Edgeøya and Bölschøya, Svalbard
Today was our day! The high Arctic latitudes at their best with pristine glittering ice and waters reflecting the intense light from 24 hours daylight. Exploration and adventure are very much the keywords as you venture into this part of the world, in the sometimes very cold and harsh polar environment. Around Svalbard, and especially near Edgeøya, you also find the core area for Polar bears in the Barrent’s Sea region.
Of course it is always a highlight to encounter polar bears, but sometimes you do want to get ashore! With a Polar bear waiting at the beach, this is not even considered as an option. At the southern tip of Edgeøya, we found a great place for landing at Negerpynten and free from any Polar Bears! The landing is an almost endless long and flat beach covered with driftwood from Siberia but also remains from the fishing fleet, which operates, in large scale to the south in the Barrents Sea. Hardy English whalers named the place in 1606, and probably also tells the story where the crew had been recruited: from the slave trade ships! At the landing spot, we found a small cabin almost entirely demolished and the claw marks gave us indication about who had been part of this activities. Nearby we could see Halvmåneøya still surrounded by sea ice.
The area at southern Edgeøya together with our previous landing at Hornsund represent the two best hunting grounds of the 45 that Svalbard was divided in. Both are in the main migration route for Polar Bears during spring as the sea ice breaks up and forces the bears to move further Northeast. Arctic Fox and reindeer are both common at this landing site, but we were only able to spot in the distance several of the latter. We divided into three different groups: the long hikers took off and went far up the U-shaped valley, the medium hikers explored the more flat tundra, and the short hikers spent time investigating the hut, old graves, flora and even some insects and all interesting remains along the beach. Some of the hikers were able by simple practice to learn more about the tundra, and why it’s wet and the term “boot sucking mud” was invented. Yes, for everybody this became a challenging hike in many ways.
In the afternoon we went into the area named “ the thousands islands,” SW Edgeøya. It is well known for the remarkable rich bird life. The area is very hard to approach by ship because of many rocks and shallow waters. There is always a strong current, which makes ice flows move around. Captain Carl Lampe and his crew made an excellent job and soon we came up near the island Bölschøya, named after a German geologist (Wilhelm Bölsche). The island is unique since it houses a large colony of Dovekies (little auks), which breed under the rocks down at sea level. Some nice colored and very stylish Puffins also nest under the rocks. A Zodiac cruise is really the best way to enjoy this spectacular, rich island and let us get images of birds like the red phalaropes. This is a strange little wader bird where the female actually is the most colorful and makes the display. She builds the nest, finds a male, lays the eggs and leaves him to incubate and take care of the offspring, while she goes out to find another male and play the same trick.
On the beaches we saw both Brent and Barnacle geese, and higher up a few pairs great skua were nesting. This is a late newcomer to Svalbard and started to breed as late as the early 1970’s. Nowadays you find it scarcely all over Svalbard and the bird is more or less together with the Glaucous Gull. These are the two “birds of prey” which exist here.
As we were out for this adventuring Zodiac cruise the officer on watch had to navigate and keep the ship away from drifting ice. As we set sail we almost instantly spotted several Walrus on some smaller ice flows. Now we have the southern tip of Spitsbergen set as waypoint, and tomorrow we be in a new area. Look into the mirror and remember the very best of high and pristine Arctic!
Today was our day! The high Arctic latitudes at their best with pristine glittering ice and waters reflecting the intense light from 24 hours daylight. Exploration and adventure are very much the keywords as you venture into this part of the world, in the sometimes very cold and harsh polar environment. Around Svalbard, and especially near Edgeøya, you also find the core area for Polar bears in the Barrent’s Sea region.
Of course it is always a highlight to encounter polar bears, but sometimes you do want to get ashore! With a Polar bear waiting at the beach, this is not even considered as an option. At the southern tip of Edgeøya, we found a great place for landing at Negerpynten and free from any Polar Bears! The landing is an almost endless long and flat beach covered with driftwood from Siberia but also remains from the fishing fleet, which operates, in large scale to the south in the Barrents Sea. Hardy English whalers named the place in 1606, and probably also tells the story where the crew had been recruited: from the slave trade ships! At the landing spot, we found a small cabin almost entirely demolished and the claw marks gave us indication about who had been part of this activities. Nearby we could see Halvmåneøya still surrounded by sea ice.
The area at southern Edgeøya together with our previous landing at Hornsund represent the two best hunting grounds of the 45 that Svalbard was divided in. Both are in the main migration route for Polar Bears during spring as the sea ice breaks up and forces the bears to move further Northeast. Arctic Fox and reindeer are both common at this landing site, but we were only able to spot in the distance several of the latter. We divided into three different groups: the long hikers took off and went far up the U-shaped valley, the medium hikers explored the more flat tundra, and the short hikers spent time investigating the hut, old graves, flora and even some insects and all interesting remains along the beach. Some of the hikers were able by simple practice to learn more about the tundra, and why it’s wet and the term “boot sucking mud” was invented. Yes, for everybody this became a challenging hike in many ways.
In the afternoon we went into the area named “ the thousands islands,” SW Edgeøya. It is well known for the remarkable rich bird life. The area is very hard to approach by ship because of many rocks and shallow waters. There is always a strong current, which makes ice flows move around. Captain Carl Lampe and his crew made an excellent job and soon we came up near the island Bölschøya, named after a German geologist (Wilhelm Bölsche). The island is unique since it houses a large colony of Dovekies (little auks), which breed under the rocks down at sea level. Some nice colored and very stylish Puffins also nest under the rocks. A Zodiac cruise is really the best way to enjoy this spectacular, rich island and let us get images of birds like the red phalaropes. This is a strange little wader bird where the female actually is the most colorful and makes the display. She builds the nest, finds a male, lays the eggs and leaves him to incubate and take care of the offspring, while she goes out to find another male and play the same trick.
On the beaches we saw both Brent and Barnacle geese, and higher up a few pairs great skua were nesting. This is a late newcomer to Svalbard and started to breed as late as the early 1970’s. Nowadays you find it scarcely all over Svalbard and the bird is more or less together with the Glaucous Gull. These are the two “birds of prey” which exist here.
As we were out for this adventuring Zodiac cruise the officer on watch had to navigate and keep the ship away from drifting ice. As we set sail we almost instantly spotted several Walrus on some smaller ice flows. Now we have the southern tip of Spitsbergen set as waypoint, and tomorrow we be in a new area. Look into the mirror and remember the very best of high and pristine Arctic!
