We woke up to an absolutely beautiful day in Nordfjord and chose between a Zodiac cruise or kayaking. On both we saw young harbor seals and an abundance of tall wispy waterfalls created by melting glaciers, cascading hundreds of feet from high on the fjord walls. Upon return to the ship we were greeted by a delicious barbecue lunch on the aft deck. Then Captain Martin Graser decided the deck needed a wash and some of the guests needed a shower so he steered the bow under a giant waterfall in Melfjorden. On the way out of the waterfall we encountered a pilot whale that spent a good bit of time diving under the ship and spraying rainbows with its blow hole. After dinner we visited a cute and very little village called Husøy in the Træna Archipelago to celebrate crossing the Arctic Circle.
6/1/2022
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National Geographic Endurance
Bellsund
It’s hard to believe that our amazing journey together is coming to an end. Today’s expedition in Bamsebu in Bellsund treaded an oddly comfortable line between the utterly foreign wilds of the High Arctic, and the now familiar embrace of a landscape we have fallen in love with. The wind was brisk, but explorers of all interests set out to absorb the scenery with new flames of intrigue, ignited by our two weeks of exploration. Discarded reindeer antlers, whalebones left behind from human activities of the past, old ships, ancient fossils, lichens, mosses, fresh buds of spring plants: we were surrounded by a plethora of curios set amongst stunning scenery and snow topped mountains. As we took time to talk about what we had seen in the morning during our afternoon “recap,” we were interrupted by a radio call from our captain. The folks on the bridge had spotted something white and fluffy on the ice ahead! Our time in Svalbard concluded, stunningly, with one last solitary polar bear ambling along the last remaining fast ice of the season. How lucky we have been on this incredible expedition!
