Polar bears & Arctic midnight sun
Welcome to the land of Polar bears & Arctic midnight sun
Day 1
Welcome to Oslo and welcome to the queue at Norwegian passport control. Negotiating that was a bit of an epic adventure in itself.
We landed at 4.15 pm local time but didn’t arrive at The Grand Hotel until some two hours later. Now the name Grand is probably stretching the truth. Perhaps “not too bad” would be a better description. But on the plus side it is clean and tidy. Shame the air conditioning wasn’t working.
Tonight Ali and I headed down to the Oslo’s waterfront where we had a choice of about 15 restaurants and five ice cream options. There were a few seafood options, two TGIFs (side by side) and a place selling northern Norwegian cuisine _ whatever that is.
We settled on a place called Alberts. Before I arrived people told me Norway was expensive. They didn’t lie. We each had a hamburger. Ali had a cider and I had a glass of Rose. The bill came to $112. One-hundred-and-twelve Australian dollars.
Hand on heart I can’t say it was worth that much, but it was nice and sitting on the promenade watching Oslo pass by was pretty sweet. Especially with a view like the one above. Thankfully we get on a ship tomorrow and head north away from civilisation.
The clock has just clicked past 10pm and it is still daylight outside. This is my first time to Norway and the furthest north I’ve ever been.
Day 2
Oslo – Tromso _ Gateway to the Arctic
The wake up call came at 5.45am. It was breakfast and then back to the airport for the 90-minute flight to Tromso on Norway’s northern Coast. The temperature drop was considerable. It was 27 degrees yesterday. Down to 18 today.
Tromso’s harbour is ice free and it is located 217 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The population is about 70,000 and according to our guide it is the fattest growing city in Norway. We did all the tourist stops _ Polaria (polar research centre), the Polarmuseet and Norway’s version of the Sydney Opera House _ the Cathedral of the Arctic. It’s not really a cathedral, but it did look like a mini opera house.
Our guide gave us an interesting tidbit about the Spitsbergen National Park where we are headed. Apparently when Norway still executed its criminals they were given the choice of either being sent to Spitsbergen to try their luck to survive or be executed. Most chose execution because it was a much better fate than the island. Now that’s not selling the destination too well.
Sunset tonight is 11.29pm. Sunrise tomorrow is 2.03am.
Day 3
Sea day on board Le Boreal.
Le Boreal is a sleek, well equipped and comfortable ship. But on days like this even she doesn’t provide protection against sea sickness. We were scheduled to have our first stop today at Bear Island _ but that had to be cancelled because the sea was too big which made boarding the zodiacs potentially dangerous.
Our cabin is akin to a five-star hotel. You couldn’t ask for anything more. The minibar is full, the TV has a wide selection of current movies and there’s plenty of hanging space.
Thankfully we hit calmer waters by late afternoon and I recovered enough to enjoy the six-course Captain’s welcome dinner. Our table finished the meal around midnight. The sun was still shining. The midnight sun is hard to explain. I can guarantee though if you do not wear a watch you will have no idea what time of day it is.
The Le Boreal has an amazing staff to guest ratio with 140 staff and 190 guests. I keep seeing new faces each day.
Day 4
Isfjorden
A ripple of excitement passed through the ship. We had reached our first destination, the remote Arctic Archipelago of Svalbar, and we were about to set foot in the Arctic. The red group was to go first – that was us. We slipped on our water-proof pants, bright red arctic jackets and rubber boots and headed to the back of the ship where the zodiacs were waiting.
It was a quick slush through soapy water to clean our boots before boarding the zodiacs. As I swung my legs over the side and step into the clear shallow water of the Arctic I was hit by the enormity of the craggy cliffs frosted with snow and ice. I could hear what sounded like a distant roar of a football crowd. It actually was a bird colony perched high up on the cliffs. I couldn’t see them, but there must have been thousands of them to make that noise.
We climbed a few metres from the shingle beach to a grass plain. A few sinking steps made me realise it was more of a marsh covered in moss. Just a couple of months ago the whole area would have been covered in thick snow and ice. A blurred movement to my left caught my eye and I turned to see three fur-covered reindeer happily grazing. I could have only been three metres away but they seemed unperturbed.
A shout went up! Beluga, Beluga, the French Sailor yelled. There in the clear ice-cold waters was a pod of about 25 snow-white Beluga whales. Majestic was the word that popped into my mind as I stopped to watch them glide past. Their deep haunting grunts came and went on the wind. There standing on a small cliff over looking the bay I had never felt such peace, the quietness of the place seemed to shroud us.
“A great day,” said the Argentinian guide next to me. “We don’t always see the Beluga and certainly in not in these numbers.”
It’s 24-hour daylight at the moment.
Day 5
Ny Allemande
The morning was spent in the tiny research town of Ny Alesund. One shop, one pub and scientists from 10 countries. The shop _ Kongsfjordbutikken _ was doing a roaring trade as people lined up to send postcards, and buy toy polar bears and t-shirts. The town itself is a mixture of colourful buildings proudly flying the flags of the nations they represent. I’m dressed in Icebreaker undergarments, a jacket, ski pants, a beanie, gloves and big rubber shoes. The locals are wearing shorts and t-shirts. After all it’s Summer.
The highlight of the day came in the afternoon when we visited Fjortende Julibreen or 14th of July Bay to walk to the Glacier. To do pretty much everything on this trip you have to board a zodiac and today wasn’t any different. Except it was the first time we had to navigate through floating ice.
This is the Arctic I had expected. It was a warm 4 degrees outside. The sun was shining and the glacier, a bit like the wall in Game of Thrones, was putting on a show. Bits of it were breaking off crashing into the water. The noise when this happens is amazing. First there is a crack. Then a groan. Followed by a splash. The power of it means that waves form in the tiny bay and splash on to the shore causing panic as we scurry up to higher ground.
The formal part of each day ends with expedition leader Aaron Russ briefing us on what’s ahead for the next few days.
Day 6
The Andoyane Islands. We’re going on a bear hunt.
The simple bear necessities. Today is bear day. After all this trip is named after the polar bear _ but there’s never a guarantee that you will actually see one, or two, as the case may be. All excursions off Le Boreal go out in two groups, usually about two hours apart. The first group today, the Amundsen (my group) headed out in the zodiacs and found a polar bear no more than 500 metres from the ship.
It was a healthy female enjoying a breakfast of seal. Good for the bear, but bad for the seal. The polar bear didn’t seem to mind the audience watching from less than 50 metres away, cameras snapping and jaws dropping under a grey skirted sky. The late morning group, the Nansen group, got a double delight when the first bear was joined by a younger male.
He was smaller, perhaps not as well fed or as healthy, and he arrived at the party by swimming up to the shore line. Interestingly, and according to our onboard naturalist, the older female bear had no issue sharing the spoils. It seems she had had her fill and was in a generous mood.
I’ve got to say the afternoon zodiac trip was a little less exciting _ it’s very hard for birds to compete for attention with bears.
It’s still 24-hour sunlight.
Day 7
Ice, Ice Baby.
Today we reached our furthest point north. I’m not sure what it means but we hit 80 degrees north and twenty minutes. The new stamp in my passports says so. To stand on the balcony or deck and watch Le Boreal push through broken brash ice and reach the edge of the Arctic Sea was amazing. Without knowing it everyone remained as quiet as possible as we drifted through the sheet ice.
Even my breath was shallow so as not to disrupt the peace You could hear, and feel, the thud of the ice on the hull of the ship. My mind flashed to Kate and Leo as the fog rolled in creating an eerie feeling making it hard to distinguish where the ice margins ended and the sky began. It was three degrees, or thereabouts, on the deck but guests stood three deep around the ship’s rails snapping photos.
What we didn’t realise until the next day though was that some of the Arctic ice and been collected and would be served to us in drinks later in the trip once it had been tested to make sure it was safe. Our French captain Etienne Garcia, a veteran in these waters, took us as close to the ice action as possible manoeuvring Le Boreal in and out of pockets of frozen history.
In the afternoon we stopped in at an abandoned Swedish research station. Apparently its for sale. The plus is there was still toilet paper. The downside is the toilet was outside. I can imagine it might be a tad chilly at night in winter. I won’t be making a bid.
Day 8
Wahlbergoya
It is amazing how a few days can change perceptions so much. On Day 4 we saw walrus for the first time on this trip and everyone was buzzing. We encountered them again this morning at Wahlbergoya, named after the Swedish botanist Peter Fredrik Wahlberg. Suddenly though it was no longer a big deal.
“Oh there’s a bunch of walrus out there,’’ someone said offhandedly as we asked what we could expect to see. There was no enthusiasm. No excitement. C’mon. It’s walrus. Get up for it! The weather has been kind to us from day one. Granted every day is cold and you need to dress like you are on the ski fields, but we have had a few blue sky days, a few cloudy days but no rain. I can handle the cold, but I don’t want to be cold and wet.
When we are not out on the water, or land, the expedition team is running lectures. Today geologist Jason Hicks is talking about “Forming an Ocean: The birth of the Atlantic”. I know I’m bad but Ali and I watched Brave, the animated movie with Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson and Craig Ferguson from the comfort of our bed. All cabins have access to free on-demand videos.
Day 9
The heat is on. Seven degrees today and it is almost t-shirt weather as we visit the Soraust Nature Reserve and Barentsoya and Edgeoya. These eastern Spitsbergen islands are a little different in vegetation to the other places we have been so far. The bay is much wider. One onshore we take a walk to a lake, see a family of reindeer, and try to walk off some of the food we have been eating. The ground here is so much fun to walk on. Covered in moss it is spongey and you either bounce on top, or sink in up to your ankles.
The captain hosted dinner tonight in La Licorne Restaurant on deck 2. I was lucky enough to be at Captain Garcia’s table. He was great company and kept us entertained with stories of life on the sea.
Day 10
The Arctic bite back. After yesterday’s warmth today was the first really cold day. The temperature didn’t get above 0 degrees and the wind was making it much, much colder. It was time to bring out the ski gloves and add an extra layer of clothing One of the guides made a fire in an old German expedition hut when we arrived at Gnalodden (77 degrees north, 15 degrees and 40 minutes East).
There’s a booming bird colony here and we spend about 30 minutes just sitting and watch a mum looking after her three babies. In the afternoon we rugged up and ventured out for a zodiac tour, our final time in the boats, of the Burgerbukta glacier. After that it was time to return the boots, life jackets and starting packing for the journey home tomorrow.
Day 11
Off the boat at 8.45 and onto a bus for a tour of the tiny remote town on Longyearbyen. The flight back to Oslo _ and 24 degree temperatures _ leaves at 2.20pm. Homeward bound. The Arctic was a bucket list destination for me that didn’t disappoint.