Expedition log
M/S Nordstjernen
Svalbard July 15th – 18th 2016
Friday, July 15th 17:00 7810’N
Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen is a Norwegian settlement and the ‘capital’ of Svalbard. It was
originally a mining community, but now science and tourism are slowly taking
over. It is named after the american John Munroe Longyear who started the
first coal production in the Longyear v alley in 1906. It was bought by a
Norwegian mine company in 1916. Today Longyearbyen is a modern town
with almost every facility you can imagine. The population is approx. 2300
and increasing.
After breakfast at the hotel we went sight seeing around town, and visited t he
museum and the gallery. In the afternoon we embarked the M/S Nordstjernen
and our Arctic Adventure started. The ship sailed out of Advent fjorden and
west towards Barentsburg, passing the former coalmining settlement s Grumant and Coles Bay.
Friday, July 15th, 20:00, 78°14’N
Janusfjellet
Landing at Deltaneset and following Jørn up to his favourite place. The walk
was long and sweaty but finally we reached the shales containing fossils from
animals living about 147 million years ago. We found the squid called
Ammonites and bivalves.
This is also the place where Jørn and his collegues have found the many
ichthyosaurs and pleisosaurs, large sea living dinosaurs living 147 million years
ago. The character “Gamla” in the children book is found here.
Saturday, July 16th 10:00, 7935’N
Magdalenefjorden
Today we woke up on the way into Magdalenefjorden. This fjord is one of the
best known and beautiful fjords on Spitsbergen with its jagged mountains.
These are said to be the mountains Wilhelm Barent zs first saw when he discovered Svalbard in 1596 and named the biggest island Spitsbergen after
them (Spitsbergen = pointy mountains).
Entering the fjord a small peninsula reaches out from the southern shore. The
outer part of this peninsula has a small hill. This is Gravneset where Dutch
whalers came to bury their dead in the 17th and 18th century. Today stone
gatherings and wooden coffins remain from the around 130 graves.
We planned to anchor on the north-eastern side of Graveneset, but just
before reaching our destination, our guide Timon spotted a polar bear. He
(we think it was a male) was checking out the walruses but quickly changes
his mind and started to walk out of Magdalenefjorden. From Nordstjernen, at
a safe distance we could watch him almost effortless cover a distance that
probably would take us a full day to complete.
The Governor on Svalbard – Sysselmannen – has two park rangers on duty
here during the summer to take care of this cultural heritage, and the
environment in the area.
Magdalenefjorden –
where whalers buried
t heir dead during t he
17t h and 18t h cent ury
at Gravneset .
Saturday, July 16th 15:00, 7940’N
Smeerenburgfjorden
On our way northwards we sailed through Sørgattet, a narrow strait
connected to Smeerenburgfjorden. This area was once crowded with huge
bowhead whales and hundreds of whale hunters.
Schmeerenburg glacier
We did a tender boat cruise in front of the mighty Schmeerenburg glacier.
The glaciers had been calving quite a lot and we had a lot of huge icebergs
all around in the fjord. The guide explained to us about how a glacier is
formed and about the different types of glaciers found on Svalbard, while we
were admiring the scenery.
After the glacier cruise we continued north, passing by Raudfjorden,
Fuglesongen, and Inner and outer Norskøya.
During the night we anchored at Worsleyneset in Woodfjorden an got a quiet
night on board.
Sunday, July 17th 10:00, 79 35’ N
Reinsdyrsflya
In the morning when chief engineer Juri started up the enginge he
discovered that one of the piston-valve-arms was broken and the repair
would take 3-4 hours. Luckily we were situated close to Reinsdyrsflya and an
old trappers cabin called Villa Oxford. This cabin was built by one of the most
famous norwegian trappers Hillmar Nøys.
Reinsdyrsflya (Reindeer flatland) consists mostly of the famous good old
sandstone called Devonian red giving the ground a beautiful rusty-red color.
This is comparable to red earths in Africa today, and tells the story of
Svalbards long journey from equator to where it is today. On the hike we
found more than eight different species of Arctic plants, and next to an old
cross probably used as a hunting ground marking, Fredrik held a small speech
about reindeers and their Arctic superpowers. We learned about their
dehumidifier system in the nose, and brain cooling. Finally we concluded that
Rudolf the reindeer must be a female.
Sunday, July 17th 15:00, 79 35’ N
Bockfjorden and Jotun hot springs
After lunch we arrived in Bockfjorden where we had a landing. The geology in
this area is unique and Jørn Hurum told us about the history of Svalbard
starting 1000 million years back. We saw the latest active volcano an
Svalbard, Sverrefjellet , and took a look at some of the very few hot springs of
Spitsbergen. The lime in the hot springs are dissolved from a marble about
1000 milliom years ago.
Sunday, July 17th 21:30
80°N & Moffen
After dinner, we passed the 80°N parallel and this was celebrated on the aft
deck with a toast. Some waves were rocking the ship and even the deck got
its own toast! The North Atlantic is in fact the only place on the planet where
you can be almost certain to pass the 80 th parallel with a ship – the sourthern
hemisphere is mostly ice-covered and at 80°S you will hit a continent. An inter-
esting thought is that there were hardly any other people between M/S
Nordstjernen and the North Pole at this time!
Moffen is a ‘lagoon’ slightly
north of 80ºN latitude. It is a
very flat and peculiar ring
shaped
island
and
its
maximum altitude is about five
meters. This small island is
mostly known for heaps of
male walrus chilling out on the
beach. The island is classified
as a protected walrus reserve
and no ships are allowed
closer than 300 metres. Walrus
is the largest seal species in the
Arctic being as heavy as two
metric tons – characteristics
are impressive t usks, absence
of beauty, lack of charm and
a rather unpleasant smell.
Moffen is a peculiar-looking island that is commonly
habitated by walrus.
The Walrus population on
Svalbard was hunted extensively during 350 years and by the time they were
protected in 1952, only a few remained. Since then the population have
grown steadily, and in 2012 the number of Walruses on Svalbard is estimated
to a bit less than 4000 animals. On Moffen island all individuals are males,
while females and calves have their beach life on Franz Josefs land, and on
some sites in the eastern parts of Svalbard.
Map showing walrus haul-out sites. Red marks sites where walruses were seen
during the areal surveys, and red stars marks sites occupied by females and
calves. (Walruses recovering aft er 60+ years of prot ection in Svalbard,
Norway, Kovacs et al. 2014)
Monday, July 18th 08:00, 7850’N
The next day we woke up at the northern side of Blomstrand Island with a
view of the Blomstand Glacier.
Monday, July 18th 10:00, 7850’N
Ny-Å lesund
Ny-Ålesund
is
the
world’s
northernmost community. As we
came onshore we went on a
guided tour in town. Ny-Ålesund
is a former mining village which
has become an important
international research centre mainly on the atmosphere and
ozone layer but also geological,
biological and glacial research is
carried out here. Downtown NyÅlesund there is a small centre
with a shop, a post -office and a
museum.
Ny-Ålesund was the focal point for the world’s attention several times during
the 1920’s. In 1925 Roald Amundsen attempted to reach the North Pole from
Ny-Ålesund wit h the seaplanes N24 and N25. In 1926 Amundsen returned to
Ny-Ålesund, accompanied by the American Lincoln Elsworth and the Italian
Umberto Nobile, to set out on a joint expedition with the airship “Norge”. This
expedition was a success. The airship flew over the North Pole as planned and
landed in Teller, Alaska.
In 1945 until 1962 we experienced the second mining period. But the problem
with the coal layers in Ny-Ålesund is that they are almost vertical and gases
develop in the mines. 70 miners have lost their life in the mines of Ny-Ålesund
and the worst accident of them all happened November 5th 1962. Late at
night that day there was a big explosion in the Esther Mine and 21 miners lost
their life. A committee made an investigation and they concluded that the
Norwegian state should have been more concerned about the safety in NyÅlesund. Since Kings Bay was a state enterprice the public blamed the
government. In August 1963, Prime Minister Gerhardsen and his government
resigned as a result of this tragedy.
Research started in Ny-Ålesund in 1964 and during the 1990’s research
increased from 4,100 man-days in 1990 to 10,031 in 2000. Each year scientists
from at least fifteen nations run more than 120 research projects.
Monday, July 11th 12:30, 7858’ N
Ossian Sars
We cruised to the stunning Ossian Sars bird mountain to watch birds. We
could identify Kittiwakes and Guillemots
Monday, July 18th 13:30, 7858’ N
Ny-London
After lunch, we went ashore on the Blomstrand Island, where remains after a
British mining activity on marble is to be seen. The place was called “Marble
Island” at that time (1910), and the small settlement “Camp Mansfield”, after
its founder, Ernest Mansfield. Later on, the place got ironically called NewLondon, which is nowadays the official name. We took a walk to have a look
at the historical heritage on the site.
North of Blomstrand
Island, you can see
the
Blomstrand
Glacier, both named
after
a
Swedish
geologist, who took
part in the Swedish
Spitsbergen
Expedition of 1861,
together with the
admiral Liljehöök.
Kongsfjorden. Ny Ålesund is locat ed to the sout h with
London locat ed on Blomst randhalvøya just t o the
nort h.
The marble is the same age as the marble in Bockfjorden, about 1000 million
years. It is easy to see all the cracks in the rocks that made this an impossible
project.
Monday, July 18th 17:00
Farewell gathering
We gathered with the ships crew and the guides for a farewell ‘ceremony’.
Certificates were handed out to the true heroes among us that took a swim in
the chilly arctic water and to everyone who passed the 80 th parallel.
Are you sad to leave Svalbard? Are you curious about what it is like in the
winter? Grab a copy of our catalogue or visit www.spitsbergentravel.com.
We hope to see you back again for another arctic adventure.
Best regards from your cruise guides,
Sara, Karolina, Erlend, Fredrik, Marte, Charlotte and Timon
Mart es (Yes, we know t hat her name t ranslate into Tuesday in Spanish) art i sti c
drawings t hat helped us t o navigate through our cruise.