In search of an arctic adventure

In the distance, there was a frantic voice growing louder and louder. “Get higher. Get higher. Get higher.”

We scurried up the embankment as waves, formed by the 14th July Glacier shearing apart, smashed on to the rocky beach covering the spot where we were just standing.

We watched as wave after wave formed perfect barrels. It was a surfer’s delight. The icy cold water rose towards us with every set of new waves. And then, it all went quiet. It was over as quickly as it had started.

The Arctic is one of the few places on Earth that man has not learnt how to control. Nature is the dominant force here and we are just voyeurs paying passage on an arctic adventure.

The glacier in 14th July Bay, or to give it its proper name Fjortende Julibreen, is 16km long. From the shoreline it is reminiscent of the wall from the Game of Thrones television series. Parts of it shine blue. In other areas. it is a dirty grey.

Glacier looks like a mouthful of perfect white teeth

But it is mostly as perfectly white as the teeth of the American tourists I’m holidaying with.

It is the middle of an Arctic summer so the bay is littered with ice that has been cast off by the glacier. Some of it is not much bigger than my hand and I pick it up out of the freezing water. Other pieces the size of a school bus float gently but ominously by in the water.

The Zodiac driver weaves his way through the ice maze as he takes us back to Le Boreal – our home for 10 days as we journey north from Tromso in Norway to Svalbard in search of polar bears and the midnight sun on a luxury Abercrombie & Kent expedition cruise.

The ship, with 190 guests, 140 staff, all balcony staterooms and suites, is the ultimate way to travel. True, it is expensive, but you will not be disappointed.

Our cabin is as good as any big-city five-star hotel room. The level of service is better. The ship has three lounge areas, two dining rooms, a pool (though not many people were game enough to jump in near-zero temperatures), spa with steam room, gym and a theatre where each afternoon expedition leader Aaron Russ explains details about we saw today and what we are likely to see tomorrow. His motto is to under-promise but over-deliver.

Ship has a distinct French influence

Le Boreal sails under the French flag, with French Captain Etienne Garcia, and the onboard cuisine would not be out a place in an upmarket French restaurant.

Garcia himself is one of A&K’s star attractions. His passion for wildlife is obvious. You can hear it in his voice at 6am on the in-room intercom when he is waking everyone and urging them to look starboard to see the polar bears.

He insists his staff venture on shore so they can understand what it is the passengers are looking for and so they, too, feel a real part of the journey.

A few passengers, who had sailed with Garcia in the past, booked this cruise specifically because he was at the helm and they knew he would do his best to deliver the wow factor they so desperately desired.

There is not much of a routine on board during this arctic adventure. Perhaps that’s because the sun never goes down, so nothing has to conform with the ticking of a clock.

Animals are the main attraction

Meal times vary according to onshore or sea excursions. It is more important to see the animals than to eat.

There are 15 Australians on board with me. There’s a group of 22 friends from Hong Kong but the vast majority of guests come from the US.

There’s no age demographic better represented than any other. At a guess, the youngest person would be 10 and the oldest perhaps early-80s.

Svalbard, where we are sailing, is harsh, cold, remote, and at times frightening. It lies between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole.

In fact, many, many years ago, people would choose death over the prospect of being sent to the area that is also known as the Spitsbergen National Park.

Convicts were given the choice between execution or being sent here for the winter to guard hunting grounds.

Our onboard historian says they almost always, without hesitation, chose death.

Things to do before you die!

Today, like the Antarctic, the Arctic is on most lists of “Things to do before you die”. A large proportion of people on this trip had already sailed with Abercrombie & Kent to Antarctica on this ship.

Svalbard is a naked and frozen land in parts. It has a land area of 62,700sq km and it is Europe’s last unspoiled wilderness. The tourism in this area, an industry since 1990, has shown consistent growth.

In 1991, Svalbard boasted 20,000 guest nights. Last year it topped 107,000.

On this 10-day trip, we will get as far north as 80 degrees and 20 minutes – at least that’s what the stamp in my passport says. Despite the name of the trip, there is no guarantee that you will see polar bears – the star attractions in this part of the world.

Every evening Russ, a Kiwi, hinted that tomorrow could be the day. But you could see the relief on his face on day six when we arrived in the Andoyane Islands for a bear hunt.

All excursions off Le Boreal go out in two groups of about 90 people, usually about two hours apart. The first group, the Amundsens (my group) headed out in the Zodiacs and found a polar bear, the king of the north, no more than 500m from the ship. It was a healthy female enjoying a breakfast of seal. Good for the bear, but bad for the seal.

Watching the polar bears dine

The polar bear didn’t seem to mind the audience watching from less than 30m away, cameras snapping and jaws dropping under a grey sky. The late-morning expedition by 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’d had her fill and was in a generous mood.

They were our only up-close bear sightings, apart from some stuffed ones in a museum in Tromso on day one. We did see four others but they were a long way from the ship.

It is essential to pack a good set of binoculars on an arctic adventure just for days like this.

But we did see the famous moustached and long-tusked walrus, blue and beluga whales (a pod of more than a hundred), reindeer, a family of arctic fox, and enough variety of birds to satisfy to twitchiest twitcher in the world.

*The writer was a guest of Abercrombie & Kent.

CRUISING THERE

Global travel company Abercrombie & Kent  offers a 15-day adventure into the High Arctic onboard the sophisticated Le Boreal. The journey visits Oslo, Longyearbyen, Svalbard Islands, Greenland and Iceland’s West Fjords. Highlights include extraordinary wildlife sightings – polar bear, walrus, puffins, musk oxen – plus the spectacular flora, which comes alive under the midnight sun.

NORTH VS SOUTH

ARCTIC / NORTH POLE (Ocean surrounded by continents)

– The bedrock is 427m below sea level

– Limited land ice

– Sea ice mainly multi-year, low in salinity and more than 2m thick

– Mean annual temperature at North Pole: -18C

– Terrestrial mammals (reindeer, wolf, musk ox, hare, lemming, fox); marine mammals (whales, seals)

– More than 100 bird species between latitudes 75 and 80 degrees

– About 90 flowering plants at latitude 82 degrees

– Polar bears

ANTARCTIC / SOUTH POLE (Continent surrounded by the ocean)

– Elevation is 2836m above sea level, although bedrock is 30m above sea level

– South polar ice sheet covering 98 per cent of land

– Sea ice mainly annual, salty, less than 2m thick

– Mean annual temperature at South Pole: -50C

– Marine mammals (whales and seals); no terrestrial mammals

– Fewer than 20 bird species between latitudes 70 and 80 degrees

– Lichens at latitude 82 degrees.

– Penguins