Hornshund & Poolepynten
31 May 2018: Hornshund – wind, rain, bumpy seas, and then…
We woke to a grey, wet morning with a decent swell. The plan was to be woken at 6am for 6:30am loading onto the Zodiacs and a landing at Gashamna, a small landing site with potential for sighting little auks and other birds.
After consulting with Annie (one of our Expedition Leaders), I decided to not go there, but to wait to land at Isbjornhamna just after breakfast. There is more to see there – reindeer, historic buildings, birds nesting and lots of different walks. It seems that this was both a good and bad decision.
While many were on Gashamna, I took some nice photos from the Bridge – the light was nice despite some drizzle, and the birds were flying low around the ship. Not bad at all.
After breakfast, I planned to join the “contemplative” group – we tend to stay around the flatter shoreline, rather than climbing further inland, and this has always worked well for me. But the seas were getting choppy, visibility has decreased significantly and the Zodiac loading was taking a really, really long time due to a persistent swell. Although I don’t have a problem getting on and off in a decent swell (eg the day before), when they temporarily suspended loading, it occurred to me that the weather could get worse rather than better. So here I am, another day on the ship, having not touched land since the Faroe Islands on 25 May, and feeling mightily frustrated!
But it turned out to be the right decision – the choppy seas and swells became stronger, and the rides back in the Zodiacs were amongst the more uncomfortable ones, and people generally arrived soaked by the sea breaking over the bow.
Over lunch, we went deeper into the Burgerbukta fjord. Magnificent towers of rocks and huge glacier fronts started to appear. What a difference a change of position makes!
I grabbed my camera with the wide-angle lens and headed outside. Absolutely stunning scenery, and unexpected. Although we’d seen mountains way off in the distance, now there were peaks rising out of the fjord (photo may follow later).
While I was taking photos with the wide angle, I realised I also needed the longer telephoto. Having now somewhat permanently attached my wide-angle lens to the “back up” Sony A6300, and kept the longer lens on the A9, I raced back downstairs to get the A9. What fun – close-up shots with the telephoto, and wide shots with the A6300. And with less changing of lenses, there is less sensor cleaning happening!
We eventually arrived deep into the Bergerbukta fjord and it was soon time for a Zodiac cruise to see the glacier face close-up.
Zodiacs always travel in pairs in case one has a problem. Ours, driven by Todd, was paired with Colin’s, one of our geologists with good knowledge of glaciology. We learn so much whether on the Zodiacs or in the lecture – fascinating information. Remind me to tell you about how to use oatmeal to see how glaciers flow, and how crevasses form.
It was a good day, and once we were back on the ship, it was time for a quick change ahead of a barbecue on one of the upper decks. Delicious food – although, due to the low cloud and drizzle, we ended up eating inside.
1 June 2018: Poolepynten & the Walrus
Another early wake-up at 6am (this means I’m up about an hour earlier). I looked out my cabin window to see sunshine, blue sky and the snow-covered peaks of the Svalbard mountains rising high in the distance. This morning we are going to visit the walrus that haul-out on the beach at Poolepynten.
This is a 1.5km promontory on the NE side of Forlandsletta. I’ve been here before, but it was cloudier the last time – not that the walrus care!
It was good to walk on land – a nice, sandy/pebbly walk towards the point. Four reindeer were grazing below mountains, curious to see us (photo may follow later). Further along, there they were – about 10 walrus, with one coming in from the sea, and others playing around in the water. A delightful way to start the day.
Our next landing was planned for Alkhornet, another place I’d visited before. It has a difficult landing site at the best of times. Today it seems that the surf was up on the little beach, and we’re now travelling deeper into Isfjorden (110 km long & relatively wide) to see what we can find amongst the ice!
This is the last day of this part of the trip. We haven’t seen polar bears as yet – the hope is that we might see one around the ice. It would be great if the people leaving this trip, including Lisa and Edie, can see at least one polar bear before they fly out at 2:30am (not a typo) tomorrow.
It’s been a fun 9 days – but I am really looking forward to seeing what we can find over the next 13.