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.
June 29
We were in for a very special day. Today would be the closest we have come to the North Pole in our lives. We will never go further to the north than we did that day.
Near the ice edge.
The moment we crossed the magic line
of 80° North.
80° North
Today was the day we would reach the 80th parallel north.
The 80th parallel is a latitude 80 degrees north of the Earth’s equator in the Arctic. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Asia, the Arctic Ocean and North America.
Everyone who travels in the Arctic wants to reach this magical line. The North Pole officially begins at 90 degrees north. However, it is impossible to get there by ship because of the pack ice. This memorable event deserves a certificate signed by the captain and the expedition leader.
My 80° North certificate signed by the captain and the expedition leader.
On our way to the ice edge
At about 9 a.m. we reached the 80th degree of latitude north, but we had been up for hours before that. I was up as early as 4:30 a.m. and when I looked behind the curtain, I saw large floes of ice bobbing by under our window. Half an hour later, we were out on the deck, enjoying the freezing cold air and the breathtaking view. We were all alone on the deck, all the other passengers were still asleep, and we had the Arctic all to ourselves. This was the landscape we had been dreaming about for so long, the landscape we so much wanted to see. All we could hear was the soft roar of the ship’s engines and the ice breaking against the bow.
The ice edge
As we were used to in this region, the weather cleared up in a short time, the low clouds disappeared and even the blue sky reappeared. We were the first group to board the Zodiac today for a trip among the ice floes and along the ice edge. Our guide was none other than our expedition leader Tomski. He explained that the reason we could not circumnavigate Spitsbergen was right in front of us. This was a stretch of only 16 km, which we could not cross with the MS Fram due to the ice density.
It was indescribably beautiful to cruise slowly in a tender boat so close to the ice floes, to be able to touch them and hear them crackle softly like ice cubes in a drink. The beauty of this icy landscape is simply overwhelming.
At the end of our tour, the hotel manager and several crew members were waiting for us in a Zodiac boat with hot chocolate and Baileys. On the way back to the ship, we stopped for a moment right under the bow, which made for a very nice picture.
The rest of the day
The sky clouded over again just as quickly as it had cleared in the morning, and the other groups had to make do without a blue sky for the duration of their tour. In the meantime, we went for lunch and in the afternoon, we entertained ourselves with the various lectures.
We did not have to sail far to reach our destination for the next day, and as the weather turned foggy, we stayed put for the evening and night. We could see the lonely grave of what was probably a trapper, and a couple of reindeer that had been lying in the snow for hours before slowly disappearing out of view while grazing.
