Woodfjorden
The day started early, with a stop at Moffen, a small round island at 80º north. This island has an approach boundary of 300 meters distance due to the number of walruses hauling out on this flat island. We were lucky to see about 30 walruses on the beach, an interesting sight as this is our first encounter with this large mammal.
We sailed into Woodfjorden, and made a landing at Kileneset. This is at an area called Reinsdyrflya, meaning reindeer-flat. It is a raised seabed that provides nutrients for growth on the tundra which also allows the reindeer population to increase to great numbers.
On our hike we also found the remnants of an old German weather station from WWII. These weather stations were of great importance for predicting the weather, which was vital for the convoys from Europe to Russia.
The birdlife here also proved to be rich, and we could add Red phalarope and Red throated diver to our species list.
The voyage continued on to the impressive front of Monaco glacier. This is an active glacier, as we could see from the amounts of ice falling off the glacier front. We had a great afternoon enjoying Zodiac cruises and testing the kayaks in the arctic water.
At the glacier, we also saw a beluga whale – a small, white and beautiful whale.
Having hot dogs on the aft deck as we came back on the ship completed this day in a good way.
