This afternoon, we lucked out with favorable enough weather to do an amazing Zodiac cruise along the bird cliffs of Bear Island. Bear Island is part of Svalbard and is situated halfway between the northern tip of Norway and the main Svalbard Archipelago.
Bear Island is the only island in a large, productive sea and the island is like a magnet for seabirds during the breeding season. The conditions were a bit spicy but good enough to launch Zodiacs for a very exciting cruise. The island is home to the northernmost sizeable colony of common murres and with a few other species of seabirds combined (Atlantic puffins, black-legged kittiwakes, northern fulmars, glaucous gulls, etc.) there are up to a million birds nesting along the six-mile-long cliffs we explored. Cutting the engine for some silence, we were surrounded by thousands of inquisitive common murres. It was an incredible visual and audial experience and completely different from our experience on mainland Norway.
Returning to National Geographic Resolution a bit chilled and excited, we were greeted by a hot beverage and Hotel Manager Laura with some incredible cookies from a custom cookie mold of Bear Island.
