My oh my. You haven´t gotten the second half of my last cruise yet. By now you even have to go into Past hurricanes to see the former half, so I better post this one NOW:

Tuesday 20th of August 2002

We woke up to breakfast while rounding the Negripynten at the SW-tip of Edgeøya. Fog was close by (again!!) and for a while it didn’t look too good with our planned landing at Halvmåneøya, or Half Moon Island. Fortunately the fog lifted a bit just after we had dropped anchor off the N-coast of the island, and a zodiac with two guides was sent ashore to scout for polar bears. None were observed in the area so we decided to make a landing after all, in quiet drizzling rain. Halvmåneøya is one of the most famous hunting areas on Svalbard and famous hunters like Henry Rudi, the “Polar Bear King” from Tromsø, spent many winters here hunting bears. We saw the huts used by the overwintering trappers and around the huts a lot of stuff left behind from the hunting years, f.ex. remains of a self-shot for polar bears, hundreds of bones, oil barrels, empty bullets etc. Inside the cabin we found a guest book and a very inventive game of chess. The fast-going group took a walk along the beach and saw a pair of red-throated divers on one of the many small lakes. All of us also walked to a high pole standing on a small hill behind the huts and our guides explained to us how these poles were erected by the trappers by the polar bear self-shots, to make the bear curious so that it would come to the trap.

Our afternoon landing was scheduled to be at Andreétangen, on the SW-tip of Edgeøya. By this time the wind had picked up causing rough sea and with the fog and rain we decided that conditions were not good at all for landing with zodiacs. The landing was called off and Ian Gjertz instead gave us a lecture with a slides show about the cultural heritage of Svalbard.

We set course for Hornsund, on the west coast of Spitsbergen Island, and plan to be there tomorrow morning. In the evening Stefano Poli showed some of his slides from the Svalbard winter and told us about traveling in that season. The waves were getting bigger as we steamed in open waters, let’s hope the night will nevertheless be a good one!

Wednesday 21st of August 2002

Today we spent in the southernmost of the big fjords on West-Spitsbergen, Hornsund. Early in the morning we rounded Sørkapp, or South Cape, and during breakfast sailed north towards Hornsund. As we turned into the fjord a very thick fog closed in on us and probably we were all feeling a bit pessimistic for a while... until the fog evaporated just like that so we could admire the beautiful scenery in sunshine.

Hornsund is full of glaciers calving into the fjord and Herdís gave us a short introduction to them in the observation lounge, so we would be better equipped to admire them from deck.We spent the whole morning in the innermost part of Hornsund, where five different glaciers calve into the sea, and were lucky enough to see also the famous mountains of Hornsund, Hornsundtind (1431 m a.s.l.) and Bautaen (the Obelisk). These mountains were formed by glacier erosion and it is strange to imagine that the glaciers we saw this morning have been so industrious at eroding the land underneath that when they finally melt and disappear sea will flow over land and make the southernmost part of Spitsbergen an island of its own!

After lunch we made a zodiac landing on Treskelodden (Threshold Point). We divided into groups making short and long walks. It was quite windy but after lazy days on the ship many of us enjoyed stretching our legs walking along the beach and on the moraine ridge. We saw some fossils of sea animals (sponges and bryozoans) who lived in warm, clear oceans some 250 million years ago, shells from our own times and also two reindeer grazing. They weren’t much disturbed by us so we got a very good opportunity to watch them and take pictures. Up on the moraines we also found some sticks and a peculiar wooden box, which could have been anything from a bird trap (maybe we’ve heard too much about trappers!!) to some scientific instrument from the Poles who have a research station at the mouth of the fjord. The long walks ended by a small hut owned by the Poles, looking into it we found out that they must be very small people indeed and like Grant’s whisky a lot!

In the evening we went for a zodiac cruise in a small bay called Burgerbukta, still in Hornsund. The glaciers in the bay have been calving a lot in the “warm” summer weather and the water was full of icebergs and smaller bits of ice. We cruised around for about an hour, seeing a lot of nice ice in different colors, sizes and shapes. Some of the bigger bergs were a beautiful blue color, made more intense by the cloudy weather. In spite of the floating ice we could make our way to the glacier front; it was very impressive to see these tall walls of blue ice towering above us. A few seals were also swimming in the water and when we turned off the engine one of them got a bit interested and swam quite close to the boat. By that time we had to turn back to the ship, so the seal will have to wait for the next zodiac cruise to take a better look at us!

The zodiac crews of Tore’s and Herdís’s boats took some of this old glacier ice with them to the Polar Star and Eddy in the bar offered everyone whisky on the glacier-ice rocks, to celebrate a wonderful day in the Arctic!

Thursday 22nd of August 2002

Having anchored up in Grønfjorden (Green Fjord) at 6 AM we woke up to a rainy day with low cloud cover. At 9 o’clock we had a guided tour in Barentsburg, the only Russian settlement on Svalbard. Two Russian English-speaking guides met us on the pier, Tamara guided those who opted for a bus tour while Anna took the other ones for a walk through town, which began with a climb up the seemingly endless stairs leading from the pier into town.

The two guides told us about life in Barentsburg and took us to see f.ex. the small “farm” on the outskirts of town, the chapel, the “Pomor” museum and the hotel, where there is a post office and also a bar (of course!!) where one can enjoy Russian champagne and vodka. Being in Barentsburg is almost like being in Russia itself and maybe some of us got a small culture shock during the visit. However, it is quite fascinating that Russia and Norway are able to co-exist so close together on the same island!

After our visit in Barentsburg we steamed towards Longyearbyen, for a quick stop because of a passenger who needed medical attention. From there we sailed towards Skansebukta, a beautiful small bay on the north side of Isfjorden. During the early afternoon we had a lecture by Ian Gjertz on walrus in the observation lounge and we also had to do “last-day activities” like settling accounts and packing. How nice then, to have a landing after all the ‘office work’. This was the last zodiac landing on this cruise, and we very much enjoyed the freedom of walking around on the beach of Skansebukta; this was the first and only time on the cruise that our “bossy” guides allowed us to go further away from them than 15m!. The area is beautiful; green with moss and lichen and now, at the end of season, many flowers in autumn colours. A perfect place for a last landing!

Coming back on board the Polar Star we prepared for the Captain’s cocktail in the Lounge. Our Captain gave a farewell speech and Trine, our Expedition Leader, gave us a short summary of the trip and distributed certificates for having crossed 80°N. The chef had the BBQ dinner ready by the time all the talking was finished and all the toasts had been drunk, and for the rest of the evening we enjoyed eating the last meal on board. In the late evening we lifted anchor and steamed towards Longyearbyen so the passengers would reach the early morning flight. The last cruise of this summer was over.

We want to thank you all for your company this week and wish you a safe journey home!

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There you go!