Svalbard: Walrus, whales and distant white bears (Throwback post)

MS Expedition leaving Longyearbyen

We boarded the MS Expedition and set sail on the Wednesday evening, and having dealt with all of the practical stuff like safety briefings, evacuation drills and getting our waterproof jackets and wellies sorted out, we could get on with the important business of looking for polar bears.

Midnight sun

Of course for the first evening, the only ones that we found were those on the ring-pulls of the Mack Isbjorn (polar bear) pilsner. It is easy to stay up later than you intended to, as it doesn't get dark here in the Land of the Midnight Sun

Magdalenafjord, Svalbard

The next day, we sailed up around the Magdalenefjord to Trygghamna, which is an old whaling station. If you know what you are looking for, you can see the evidence of the station today, with the remains of blubber ovens and the graves of long dead whalers.

While the historical aspect here was interesting, and our on-board historian Paul was very knowledgeable, I have to admit that I was more interested in the scenery, with the black granite mountains and the icy glaciers.

Trygghamna, Svalbard

Svalbard

Walrus, Svalbard

Walrus, Svalbard

Back in the zodiacs, we headed to a nearby beach where a group of Atlantic walrus were hauled out. It was great to watch these huge creatures shuffling around, quite carelessly flopping over on top of each other, with only the occasional spat as a result.

Walrus, Svalbard

Walrus, Svalbard

Nic, Svalbard

First polar bear sighting, mother and cub, Svalbard

On board the ship, we enjoyed a Captain's Welcome cocktail, before rushing to the decks to catch sight of our first polar bears. They were some distance away on the land, but when there is no guarantee that you will see any (it does happen occasionally), even a long distance bear is exciting.

This was a mother and her cub. The mother had a collar on, so was obviously being tracked, but she didn't seem bothered by it. We watched them for a while, before setting off again.

Svalbard

The next morning, we had reached 80 degrees north and were cruising through the ice. Today we spotted harp seals, a fin whale, a couple of blue whales, more walrus, two bearded seals, and a couple of polar bears that were some distance away - we had some difficulty distinguishing them from the boulders - until they moved, which is always a good clue!

Bearded seal, Svalbard

Bearded seal, Svalbard

Fin whale, Svalbard

Blue whale, Svalbard

Blue whale, Svalbard

Harp seal, Svalbard

Walrus, Svalbard

Polar bear, Svalbard (right in the middle of the photo)

But it was the second bearded seal that unwittingly caused the most excitement and trouble today. It was spotted from quite a distance, and that far away, it appeared just possible that, rather than a bearded seal, it was a hooded seal, which are only very seldom seen here.

Whilst we all knew it was unlikely, given that this was potentially rare sighting, passengers and expedition team alike were all keen to take a look, and the captain happily changed course to take us there.

The only person that wasn't happy, was our expedition leader, who was more interested in getting us to go inside for the scheduled briefing. The expedition team delayed as long as they could, but eventually had to do as they were told; we passengers had no such qualms, and ignored him. Of course it turned out just to be the bearded seal, but that really wasn't the point.

Bearded seal, Svalbard

With our detour over, and reports coming in of the Hinlopenstretet becoming potentially impassable, the captain set off to get us there as soon as possible. We needed to pass through the strait if we were to achieve the planned circumnavigation, and get to the uninhabited eastern side of the island where the polar bears are more prevalent. He and his crew did a good job, and we woke in the morning to find that we had made it through.


Our first excursion on the east side was a zodiac trip over to the basalt cliffs of Alkefjellet. The cliffs are quite stunning in themselves, and there are plenty of kittwakes to be seen, but the real attraction of this place is the huge colony of 60,000 Brunnich's guillemots, (also known as thick billed murres,) that are nesting here. In particular, this is the time when thousands of fledglings leave the cliff face and drop to the water. I say drop, because that is exactly what they do; they leave the nesting area before they can actually fly, so they literally have to glide down to the water, where the male is waiting for them.

Brunnich's guillemots, Alkefjellet, Svalbard

During this drop, they are entirely defenceless, and the glaucous gulls are out in force to try to snatch them out of the air as they fall. We saw quite a few being taken like this, as well as some that were scooped out of the water despite the efforts of the father to protect it.

Even for non-birders like us, this was fascinating to watch, although I would recommend wearing a hat, as with all those birds around, it is inevitable that someone is going to get pooped on. Thankfully, it wasn't our turn today.

Brunnich's guillemots, Alkefjellet, Svalbard

Glaucous gull taking fledgling Brunnich's guillemot, Alkefjellet, Svalbard

Glaucous gull taking fledgling Brunnich's guillemot, Alkefjellet, Svalbard

Brunnich's guillemots, Alkefjellet, Svalbard

Brunnich's guillemots, Alkefjellet, Svalbard

Arctic fox, Alkefjellet, Svalbard

Of course the gulls aren't the only danger. With all of these young birds around, the arctic foxes prowl the cliffs in the hope of catching themselves a meal too. We saw a few stalking the birds.

Polar bear, Svalbard

Watching the polar bear, Svalbard

After lunch, we sailed to Torelineset on Nordauslandet, with a plan was to make a landing on the beach where a big group of walrus haul out. However the scouting group spotted a polar bear on the land, which meant going ashore was out of the question.

Not that everyone in the group understood this. We heard a few people complaining that they had come to see polar bears so why not go ashore.


It had to be explained to them that polar bears are dangerous animals, and as such it is best to keep well out of their way.

The expedition team carry rifles when we are on land, as a last resort if a bear did attack a person, but neither they nor us would want to see a bear be shot, especially when the contact could have been avoided.

Walrus , Svalbard

Instead of landing, the zodiacs took us close to the shoreline so that we could see the bear, which was sleeping a little way inland, and then along the beach to where the walrus were. After we were back on ship, the lazy bear finally roused itself from its snowy bed, and wandered along the beach to the walrus. It seemed to consider the possibility of trying to catch a meal, but thought better of it and wandered away again.

Walrus , Svalbard

Walrus , Svalbard

Polar bear, Svalbard

Circumnavigating Spitsbergen - Longyearbyen (Throwback post)

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

With plans to be in the UK for a while, to sort out the new flat, we felt that we would need at least a short break away to keep us going. And as the sale of our old flat had given our budget a boost, we decided to treat ourselves to a trip to the Arctic.

We have loved the opportunities that we have had to see wildlife in its natural habitat, so the aim of this trip was to try to see polar bears. We opted for a visit to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, up in the Arctic Circle, about half way between mainland Norway and the North Pole.

The Dutchman, Willem Barentsz made the official discovery of Spitsbergen - the name that he gave to it - in 1596, but it is likely that Russians and Scandinavians may both have been here much earlier, fishing and hunting here. The name Svalbard, which is Norse for cold shores, originated some centuries earlier, but may actually /have referred to Jan Mayen, or even Greenland, rather than here.

Coal mine, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Many nationalities established settlements, for fishing and hunting, and later for coal mining and Arctic exploration, with a number of North Pole expeditions setting off from here. In 1920, the Svalbard Treaty was signed, giving full sovereignty to Norway, but all forty countries that agreed the treaty retained rights to undertake commercial activities. When the treaty came into force in 1925, Norway changed the name of the group of islands to Svalbard, and retained the name Spitsbergen for the main island.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

These days, mining activity is much reduced, and it is only the Norwegians and Russians that still have operations. The Russians still like to flex their muscle though, and on the flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen, we all had to disembark at the Tromso stop-off point so that the Russian authorities could check the passports of everyone coming onto the island.

Aside from Longyearbyen, there are a few small settlements, but most of the 2,600 or so population, live here.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Now we've visited a few small and remote communities, including the Falkland Islands, which is even more isolated than here, and that was somewhere that we could imagine living for  while at least, but we couldn't imagine living here at all. I can't quite put my finger on why. It wasn't about the months of freezing, twenty-four hour darkness, or about the remoteness, although neither of those particularly appeal. It was more about the feel of the place.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Longyearbyen is named after John Munroe Longyear, who owned Arctic Coal, the company that settled here to mine the fuel. It started as, and until relatively recently remained, a mining community, and that shows. To me, it felt like somewhere that people are stationed, rather than somewhere they chose to make their home. Of course there are schools, shops and places to go out, but it didn't feel it could be 'home'.

That polar bears are a feature of Longyearbyen, is evident from the moment you arrive, as there is a large one standing on the luggage carousel - though obviously this one is dead and stuffed.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

There are a number of these stuffed bears around the town, which I have to admit I had slightly mixed feeling about.

But it is not the dead ones that they have to worry about. Whilst it is pretty unusual for a bear to come right into town, they do roam around the outskirts. People going outside of the settlement areas are actually legally required to have some method of scaring, and protecting themselves from, polar bears, and are advised to carry a firearm with them. In town, many of the shops have a gun cabinet, where they leave the gun while in town.

Our old mining accommodation, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

For the couple of nights before our ship sailed, we stayed in hostel type accommodation in the old mining accommodation. Being a little further out was interesting, and meant that we had a chance to spot some wildlife early on - not a polar bear (probably just as well), but an arctic fox. For such a short stay, we didn't bother to self cater, so wandered down to the Spitsbergen Hotel to take advantage of the free waffles in the afternoon, and for dinner. After the trip, we splashed out on the Radisson, but that wasn't as cosy as the Spitsbergen, and there weren't any free waffles.

Svalbard Museum, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

The Svalbard Museum isn't bad as an introduction to the history and wildlife of the islands, and there are a few sightseeing bits that you can do if you like, such as the church, or perhaps a trip out to the Global Seed Vault, where they safeguard samples of around 4000 plants that are regarded as vital to our survival in the event of a global disaster.

Sled dogs, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

We were tempted to take a ride on a dog sled, but there wasn't really time for that, so instead we just took a wander down to the dog sled place, and watched the very sleepy dogs. The walk there and back took us along the shoreline, so we made sure to collect one of the long plastic sticks that was available at the start.

We felt a little foolish walking along with it - or at least I did, especially when Nic kept pretending it was a light-saber - but it is definitely worth carrying, as even though we kept to the path, the skuas that nest along here get very protective of their young, and tend to attack the heads of those walking along. Just to clarify, the stick isn't to hit the birds, just to hold above your head so that they can't swoop in and attack your head.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

We did rather like some of the small details here though. It isn't often that the you see parking areas dedicated to snowmobiles, or that each car parking space has its own powersocket, so that you can plug your car in to keep it just warm enough to stop it from freezing up so much that it won't start.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard

 

Dog sleds, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Svalbard Museum, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Longyearbyen, Svalbard