Northwestern Spitsbergen
We spent our last day on the National Geographic Endeavour soaking in as much of the beauty and wildlife as we could. It was a cloudy day but the stark monochromatic landscape was still impressive. In the morning we had a Zodiac cruise in Magadalenefjorden. We weaved our way through some brash ice and discovered three walrus resting on the fast ice. It was a great chance to take wonderful close photos of these massive beasts. You could clearly see their whiskered face and long tusks. Occasionally we would see a young walrus popping its head up in the brash ice. During the ride back to the ship we saw a lone bearded seal sleeping on the ice. It was a fantastic way to start our day.
Just before lunch we sailed to our farthest north position of 70º40’N. The sea was covered with pack ice and after checking to see if there was one last polar bear out there we turned south. We slowly sailed away from the fjords and out to the open sea. We headed out to an area with a deep shelf break and searched for whales. There was still a fair amount of pack ice and we saw the occasional bearded seal plus small groups of harp seals swimming along the ice edge.
In the mid-afternoon our fearless expedition leader Matt made an announcement to say that a fin whale was spotted. We rushed out on deck and saw the whale fairly close to the ship. Fin whales are the second largest whale and can reach lengths up to 90 feet. It was slowly cruising along and Captain Kruess expertly maneuvered the ship for everyone to have a nice view of these greyhounds of the sea.
We left the first whale and kept seeing whale blows in the distance. We spent a couple of hours spotting and watching several fin whales before hearing a presentation by National Geographic photographer Michael Melford. The sun shined brightly as we ended the day with farewell cocktail party hosted by Captain Oliver Kruess.
We spent our last day on the National Geographic Endeavour soaking in as much of the beauty and wildlife as we could. It was a cloudy day but the stark monochromatic landscape was still impressive. In the morning we had a Zodiac cruise in Magadalenefjorden. We weaved our way through some brash ice and discovered three walrus resting on the fast ice. It was a great chance to take wonderful close photos of these massive beasts. You could clearly see their whiskered face and long tusks. Occasionally we would see a young walrus popping its head up in the brash ice. During the ride back to the ship we saw a lone bearded seal sleeping on the ice. It was a fantastic way to start our day.
Just before lunch we sailed to our farthest north position of 70º40’N. The sea was covered with pack ice and after checking to see if there was one last polar bear out there we turned south. We slowly sailed away from the fjords and out to the open sea. We headed out to an area with a deep shelf break and searched for whales. There was still a fair amount of pack ice and we saw the occasional bearded seal plus small groups of harp seals swimming along the ice edge.
In the mid-afternoon our fearless expedition leader Matt made an announcement to say that a fin whale was spotted. We rushed out on deck and saw the whale fairly close to the ship. Fin whales are the second largest whale and can reach lengths up to 90 feet. It was slowly cruising along and Captain Kruess expertly maneuvered the ship for everyone to have a nice view of these greyhounds of the sea.
We left the first whale and kept seeing whale blows in the distance. We spent a couple of hours spotting and watching several fin whales before hearing a presentation by National Geographic photographer Michael Melford. The sun shined brightly as we ended the day with farewell cocktail party hosted by Captain Oliver Kruess.
