The dulcet tones from Lucho, our expedition leader, awakened us from our slumbers and the announcement came way too early. Many of us had not yet had enough sleep to recover from the intenseness from the previous day. But arise we did, and after blowing away the cobwebs we headed for the dining room to enjoy a hearty breakfast.
During the night the ship had sailed south through Storfjorden the wide expanse of water separating the Island of Spitsbergen to the west and the Islands of Barentsøya and Edgeøya to the east. The skies looked dark and ominous.
Once ashore we need a few moments to stop, consider, and prepare ourselves for the strong winds and the occasional driving rain showers which greet us. This might be a little more challenging for us all.
The options for the morning were a series of walks. The most interesting variation on offer is a long walk billed as one to include “more walking and less talking.” A large number of people chose this option and were soon disappearing into the distance at a good pace.
Another sizeable group chose a medium walk and soon enough they also set off in the general direction of the long walkers. The walk headed up a gentle slope and over very lush and wet vegetation; mostly made up of mosses and lichens as well as some flowering plants.
The last group went on a photo opportunity walk and our photo instructors accompanied those who wanted to take time to try and capture the images that their eyes were seeing.
All the groups saw a number of birds including: barnacle geese, purple sandpipers, snow buntings and kittiwakes, and terns along the shoreline. There were also many reindeer in the area and a good number has small calves with them and at regular intervals they would nuzzle into mum and enjoy some warm nourishing milk.
This island has been subjected to isostatic rebound and as a result of this whales bones can be found dotted about in the valley we walk up, often at fair distances from the current coastline. Some of these whale bones impress us in their silence and sheer size.
During lunch the ship heads along the Freemansundet, separating the island of Barentsøya to the north and the island of Edgeøya to the south. By early afternoon a large band of fast ice could be seen, it stretched right across from one island to the next. It was a lovely afternoon and seabirds were flying about this wondrous white scape. Most of the sea ice was first year ice but there were also many sizeable pieces of multiyear ice that was firmly trapped in its grip. This older ice jutted out and gave the impression of a huge crumpled sheet stretching out as far as the eye could see.
It did not take long before a polar bear was sighted on the edge of the ice. At first she, for it was later confirmed as a female, was deeply concentrated on a patch of snow and ice and at one point she pounded the ice with her paws as she tried to break the roof of a possible seal hideout. This bear was actively hunting. After a while she moved off and proceeded along her way. By this stage the ship’s bow had gently nudged the edge of the fast ice, everybody on deck was keeping silence and we had to keep to ourselves the utter amazement as she deliberately approached the ship, at one point halting, smelling, turning around and then turning again and heading even closer to the ship. After pausing a little while she turned around and headed off into the distance. It was an incredible moment!
But the day had not yet ended.
After dinner the ship had approached the vast Negribreen Glacier on the east coast of Spitsbergen. We were in awe of the large ice field which came down the slopes and headed over the water like a gigantic tongue. This is one of the few places in Svalbard where tabular icebergs are spawned. As we were trying to take in this marvel a sharp-eyed crewmember called out “polar bear!” Sure enough off in the distance another ice bear was going about the business of trying to surprise and capture a seal. For a long time it sat down by a small bit of open water and patiently waited and waited for an unwary seal to appear. Alas this time it was not to be and when it got up and wandered off to a hopefully happier hunting hole we decided it was time to move away slowly and head south again to new adventures.
And so this day ends.
No doubt as we happily laid our weary heads on our pillows we may have thought that getting up the next day would be no easier no matter how dulcet the tones would be.
