Svalbard 2009
Our first trip to the Arctic made us fall in love with this region. However, it wasn‘t until our trip to Svalbard, with a surprise stop in Greenland, that the „polar virus“ really got us. While the sun never sets for several months, the light is constantly warm and golden, something that is unique to the Arctic.
North Atlantic Ocean
Our trip to Svalbard started in Hamburg (Germany), where we boarded MS Europa, our home at sea for the next three weeks. Our first ports of call were Torshávn on the Faroe Islands and Reykjavik and Akureyri on Iceland. Since we had quite a distance to cover, we spent two entire days at sea in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Our first five days of this trip were spent without a single drop of rain, which is quite unusual for the region. Torshávn, for example, is known for at least 260 rainy days per year. With plenty of precipitation, the volcanic soils turns into a lush, rich green. We enjoyed this beautiful landscape on a tour of the island.
Reykjavik would be worth a trip on its own, but unfortunately, we had only one day to spend there. Therefore, we decided to skip the city and go on a tour of the so called „Golden Circle“. This tour took us to the continental divide in Thingvellir, where you can put one foot on the Eurasian continent and one foot on America. After this lecture in geology, we continued to Gullfoss waterfall and to a fascinating geyser.
Fortunately, we had one more day in Iceland. Akureyri is just slightly south of the Arctic Circle. But due to a warmer microclimate, it is even warmer than Reykjavik. We visited unique volcanic sites, a geothermal field and Lake Myvatn. Myvatn is the Icelandic word for mosquito and we could confirm that the lake was aptly named. Billions of mosquitoes were hovering above the swampy shoreline of the lake. However, they didn‘t seem interested in us. As long as we were not inhaling them (which was quite a challenge), we were fine. Lake Myvatn is a beautiful lake with lush green volcanic hills, dark soil and a very soft, warm Arctic sun. A real photographer‘s dream.
Greenland
Already well north of the Arctic Circle, the next day started early, with an announcement from the bridge, that whales have been spotted next to the ship. What an impressive sight! Soon after, we were approaching the first iceberg of this voyage. This was especially mystical since the iceberg was surrounded by fog on this otherwise sunny day.
We would have been completely happy with all these Arctic encounters. But this day had a lot more in store for us. Around noon, a polar bear swimming in the Arctic waters was spotted. This was our first wild polar bear encounter, ever! Although he was swimming away from us in quite a distance, we felt incredibly humble and privileged.
The weather forecast for our journey to Svalbard was excellent. Therefore, we wouldn‘t need the extra time that had been calculated for our trip. To best use this additional time, our captain decided to make a surprise call in the small Greenland town of Ittoqqortoormiit. This tiny town, whose name is every Scrabble players dream, is located on the shore of the world‘s largest fjord system, Scoresby Sund. MS Europa does not have an ice strengthened hull. Therefore, navigating around the icefloes took quite some time. We were shuttled ashore with the ship’s Zodiac boats and spent a wonderful afternoon in Greenland, an island that we have dreamt of visiting one day for years! On our way out of Scoresby Sund, we passed several gigantic icebergs glowing in what seemed to be an eternal golden hour. If there is anything like a perfect day, this sure was one.
Svalbard
After two days of increasingly overcast skies, we arrived at the port of Longyearbyen, the „capital“ of Svalbard. Svalbard is Norwegian and therefore doesn’t actually have a capital on its own. However, Longyearbyen is home to the entire archipelago‘s administration, some hotels, stores and even a university. We enjoyed our first day in the High Arctic, although with all its infrastructure, Longyearbyen doesn’t really feel that remote.
This was to change dramatically, when we sailed further north. There aren’t any human settlements on the north coast of Svalbard at almost 80°N. We explored several fjords and used our Zodiacs to get even closer to nature. The icebergs had a blueish glow on these rainy and overcast days. When the sun briefly peeked through the clouds, those blue icebergs turned white immediately. That‘s the good thing about traveling in the Arctic: there is no bad weather, since every condition does have its own beauty. We enjoyed every bit of our journey.
After these expedition days in northern Svalbard, we were southbound again. On our way south, we visited the small town of Ny-Ålesund. This town consists of several polar research stations from different nations. And Ny-Ålesund also has the northernmost post office worldwide. Obviously, we had to send postcards not only to our loved ones at home but also to ourselves. Ny-Ålesund is polar bear territory. Therefore, we had to be accompanied by local polar bear guards and were not allowed to venture out into the tundra on our own. While we haven‘t seen any polar bears, we encountered another aggressive species: Arctic terns. These birds are the long distance champions among migrating birds. They are breeding in the Arctic (hence their aggressive behavior) and are then flying south to Antarctica for the southern summer. And just in time for the next northern summer, they will be back in the Arctic. What an impressive little animal.
Our final stop in Svalbard was a barbecue in Møllerhafen. Don‘t be fooled by its name, Møllerhafen is neither a port nor a town, but just a stretch of shoreline in a fjord. However, it does have some kind of infrastructure: the so called Lloyd Hotel is a tiny shelter (probably 2x2 meters) that can be used by anyone who happens to require some protection from the elements. The ships calling here are restocking the emergency supplies during every visit. It was after midnight, when we left Svalbard and headed south towards the coast of Norway.
Norwegian Coast
A year ago, the North Cape marked the northernmost position of our trip. But when approaching the North Cape after two days at sea heading south, it suddenly didn‘t seem that far north anymore. Nevertheless, we spent a wonderful evening at this special location.
Our final stops on our way back home where Tromsø, Geiranger and Bergen. Tromsø was just experiencing a heat wave with temperatures of almost 30°C (86F), which is very unusual this far north. After almost two weeks, we crossed the Arctic Circle again on our way to Geiranger fjord. This time, the weather was picture perfect. Bergen was our last port of call on this wonderful trip. With beautiful memories and thousands of photos, we had to say goodbye to this region. We both agreed, that more trips to the Arctic would follow, soon…
