This is the final report of my time in Svalbard. Some special memories came out of these two days. I finally got a good look at a glacier calving, and at reindeer.
The calving happened at a place called Kronebreen on Day 6, and we viewed it from our Zodiacs – not too close to be in danger, but close enough to get some good views. The Svalbard summary video posted on YouTube (and also embedded in the Days 1 and 2 report here) shows some amazingly fortunate drone shots as well as the one telephoto zoom shot taken from the Zodiac. That deserves another look:
The birds love to hang around near the edge of the melting ice and around icebergs because the fish find tidbits to eat there. I’m left wondering if any of them got caught by the crashing ice. Let’s hope not.
Earlier in the morning (of Day 6) we were on land at a place called Ny London where a failed marble mining operation was going on about 100 years ago. Lots of processing equipment remains, with an interesting sort of ‘steam punk’ look to it:
Across the fjord is the scientific outpost called Ny Alesund where they do lots of scientific research including radio astronomy (because there is little to no interference from human sources – we were required to turn off cell phones and other equipment while here). There are a dozen or two scientists living here, and it’s the only permanent settlement in the northern part of Svalbard.
At Ny London we got to do a good hike up to a vista point about 1000 feet up. I grabbed a panorama video which shows the vastness of the country. You can barely notice Ny Alesund on the far shore.
On Day 7 we moved to Southern Svalbard and spent just a day there. Our first stop was a place called Bamsebu, and this is where we came upon the reindeer.
Reindeer on Svalbard don’t run in large herds as they do elsewhere, and they are smaller because of the limited food supply. Both male and female grow horns, and this time of year they were still growing, still covered with ‘felt’. That drops off before the autumn rut, and then the males drop their antlers while the females keep theirs through the winter and into spring to protect their newborn young.
Leaving the reindeer behind, we walked out on the peninsula that is visible behind the antler above. Here there was a whaling station early in the last century, and the sad piles of bones and old wooden whaling boats now lie there as reminders of a different time.
Of course, all was not dreary and depressing here. The yellow saxifrage was adding its brand of cheery brightness to the tundra.
The whaling era came to an end mostly because many of the most valuable whales were hunted nearly to extinction. But many species are coming back strongly. As we began cruising to our next stop on East Greenland, we spotted some fin whales and I got a distant view of a humpback doing something truly strange – repeatedly slapping one fin onto the water surface.
Maybe that was a fishing tactic. The video is a heavily zoomed-in edit of the original. Sorry for the fuzziness, but this whale was pretty darn far away from the ship. I first spotted it when it made a spectacular full-body leap out of the water. Sure wish I had that on video!
The next report features some spectacular icebergs, as we headed into Scoresbysund on the east coast of Greenland. Watch for that report coming soon.
We are so happy that you share this incredible experience. We wish you an amazing journey!!!
Christi and Cor