The dawn did not really break today as National Geographic Explorer made her way into Tromsø, the land of the midnight sun, the most northerly city in the world and the gateway to the Arctic. We have now entered the realm of 24-hour daylight. The day was bright, sunny and cool. The options opened to the guests were varied, with visits to the Polar Museum, the magnificent Arctic Cathedral that overlooks the town, the Tromsø Museum, and an option to take a birdwatching walk along the coastal edges of Hella Island. The museums were filled with excellent exhibits and the cathedral is a marvelous building. The birdwatchers enjoyed fantastic views of willow grouse, golden plover and the beautiful ruff. The birdwatchers also had the first reindeer sighting of the trip as they made their way back to the ship. The afternoon was free for the guests to enjoy a relaxing time in the town, before setting off in the evening to make our way across the Barents Sea and to Bear Island, the first island of the Svalbard Archipelago.
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!
