Follow the Sun

This summer we were able to cross another item off our bucket-list. We went on an expedition cruise around the island of Spitsbergen. With a suitcase full of winter clothes, we left a scorching hot Italy for an adventure in the Arctic.

Close to Oslo’s Gardermoen airport lies a recreational area with a forest and the lake Nordbytjernet where you can take a lovely walk.

We flew from Oslo to Longyearbyen the capital of Svalbard, where our adventure truly began.

The written history of Svalbard begins at the end of the 16th century when Dutch seafarer Willem Barentsz discovered the islands.

During our first day in Longyearbyen, we went on an excursion to Camp Barentz and visited the Svalbard Museum.

Finally, it was time to board and begin our expedition cruise on the MS Fram.

On our first day on board, we made an excursion to the northernmost settlement in the world, Ny-Ålesund.

The weather cleared up completely and we continued our journey further north, where we saw our first walruses and our first polar bear.

Our first wet landing with the zodiac boats was in a small bay on the west coast of Svalbard.

We had an adventurous day ahead of us, starting with a Zodiac tour in the morning to one of the largest glaciers on Svalbard, Negribreen.

We sailed through the narrow of Heleysundet further along the east coast of Spitsbergen. Het was hier witter en ijziger, precies waar walrussen van houden.

On the Torellneset peninsula, we were introduced to a colony of walruses, an uneasy but very social animal that can be found all year round in Svalbard.

We reached the 80th parallel north and toured among the ice floes at the ice edge, a remarkable day and one of the absolute highlights of our journey.

In the morning we went ashore in the small bay of Faksevågen, where we were going to do the polar plunge in the icy water. After midnight, a glacier emerged from the fog.

We visited two islands in one day. On Barentsøya we had a visit to a colony of kittiwakes and on Edgøya the whole landing had to be cancelled because of a polar bear!

A landing in a beautiful bay with no less than two glaciers to admire in the Hornsund Fjord.

A landing in a beautiful landscape, a towering cliff, a trapper’s hut, and an aerial attack by an aggressive bird.

Back in Longyearbyen we disembarked, but unexpectedly stayed an extra day in Svalbard and had time to explore the town. But then, finally, the time has come to leave Svalbard.