SPITSBERGEN: 27 JUNE-5 JULY 2006

Trip Report by Tony Marr, Tour Leader

Summary

Spitsbergen has been a consistently successful tour since WildWings reconnoitered it in 1998. This ninth expedition cruise contained all the ingredients for success – punctual and trouble-free travel all the way from London to Longyearbyen and back; a comfortable small ship with an experienced and professional crew and expedition team; an itinerary which provided us with new experiences and adventures every day; and a wealth of wildlife in the remote yet accessible and beautiful Svalbard archipelago.

This happy combination resulted in some exceptional experiences this year. We saw 18 Polar Bears (including two females each with twins), the most we have seen on any of our nine visits; we sailed round the normally inaccessible eastern side of Nordaustlandet (‘North-east land’), the second largest island in the archipelago after Spitsbergen, and managed two very cold and icy landings there (after allowing for several bears which were on the shore); we sailed into the pack ice at 82⁰ north, only 480 nautical miles from the North Pole; and our trip totals included one Minke Whale, 160 Walruses, four different seal species, over 50 Svalbard Reindeer and four Arctic Foxes.

Birds were well up to expectation, too. The special Arctic birds included a dozen King Eiders, Purple Sandpipers everywhere, ten Grey Phalaropes in their red breeding plumage, Long-tailed and Pomarine Skuas, seventeen Ivory Gulls, thousands of Brunnich’s Guillemots and Little Auks,  and breeding pairs of Snow Buntings at almost every stop. A satisfying element in these expeditions is the opportunity to see familiar birds on their home territories: Red-throated Divers, Pinkfooted, Barnacle and Pale-bellied Brent Geese, Long-tailed Duck, Glaucous Gulls, Arctic Terns and Black Guillemots, most of these well distributed throughout the archipelago.

To all of this we must add spectacular scenery, appropriate weather (sunshine in lower latitudes and fog and freezing winds in the remoter, wilder and icier places), marvellous food and service on board ship, and a very compatible group, which turned a memorable trip into an unforgettable one.

Daily Diary

Tuesday 27 June

Our group of 18 met at London’s Heathrow Airport on a wet morning, from all parts of the UK and one from the USA who had flown in overnight from New York. Soon we were on our way to Oslo, where we landed in even more rain, and walked across to the very convenient and comfortable Radisson Hotel. Double double glazing ensured a peaceful night after an excellent but expensive dinner – and a bottle of fine wine was even more expensive than the dinner.

Wednesday 28 June

After a lavish buffet breakfast, we pushed our luggage trolleys back across to the airport to check in for our Arctic flight. We stopped about half way at Tromso on the north-west coast of Norway before the final leg of about an hour and a half to Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard, where we landed on a gloomy day with low cloud and drizzle. We were met at the airport by our Expedition Leader, Rolf Stange (from Germany) and Guide & Lecturer Troels Jacobsen (from Denmark), who escorted us to the waiting coach.  This took us the short distance to our home for the next week, the Russian former hydrographic research vessel Grigoriy Mikheev. At only 2,000 tons, 210 feet long and ice-strengthened, she is the ideal vessel for exploring Arctic (and Antarctic) waters, able to reach the parts that larger ships cannot. We left our luggage here and were taken on into town in the coach for sightseeing, shopping and birding.

Snow Buntings were feeding flying young in the town centre, and Reindeer ambled around the outskirts. Glaucous Gulls and Arctic Terns were everywhere, and flocks of distant Little Auks, looking like Starlings, were whirring along the ridges of the distant high cliffs. There was a cool breeze accompanying the rain, and hats, coats and gloves were needed. It already felt very arctic!

We made our way down to the edge of the fjord and scanned across the water and along the shore for birds. Among the Northern Fulmars, Common Eiders, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Glaucous Gulls and Arctic Terns were a Red-throated Diver, six Barnacle Geese flying past, Purple Sandpipers and a couple of Arctic Skuas. Dotted across the water were small numbers of Brunnich’s and Black Guillemots. We walked to the ship along the shore road and were soon aboard and settling in to our comfortable cabins and looking around.

Our Expedition Leader invited us all to the bar and dining room for introductions, where we met the third member of the Expedition Team, Delphine Aures (from France), the all-important Hotel Manager, Jan de Cuester (from Belgium), and the Ship’s Physician, Dr. Andi Howes (from New Zealand). We learned that there was a group of eight Finnish birders on the trip, led by Markku Lappalainen. We had briefings about the ship, the itinerary, and the mandatory lifeboat and safety at sea briefings. Just before we sailed, a beautiful pure-white Ivory Gull appeared around the ship and gave us great views. It was surely an omen…..

Soon we were on our way northwards and enjoying the first of many excellent dinners. In the drizzly conditions we headed firstly westwards out of Isfjord, and then turned northwards on the west side of the long island of Prins Karls Forland. Most of us retired to bed soon after dinner, despite the continuing daylight. It had been quite a long day…

Thursday 29 June

We arrived in steady light rain in Kongsfjord, and Captain Aleksandr Pruss nosed the ship in towards the Fourteenth of July Bay and Glacier. Before breakfast the early risers had been attempting a count of the swarms of Little Auks pouring out towards the open sea. Sample one-minute counts over an hour indicated an average of 400 per minute, thus translating into 24,000 per hour! After breakfast we climbed into the trusty inflatable Zodiacs for a morning’s cruising and a landing. This was a wonderful start to the expedition, as we encountered fantastic flowers, beautiful birds and snoozing seals.

We slowly followed a line of low cliffs where among the nesting Brunnich’s Guillemots were several Atlantic Puffins and a lone Razorbill, one of a sole regular pair to be seen here each summer. Vulnerable Barnacle Geese and watchful Glaucous Gulls were nesting on the top of the cliffs, while a distant Arctic Fox was seen patrolling the hillside, doubtless looking for birds eggs or young below a colony of Brunnich’s and Kittiwakes high above on the cliffs out of sight in the clouds. Several adult Pinkfooted Geese with small goslings were visible at the foot of these upper cliffs, and 14 Svalbard Reindeer passed along the hillside above us. We landed at the aptly-named ‘Hanging Gardens’, where a great variety of lovely flowers grow in profusion. In the centre of the ‘gardens’ was a Snow Bunting nest containing four chicks, with the parents coming in every few minutes with food for them, to the delight of our photographers. Back in the Zodiacs, cruising up to the glacier, we saw single Arctic and Great Skuas, several Black Guillemots, and six confiding Bearded Seals on icefloes. A sudden crack was heard, and a substantial chunk of ice calved from the glacier front and crashed into the water, creating a large wave. On our way back to the ship, now ready for lunch, we saw several groups of Eider Ducks with small ducklings bobbing about on the water.

During lunch the ship repositioned across Kongsfjord to Ny-Alesund, a township whose main claim to fame is that it is the most northerly town in the world, at just below 79⁰ N. It is home to a community of scientists, is well-known as the starting point for a number of early attempts to reach the North Pole, and has a good variety of wildlife.  Despite the continuing dull, drizzly weather, we enjoyed seeing Arctic Terns nesting on the roads and paths and Barnacle Geese with goslings on and around the various lagoons and pools. On the largest one were a beautiful red female ‘Grey’ Phalarope swimming about, two Ringed Plovers, 20 Purple Sandpipers and several Long-tailed Ducks.

During dinner the Grigoriy Mikheev sailed further into Kongsfjord, and we approached as close as we could to the huge Kongsvegen Glacier. Here we witnessed another calving, and a Bearded Seal on the ice, before we had to turn and continue on our northwards journey.

Friday 30 June

The early morning found us approaching the flat atoll of Moffen, at 80⁰ N, on a dull but dry day in calm seas. Situated about 15 miles off the north coast of Spitsbergen, this is a nature reserve and landing or close approach are not permitted. We watched the island from the permitted distance, and quickly found two Polar Bears asleep on the shore, about a quarter of a mile apart! One woke up briefly to have a look at us. Hauled out on the beach were several groups of Walruses, totalling some 120, and there were more than 100 Pale-bellied Brent Geese in the main lagoon, with Eiders, Glaucous Gulls and a tantalisingly brief view (by the writer only) of a Sabine’s Gull. All too soon it was time to leave, and we turned to head back southwards.

Our next destination was Woodfjord, where we had a false alarm with a piece of yellowish plastic which looked like a sleeping Polar Bear, before we found a real one a few minutes later, walking about on a low promontory. And as we were watching that, a Minke Whale surfaced quite near the ship. Everything happens at once! Our fearless Expedition Leader decided to put the Zodiacs in the water at this point, so out we went at the entrance to Liefdefjord to visit the renowned Duck Islands of Andoyane. The weather was by now improving, with no wind, clear visibility and blue sky appearing.

Suddenly again everything happened at once. We spotted a big Polar Bear on the shore of a nearby small island; a pair of lovely Grey (Red) Phalaropes were swimming close in to the shore; and half a dozen King Eider appeared right in front of the Zodiacs, giving us marvellous photographic opportunities before they flew off. We followed up the bear, and from the water had close views of it raiding an Eider’s nest (the duck ran down the beach into the water) and eating the eggs. It swam off soon after this to an adjacent island where we left it.

We continued through the islands to one upon which we landed, after very carefully checking that there were no bears on shore. We spent over an hour in warm sunshine strolling along the shore, where there were more Grey Phalaropes, a handsome drake Long-tailed Duck, two Ruddy Turnstone, and passing by, a Pomarine, five Great and five Arctic Skuas. On a nearby hillside were several Eider Ducks and Arctic Terns sitting tight on their eggs, and we kept a respectful distance from them.

After lunch we Zodiaced ashore at to a hut named Texas Bar, not far from the Monaco Glacier. Here Rolf, our EL, took a party some way up a nearby mountain, where they found a Rock Ptarmigan, while the rest of us strolled along an area of rock and tundra. Two different Arctic Foxes were seen hunting, the second running off with something in its mouth. Three of us had very brief views of a small wader in a boggy valley which looked like a cross between a Purple Sandpiper and a Dunlin, but most frustratingly it could be neither photographed nor even studied before it flew off, and despite another hour’s searching, it was not found again.

The last activity of this eventful day was a visit to the ice in front of the Monaco Glacier, but with a surreal difference – it was for a barbecue! There were two Polar Bears out on the ice (the fifth and sixth for the day) and four adult Ivory Gulls appeared and fed unconcernedly with Kittiwakes all round the ship before the barbecue began. Single Bearded and Ringed Seals were also on the ice, as we enjoyed hot food and drink in these cold and spectacular surroundings, helped by the continuous sunshine, which made it very difficult for people to want to go to bed. The ship sailed late in the evening en route for our next destination around breakfast time tomorrow.

Saturday 1 July

We awoke to a dull, misty morning in the Hinlopen Strait as we approached the famous bird cliffs at Alkefjellet (literally ‘auk mountain’). It is claimed that 120,000 pairs of Brunnich’s Guillemots breed here, and who were we to doubt this number? The birds were everywhere – on every snow-free ledge, in every nook and cranny, on every flat surface, in the air and on the water in thousands. It was dangerous to look up open-mouthed in wonder, as testified by white splodges on a number of hats and coats! It was an awe-inspiring sight, sound and even smell as we looked up at the Tolkienesque scene of high cliffs with pinnacles, spires and towers of rock above us disappearing up into the low clouds. There were also plenty of Kittiwakes nesting on the higher ledges, more heard than seen in the mist. Glaucous Gulls had posted themselves at regular intervals along the cliffs, able to take advantage of this local takeaway to obtain food for their own young; they were constantly patrolling the ledges on the lookout for sick or injured Guillemots or Kittiwakes. Forty Black Guillemots, single Arctic, Great and Pomarine Skuas and even a pair of Barnacle Geese and four Snow Buntings along the grassy slopes were also seen from the Zodiacs, before the cold seeped into us and we returned to the ship after an hour and a half in ‘Bird City’.

We now headed on southwards through a rather foggy but ice-free Hinlopen Strait, passing several snow-covered islands, to reach the larger island of Wilhelmoya where visibility began to improve. We soon found an area of fast ice against the shore, with a Bearded Seal sleeping, and as we moved in to a small bay named Binnebukta, we saw indistinct shapes on the ice. Closer inspection revealed a female Polar Bear with two small sleeping cubs! We climbed into the Zodiacs and very slowly approached as near as the ice and our Expedition Leader’s judgement allowed, quietly watching the bears from a distance. As we turned to leave, a couple of Reindeer passing close along the shore disturbed them, and they temporarily moved off the ice, only to return soon afterwards when the Reindeer had passed. While on the snowfield above the ice, the mother sat down and suckled both cubs together, indicating that our presence did not cause her any distress, and providing us with an intimate moment in the life of these magnificent animals.

We slowly moved away and made a brief landing out of their sight further along the coast. Common Eiders were resting on shore, and Polar Bear footprints – adult and young – were found in the muddy edges of a lagoon.  We returned to the ship and headed now towards an unusual destination – the eastern side of the  island of Nordaustlandet, the second largest in the archipelago. Usually this coast is cut off by sea ice until late August, but the ice chart showed it to be free almost two months earlier than usual (an ominous sign of climate change) and our EL decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity to visit a part of Svalbard not seen by many. With the occasional Ivory Gull crossing our path, and through some quite thick fog, we arrived in the evening at the western end of the huge glacier which stretches for 112 miles along the south-eastern coast of Nordaustlandet. Our Captain approached the 100-foot high ice-cliff, where the water is of a similar depth, until the ship was only a few feet away, and those on the bow could actually touch the water cascading down from rivers of melting ice into the sea. As several people commented, this was seamanship of the highest order. We spent about half an hour in this unique place before continuing north-eastwards into the fog at the end of another great day.

Sunday 2 July

Fog persisted throughout the night, and when we anchored off the island of Storoya (Large Island) we could just discern a flat, snow-covered, barren, wild landscape in the distance. Yesterday had been Seabird City Day; today was to be Polar Bear Day, with no fewer than seven seen. The first was seen from the ship before we were all in the Zodiacs, striding across the snow, and necessitated a revision to the landing plans. We passed round a small headland, in the bitterly cold wind prevailing, only to find a second bear just hauling itself out of the sea, close to a group of five adult and two young Walruses on some offshore rocks. And then a third one appeared, further away on the snowy slopes beyond. As we were debating where to try for a landing, three white shapes appeared between the ship and the shore, swimming towards the small headland we had just passed in the Zodiacs. Initially dismissed as drake Eiders, a glance through the binoculars revealed them to be more Polar Bears, this time a female with two small cubs. What luck! We moved slowly towards the headland and from the sea watched them come ashore and walk across the snow and rocks.

We then headed back past the Walrus rocks, and found an apparently safe landing beach where we brought in the five Zodiacs. Rolf climbed up the beach to a vantage point, and returned very quickly to announce that one of the bears was walking over the snow about 500 yards away. So we stepped ashore for just a few minutes, the guides with rifles at the ready, and then returned to the water and back to the ship. As well as the bears and Walruses, we had seen two Red-throated Divers, a flying Grey Phalarope, and a superb adult Pomarine Skua with a full tail flying over.

During lunch we sailed on eastwards, to visit the larger island of Kvitoya (White Island) where we landed on Andreeneset, its western point. After a thorough scouting by the Expedition Team, in continuing foggy conditions, we launched the other Zodiacs and sped across a bay to a beach behind which we could see a monument standing among rocks in the snow. The last (and seventh) Polar Bear of the day had walked away into the distance, so we landed and Rolf led us to the monument. Here he explained that it was in memory of the Swedish balloonist Andree and his two companions who in 1897 had failed in an attempt to reach the North Pole, walked back across the ice, reached this island and died here. Their bodies were not found until 1930.

While we were on shore we were surprised at the amount of wildlife in such a desolate and remote place. An Arctic Fox, still partly in its white winter coat but with a dark head and tail, was criss-crossing the apparently lifeless ground, doubtless looking for eggs. Some 50 Common Eiders were along the shore; a single Purple Sandpiper stood on a rock looking around; 100 or more Arctic Terns appeared to be nesting; three lovely Ivory Gulls flew past; a Red-throated Diver flew over; and two Pomarine and two Arctic Skuas passed over together and landed on some distant rocks.

Back on board Grigoriy Mikhheev, during dinner we sailed along the snow cliffs on the west side of Kvitoya, just visible through fog and cloud, and reached the open sea in sunshine and some blue sky, with a group of a dozen Walruses moving through the water ahead of the ship (plus a further 20 or so later in the evening). Leaving behind the dramatic white cliffs, we now headed into the open sea northwestwards towards the distant pack ice, our next destination. What a day it had been…

Monday 3 July

The pack ice had moved some 30 miles further north than shown on the ice chart, and it was not until after breakfast, at around (0915), that we entered the first line of ice at 81⁰ 25’ N. We were being helped along by a strong south-easterly wind and the sea was quite choppy as we headed on through more bands of ice, stretching across the horizon ahead of us. We encountered four Ringed and three Harp Seals and a few birds – most were Northern Fulmars and Kittiwakes, with a few Black Guillemots, and the highlights were four separate Long-tailed Skuas passing in front of the ship, one being a full adult in perfect plumage.

Just before (1300) we reached 82⁰ 00’ N, as we entered heavier ice, and found that we could go no further. We were a mere 480 nautical miles from the North Pole, and off the ship’s printed chart, which ends at 81⁰ 35’ N. It was the furthest north the ship or the Expedition Leader (or the writer) had ever been. We celebrated with hot chocolate and rum on the foredeck, and the Captain and Expedition Leader celebrated by walking out on the ice. Suddenly Rolf stripped off, revealing trunks beneath, and went into the water in a hole in the ice! After swimming a few strokes, he climbed out fairly rapidly and returned to the ship apparently none the worse for his brave ordeal.

The Captain turned the ship, and as we commenced lunch we headed out of the heavy ice to start the long voyage down to the north-western tip of Spitsbergen, tomorrow’s destination. Most people stayed below decks after lunch, but a few kept watching, and found a Polar Bear in the southernmost stretch of ice just before we entered the open sea again. The Captain took the Grigoriy Mikheev back into the ice, slowly and discreetly approaching the bear, which was preoccupied in feeding on something on the ice, with an Ivory Gull in attendance.  We enjoyed several minutes taking photographs before it was time to leave. For many of us, this eighteenth and final Polar Bear was the best of all – out on the pack ice, far to the north of Spitsbergen, on a bitterly cold, foggy, cloudy, windy day, and looking fit and well-fed.

Tuesday 4 July

It was a lovely sunny, clear, early morning as we travelled westwards along Spitsbergen’s north coast and approached the north-west corner. After breakfast we anchored off the island of Fuglesangen (Birdsong Island) and Zodiaced ashore to visit a Little Auk colony. Rolf gave us very clear instructions on how we should behave if we wished to see and photograph the birds well, and it paid off. We sat down quietly among the boulders at the colony, and slowly but surely they flew in and settled on the rocks around us. The eerie laughing calls of these endearing little birds, only about the size of a rather plump Starling, echoed along the mountainside, and every now and again they all took to flight as their main predator, a Glaucous Gull, passed overhead.

While we enjoyed our last lunch on board, the ship repositioned a few miles south to Amsterdamoya (Amsterdam Island) where we landed to visit the remains of the 17^th Century whaling station and the Dutch blubber ovens. Rolf told us about the history of this extraordinary settlement, after which the birders walked around the lagoons. Here, among the regular Common Eiders and Arctic Terns, we found 30 Barnacle Geese, a pair of Great Skuas, ten Ringed Plovers, four Sanderling, a Ruddy Turnstone and two Dunlin. After an hour and a half we returned to the ship, lifted the Zodiacs on board for the last time, and headed out through the narrow Dansk Gattet (Danish Strait) towards the open sea and our long overnight journey back to Longyearbyen. Two Northern Gannets and three Common Seals were surprising sightings with which to end the day as we left.

Wednesday 5 July

We docked on time in Longyearbyen at about (0800) and after breakfast were taken by coach into the town as the flight home did not leave until mid-afternoon. A group of birders spent two hours looking in vain for Rock Ptarmigan along the road running up the hill to the west of the town centre, but did succeed in seeing a pair of Purple Sandpipers with three leggy chicks, and found a pair of Snow Buntings feeding young in a hole in the side of a house by the road. Several Reindeer and an Arctic Fox were seen on the edge of town. Shopping and sightseeing was completed, snacks and beverages downed, and it was back on the coach to the ship to collect our luggage and on to the airport where we said our grateful farewells to the Expedition Team for a wonderful trip.

Our journey home was uneventful and punctual, landing on time at London Heathrow in the evening. We collected our luggage from the carousel, said goodbyes to friends old and new, and made our separate ways homeward. It was hard to believe, but it was all over…

Conclusion

In one week on the ship we covered 1,158 nautical miles, visited remote parts of Svalbard which are rarely accessible, saw 31 species of Arctic birds, 18 Polar Bears and a wealth of other wildlife.  We enjoyed first class leadership, agreeable company, good food and a comfortable ship. The whole expedition cruise was a very happy and satisfying experience. What more could one ask for? Well, how about a Ross’s Gull? It’s still eluded us in nine years, but perhaps one day we’ll get one …