This morning was greeting us with thick fog once more. Over night we had made the 440km from Bjørnøya and were now in Svalbard proper, sitting in front of a barely visible Barentsøya (or Barents Islands).

Fog directly translates to bad visibility – a bad visibility is the enemy of any shore landing in the Arctic. The concern here is purely around safety – and avoidance of a potential polar bear attack. As such prior to any shore landing there was a proper survey of the area from the bridge – and in a good situation our polar bear guards would be among the first to actually get ashore, securing the area and taking watch at the outer perimeter of the landing site.

The plan for the morning had been to get ashore at the Spjutnes landing site. However with visibility poor there was no way, to ensure a polar bear free landing site – so the landing was cancelled and we continued towards and into the Freeman Sound – and got lucky. The fog lifted as we headed East – and at the Skarpryttaren site the conditions were deemed good enough that the expedition team set out to explore the area, and then secure and set up the landing site.

I was among the lucky ones in the first group this morning – and my group got called quickly. After a short ride on the zodiac, we were finally to put our feet on Svalbard soil the first time for this trip (and ever – at least for me). We were greeted by the usual Arctic tundra landscape. A walk was on offer, providing great views of a glacier river, permafrost soil and a group of reindeer.

Unfortunately the fog had come in again – as we were heading back, we already heard that they were in progress of aborting the landing, as safety was about to become a concern. So, those ashore were now making it back to the zodiacs (and on to the ship) – and the landing for the second group got cancelled.

We continued our journey through the Freeman Sound, eventually turning North towards Nordaustlandet (North East Land). The fog situation did not improve during the day, so we were kept busy with further lectures.