Eastern Spitsbergen Island
Days blend into nights and nights blend into days. The traditional definition of night and day do not apply in the high arctic where for all practical purposes there is no noticeable difference. But sleep must come for most of us and a few hours were had following a spectacular run along the face of a humungous glacier. Negribreen enters the sea at the very northern end of a large bay called Storfjord. Not what one would think is a fjord, Storfjord is the area between southeastern Spitsbergen and the eastern islands of Edgoya and Barentsoya. Approach from a distance there seems to be just an expanse of white ahead of the ship with a few jagged peaks popped out into the sky. On closer approach we see the face of the glacier, a wall of vertical ice 50 meters high. The Captain positioned the bow only tens of meters away from the wall and then turned to travel parallel for miles. At one point the surface sloped gradually down to a boiling bubbling river outlet coming from underneath the ice. Black-legged kittiwakes, arctic terns, and to our surprise a few Sabine’s gulls concentrated at the boiling water to feed on organisms stunned or brought to the surface with the flow. Slowly we continued along the glacier and the number of people on deck gradually decreased to a few still keeping their eyes open and pushing the shutter buttons of their cameras.
Once weary folks arrived on deck in the breakfast hour the eastern coast of Spitsbergen Island passed in the distance on the starboard side. During lunch we turned into a large bay surrounded by rugged mountains and white crevassed glaciers. As we approached the anchorage some of the staff discovered shore fast ice still remaining at the southern end of the bay and on that ice were long lumps of gray - seals. And then moving yellowish dots. Large amounts of snow still packed along the shores from winter drifts so a landing ashore was abandoned. Instead we all took part in Zodiac cruises around this vast wilderness bay. The sightings of wildlife and scenery were many. Along the shelf of ice some of the Zodiacs were surprised by a group of Belukha whales. A couple of low gravel islands close to the ship were occupied by a mother and two small polar bear cubs. All of this in addition to numerous close encounters with seabirds like black guillemots and eiders. For the rest of this date’s hours we experienced calm conditions for a course around Sorkapp, the very southern tip of Spitsbergen Island and on to our final day of adventure.
Days blend into nights and nights blend into days. The traditional definition of night and day do not apply in the high arctic where for all practical purposes there is no noticeable difference. But sleep must come for most of us and a few hours were had following a spectacular run along the face of a humungous glacier. Negribreen enters the sea at the very northern end of a large bay called Storfjord. Not what one would think is a fjord, Storfjord is the area between southeastern Spitsbergen and the eastern islands of Edgoya and Barentsoya. Approach from a distance there seems to be just an expanse of white ahead of the ship with a few jagged peaks popped out into the sky. On closer approach we see the face of the glacier, a wall of vertical ice 50 meters high. The Captain positioned the bow only tens of meters away from the wall and then turned to travel parallel for miles. At one point the surface sloped gradually down to a boiling bubbling river outlet coming from underneath the ice. Black-legged kittiwakes, arctic terns, and to our surprise a few Sabine’s gulls concentrated at the boiling water to feed on organisms stunned or brought to the surface with the flow. Slowly we continued along the glacier and the number of people on deck gradually decreased to a few still keeping their eyes open and pushing the shutter buttons of their cameras.
Once weary folks arrived on deck in the breakfast hour the eastern coast of Spitsbergen Island passed in the distance on the starboard side. During lunch we turned into a large bay surrounded by rugged mountains and white crevassed glaciers. As we approached the anchorage some of the staff discovered shore fast ice still remaining at the southern end of the bay and on that ice were long lumps of gray - seals. And then moving yellowish dots. Large amounts of snow still packed along the shores from winter drifts so a landing ashore was abandoned. Instead we all took part in Zodiac cruises around this vast wilderness bay. The sightings of wildlife and scenery were many. Along the shelf of ice some of the Zodiacs were surprised by a group of Belukha whales. A couple of low gravel islands close to the ship were occupied by a mother and two small polar bear cubs. All of this in addition to numerous close encounters with seabirds like black guillemots and eiders. For the rest of this date’s hours we experienced calm conditions for a course around Sorkapp, the very southern tip of Spitsbergen Island and on to our final day of adventure.
