Bear Island N74.20/E019.00 Barents Sea
We are now steaming NORTH and moving into the HIGH Arctic. What is day and night? In fact this does not really matter at this time of the year! It is for sure 24 hours daylight as we are at latitude north 74° and as we have been blessed with blue sky most of us took advantage of this phenomenon. At about 2 am some humpback whales were sighted around the ship and one even made a large breach.
After spending many hours last morning, day and evening looking for and at whales and dolphins not all of us made it up for these early morning whales. We do need to sleep a few hours in every 24 hours! Especially as our expedition leader had already promised a 6 am wake-up call.
The southern tip of Bjørnøy (Bear Island) stands out as one of the most magnificent Zodiac cruises in the world. Here the warm Gulf Stream meets a cold water current from Siberia and this of course creates a mist and gives the site an almost mystical appearance. Zodiacs were down and soon we were out for a real treat.
The cliffs are about 400 meters high and swarming with tens of thousands of breeding sea birds; kittiwakes, murres (common & thick-billed), fulmars, puffins... On the water below the cliffs, thousands of murres are resting. Glaucous gulls are posted on cliffs, like guards but unreliable ones. They are flying predators and very alert for any birds arriving with food and can even kill the adult birds. They are constantly looking for new victims.
In this rich and mystical setup we left the warm National Geographic Endeavour in a Zodiac. It was early morning and some of us had not yet been able to catch our first cup of coffee. Hiding behind one cliff and surrounded by mist we spotted the first surprise. The galley had set up a breakfast Zodiac serving hot coffee, tea and freshly-baked sticky buns. A good start!
We continued to explore the cliffs and found deep caves created by the sea, arches to go through and of course an endless number of sea birds. Barents Sea stands out as one of the richest fishing grounds in the world and the bird numbers confirm this.
At the same time as we were out exploring, some of the crew and galley went out to fish. In about an hour almost 250 kilograms of fresh cod was loaded into the Zodiac. This is fishing when it is fun! At least the galley had some fish to clean!
After brunch we made a landing further up on the south eastern side to hike. This day was one of the few real summer days at Bear Island with sunshine sparkling over us. Hiking groups went in different directions to enjoy the birdlife, the flora and for some of us, just to enjoy the sunshine.
On the landing beach we could see some of the former activities from an earlier hunting period. Here on this beach thousands of walrus were slaughtered after Willem Barents had found the island in 1596. Walrus bones are scattered all around. The steam winch from around the turn of 18th century, which was used to pull up whales on the beach, is the very last remnant of the Norwegian hunting epoch at this island.
After a short reposition of the ship we were able to make a landing at the northern tip of Bear Island. Here the Norwegians are running a radio station to control the shipping and fishing activities in the Barents Sea. Also this outpost is and has been very important for Norway, as everybody knows that under the sea floor huge amounts of oil and gas are hidden.
We made a nice hike into the wilderness and saw some of the typical birds breeding here, long-tailed duck, common eider, purple sandpiper, snow bunting… At the radio station we also had the opportunity to visit the small gift shop it runs and of course to talk with the people serving at the station.
Even with 24 hours of daylight this day felt way too short as we returned to the ship and steamed north. We all joined the Philipino dinner excitedly talking about the ice ahead. We are now in the high Arctic and the ice bear will hopefully confirm this. Arctic is a derivation from the Greek Arctos and simply means "the bear."
We are now steaming NORTH and moving into the HIGH Arctic. What is day and night? In fact this does not really matter at this time of the year! It is for sure 24 hours daylight as we are at latitude north 74° and as we have been blessed with blue sky most of us took advantage of this phenomenon. At about 2 am some humpback whales were sighted around the ship and one even made a large breach.
After spending many hours last morning, day and evening looking for and at whales and dolphins not all of us made it up for these early morning whales. We do need to sleep a few hours in every 24 hours! Especially as our expedition leader had already promised a 6 am wake-up call.
The southern tip of Bjørnøy (Bear Island) stands out as one of the most magnificent Zodiac cruises in the world. Here the warm Gulf Stream meets a cold water current from Siberia and this of course creates a mist and gives the site an almost mystical appearance. Zodiacs were down and soon we were out for a real treat.
The cliffs are about 400 meters high and swarming with tens of thousands of breeding sea birds; kittiwakes, murres (common & thick-billed), fulmars, puffins... On the water below the cliffs, thousands of murres are resting. Glaucous gulls are posted on cliffs, like guards but unreliable ones. They are flying predators and very alert for any birds arriving with food and can even kill the adult birds. They are constantly looking for new victims.
In this rich and mystical setup we left the warm National Geographic Endeavour in a Zodiac. It was early morning and some of us had not yet been able to catch our first cup of coffee. Hiding behind one cliff and surrounded by mist we spotted the first surprise. The galley had set up a breakfast Zodiac serving hot coffee, tea and freshly-baked sticky buns. A good start!
We continued to explore the cliffs and found deep caves created by the sea, arches to go through and of course an endless number of sea birds. Barents Sea stands out as one of the richest fishing grounds in the world and the bird numbers confirm this.
At the same time as we were out exploring, some of the crew and galley went out to fish. In about an hour almost 250 kilograms of fresh cod was loaded into the Zodiac. This is fishing when it is fun! At least the galley had some fish to clean!
After brunch we made a landing further up on the south eastern side to hike. This day was one of the few real summer days at Bear Island with sunshine sparkling over us. Hiking groups went in different directions to enjoy the birdlife, the flora and for some of us, just to enjoy the sunshine.
On the landing beach we could see some of the former activities from an earlier hunting period. Here on this beach thousands of walrus were slaughtered after Willem Barents had found the island in 1596. Walrus bones are scattered all around. The steam winch from around the turn of 18th century, which was used to pull up whales on the beach, is the very last remnant of the Norwegian hunting epoch at this island.
After a short reposition of the ship we were able to make a landing at the northern tip of Bear Island. Here the Norwegians are running a radio station to control the shipping and fishing activities in the Barents Sea. Also this outpost is and has been very important for Norway, as everybody knows that under the sea floor huge amounts of oil and gas are hidden.
We made a nice hike into the wilderness and saw some of the typical birds breeding here, long-tailed duck, common eider, purple sandpiper, snow bunting… At the radio station we also had the opportunity to visit the small gift shop it runs and of course to talk with the people serving at the station.
Even with 24 hours of daylight this day felt way too short as we returned to the ship and steamed north. We all joined the Philipino dinner excitedly talking about the ice ahead. We are now in the high Arctic and the ice bear will hopefully confirm this. Arctic is a derivation from the Greek Arctos and simply means "the bear."
