning, the walrus started to get agitated. By sending out small groups and being very quiet and careful, all passengers could spend about 20 minutes close to the haul-out out, where 6 or so walruses had bravely stayed behind. Some of the walruses who had left the beach stayed close by, and we could see them playing in the water.
During lunchtime, we moved to Vibebukta on the southwestern shore of Nordaustlandet. It features a massive glacial ice cap with an 180 km ice cliff at the sea edge. It was beautiful to cruise along it and see numerous waterfalls and icebergs that had calved off it. There was talk of today being the day for the polar plunge, but the conditions changed while we were out on the zodiacs, and it was no longer suitable for plunging. Instead, we had extra time on the zodiacs.
Our dinner tonight was special - a BBQ on the aft deck with a spectacular view of the ice cliff we were just cruising around. The music was lively, and those who were dressed warmly ate in a true "al fresco" fashion.
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