Category Archives: 2024:Svalbard & East Greenland

Polar Bear Alert at Gråhuken

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During lunch we had made it back into the Woodfjord, now heading for Gråhuken – place of the hut, where Hermann and Christiane Ritter had spent the winter 1934/35 along with their hunting aid Karl Johan Nikolaisen). The site will be off limits for tourists from the coming (2025) season, hence a last chance to visit and get a glimpse of the hut and an idea of the living conditions during that winter.

My zodiac group eventually got called and we made it into the rubber boots and then on into a waiting zodiac, heading for the beach – when out of a sudden the instruction to abort blared through the radio. A polar bear had been sighted in some distance – and we were directly brought back to the ship … those already ashore were immediately evacuated – with no humans left ashore in less than 15 minutes.

While it was a bit disappointing to not get to see the hut – the show the polar bear put up was fully compensating for that. The bear was taking a pass slowly along the shore line, easily watchable from the ship using binoculars, photos also kind of worked out – even with simpler cameras (as mine) – check the zoomed-in picture below and look for the white bits along the shore.

Of a Polar Bear and loads of Plastic

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We now left Nordaustlandet, over lunch the ship made the ~70km over to Svalbard’s main island – Spitsbergen. First crossing the Hinlopen Strait and then into the Lomfjorden; destination for the afternoon was the Faksevågen site.

And once again the plan was thwarted – as one of the white stones close to the original landing site turned out to be (likely) another polar bear. Now was the time of binoculars and the cameras with the big lenses – most folks were out and about, watching the bear from a distance.

The expedition team was meanwhile working on a plan B – and were eventually ready to offer an alternate landing on the other side of they bay – far away from the polar bear and the potential danger.

As such we made it ashore for another short hike, this time up a hill for great views of the area. The real shocking piece here was all the plastic littering the beach – from fishing equipment to all sorts of more domestic plastic garbage … all brought in by the currents and washed ashore. The expedition team had prepared a garbage collection point at the zodiac site – and we were encouraged to collect plastic garbage during the hike and bring it back for proper disposal via the Clean-Up Svalbard program. The result was (shockingly) massive … five big bags and two barrels filled with plastic – plus several pieces too big to even fit in there.

Polar Bear Encounter

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Fog had been our companion all day after the aborted shore landing in the morning. The expedition and bridge teams eventually decided to continue North – to make it up to Nordaustlandet … a trip of ~130km that took us all afternoon.

Our destination here was Torellneset – a bay where walruses were to be expected. The plan now was to make use of the midnight sun and have a zodiac cruise in the late evening – after dinner – to (ideally) get a glimpse of the animals. Zodiac groups were swapped this time, so the ones who did not get ashore in the morning were now allowed out first.

While dinner was pulled in by an hour (now starting at 18:00), it still turned out a bit hectic for folks to be ready in time for the cruise. I ended up in the ship’s smaller specialty restaurant tonight, indulging on Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine – and as I now was in the second group to go, there was plenty of time to enjoy the food and drink.

The time came – and it was out and onto a zodiac. As we made our way through the fog we eventually could see the outlines of the small walrus colony – and a white dot a few hundred meters from it … that white dot was polar bear – indulging on his (or her?) dinner … possibly a serving of walrus (no cilantro here). We could not believe our luck – what a great day!

Named after me … Bjørnøya (Bear Island)

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After another insomniac night we had reached a foggy Bear Island (or Bjørnøya). The ship had stopped near a natural harbor just South-East of the island (74°21.4’ N
19°11.7’ E) – and the zodiacs were let to water the first time for this trip for a zodiac cruise around the harbor – to get a close-up view of the high cliffs, old red rock face – and its avian inhabitants (various kinds of both guillemots and gulls, as well as puffins).

Several lectures were offered in the afternoon, as we continued our journey North.

North Cape Cruising

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We had left the fjords and made it into the Norwegian Sea during the night (assuming one wants to call it night – as the sun had been up all the way through). We were now heading towards the North Cape – the northernmost point of the European mainland – or better: what is marketed as such, complete with monuments (the globe visible with binoculars even from the ship). After a pass-by we started our journey North and on to Svalbard – ironically making Norway’s North Cape one of the southernmost points on this trip.

Otherwise this was a busy day at sea, getting us ready for the adventures to come: hand-out of expedition equipment (rubber boots and expedition parka), an introduction to the expedition team, the mandatory briefing about the region and the relevant regulations, a biosecurity check (to ensure we don’t introduce seeds or other organic matter from other parts of the world into the Arctic environment), a solo-traveler meet-up and a first pre cap – giving us preview of the activities for the next days. Before dinner there was a welcome cocktail introducing the captain and the department heads. So – all in all a fairly busy day (despite this being marketed as relaxation at sea).

Heading North – to Tromsø

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My previous Arctic trips had covered Northern Canada, as well as most of Western Greenland (incl. a trip through Prince Christian Sound and on to Iceland); the Eastern side of Greenland with the big national park and its massive fjord system had still been open item on my bucket list. Another open item was a visit to the Svalbard archipelago – I had tried this one as a land-based winter trip some years back, but the tour got cancelled (as I was the only one interested).

Well – while Svalbard is a relatively easy to get to and an easy-to-book destination, trips to Eastern Greenland are more seldom – with many operators only going there once a season or every other season. Imagine my luck, when I – while crossing the equator on my Papua trip – realized there was a trip to actually combine the two … Svalbard and East Greenland – plus a glimpse into the Norwegian fjord experience. I was game immediately, got booked … well and now things got started.

A early-morning charter flight got us from Hannover to Tromsø (which was a lucky choice, as many other airports were under blocked by the last generation with whole airports closed temporarily, resulting in many flight cancellations and delays) as reliably and on time as a Switch watch – heading North, crossing over Denmark and Norway (incl. great views of mountain ranges, glaciers and fjords) – for an on-time mid-morning arrival in Tromsø … and the fun was now to start.