A Saga of ice and snow: Svalbard in late Winter

[jmharack]

47 minutes ago, Athene said:

@janzinand @jmharackthank you for useful advice and information. I will surely take some medication against motion sickness with me. 

I did bring patches with me, and they have worked well for me in the past, in rougher seas, but I didn't need to use them at all on this trip.. But I'd always bring them on a trip like this.

[Jil]

What a wonderful report....thanks for sharing.

[wilddog]

Stunning photographs and my, what an adventure with all it's challenges. Thanks for sharing

[janzin]

2 hours ago, Jil said:

What a wonderful report....thanks for sharing.

 

1 hour ago, wilddog said:

Stunning photographs and my, what an adventure with all it's challenges. Thanks for sharing

Thanks, it's not done yet!

[Dave Williams]

Great stuff and it looks like the trip is going to be huge success .I'm reading lots of reports that basically Svalbard is 'done'. It is it seems on it's way out but not quite yet. Looking forward to you playing the trump card!

 

[Atdahl]

I am just getting caught up @janzinand loving your detailed report and (as usual) stunning photos.  Can't wait to read the rest.

 

Alan

[janzin]

ICE

 

Obviously ice is critically important to the wildlife of the Arctic, especially Polar Bears.  They require ice to hunt seals and to move freely in search of prey.  There are many kinds of sea ice and I won't go into too many details here but I found a good primer on this page: https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/blog/get-to-know-your-ice

 

Other than it's utility, the ice of course is beautiful and part of the magic of Svalbard in this early season.  Late in the season, August or September, you would see far less sea ice and certainly less snow (on the other hand, you can travel more easily around the islands and fjords; some late summer trips can make it nearly around Svalbard, all the way to the eastern shores.)

 

As I mentioned earlier, the drift ice was coming down rapidly from the north and so we were unable to go further north to the edge of the drift ice, which some trips can do at times when the drift ice is stable. That northern edge is great for bears (I believe I recall that @Alexander33did make it up to the edge of the drift ice, but at a cost of some violent weather!) Anyway, there was no way for us to try as no one wants to be stuck in the ice in need of rescue.

 

Anyway, here's some scenic views of the variety of ice we experienced.

 

On our very first evening's transit I looked out my cabin window and saw this beautiful pack ice in the midnight sun. This was taken with my iPhone out the window. 1:20 a.m.

 

 

Pancake ice is gorgeous, this is ice formed by wind and wave action pushing against the ice edges and curling them up.  This particularly large patch was shining in the sun.

 

 

Close up of pancake ice.  I liked to call it "jellyfish ice" as to me it looks like jellyfish floating in the sea.

 

 

An abstract of pancake ice just beginning to form.

 

 

Fast ice is ice that is "fastened" or anchored to land. In Svalbard it is absolutely illegal to break up the fast ice because it is so important to polar bears. But you can anchor up alongside of it and hope a bear comes along (as a couple did for us....TK)

 

The Freya's shadow in the fast ice. One of the times I used my wide-angle lens.

 

 

Bergys are little bits of ice that have broken off from a glacier, sort of mini-icebergs.

 

Here you can see the glacier in the rear and some bergys in front.  We were told the name of this glacier but I don't remember it, perhaps @jmharackcan recall?

 

 

More bergys.

 

 

Here, the Freya has cut a patch through very thin ice, I believe this would be called nilas. It is far from solid.

 

 

All this talk of pancakes is making me think I'll make some for breakfast today  

 

A bit of floating bergy with some nice color.

 

 

Coming up soon, some additional majestic scenery--I'm still working on the next batch of bears.

Edited June 11, 2022 by janzin

[janzin]

 I found it difficult to capture the magnificent scenery with at times no real foreground opportunities, but here's a few that I hope will convey some of the beauty. In no particular order and don't ask me where most were taken!

 

 

Mist over the glacier.

 

 

Some lovely late light on this one.

 

 

Geologists could tell you about this rock. I can't   In fact, we were fortunate to have a geologist on the trip... @jmharack's husband Cliff!

 

 

Photo-bombing Fulmar.

 

 

Lenticular cloud over the glacier. I thought it might be a UFO.

 

 

Flattop "mesas"

 

 

This is known as the "Bird Cliffs." Unfortunately we were too early in the season for any birds nesting, but later in the season this cliff would be covered with Guillemots and Murres.

 

 

There are actually three matching peaks that form "The Kroner" peaks but I prefer the image with just the two of them.

 

 

Glittering ice (maybe this should have gone in the ice section

 

 

Radio telescopes at Ny-Alseund, a small town with a year-round population of about 30 researchers and scientists from 11 different countries. Most doing research on climate change and earth sciences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ny-Ålesund

 

 

 

 

Reindeer tracks in the snow.

 

 

 

Misty mountains.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by janzin

[NancyS]

Those photos are beautiful!!

[Treepol]

@janzinI'm really enjoying your icy TR, so glad that you finally made it to Svalbard.  Beautiful photos and thanks for the very interesting lesson on ice, so many different types!

[Athene]

@janzinabsolutely beautiful landscape pictures!

[Atdahl]

Beautiful landscape shots Janet!!!

[janzin]

thank you @NancyS@Treepol@Atdahland @AtheneLandscape photography is really not my forte but when the land is so dramatic it helps!

 

Still working on the next bear encounter (had over 1500 photos so it's taking awhile to whittle down and process.) Stay tuned!

 

[Africalover]

Great TR and National Geographic images.

Thanks for sharing

[michael-ibk]

Spectacular photos Janet! Love the landscape shots, and the Walrus post is incredibly cool as well. Sorry to hear about your Zodiac non-adventures but happy to see that you still had a great trip despite that.

[jmharack]

The landscape photos are gorgeous, and now you've got me reliving this trip!  You clearly took more notes on everything than I did, but I'll see if the geoscientist in the family can fill in any of the details..   Our boat was full of amazing photographers (as witnessed here by these beautiful photos), birding experts and a geoscientist. I filled in as the person with the smallest camera and least relevant expertise...

[janzin]

45 minutes ago, jmharack said:

The landscape photos are gorgeous, and now you've got me reliving this trip!  You clearly took more notes on everything than I did, but I'll see if the geoscientist in the family can fill in any of the details..   Our boat was full of amazing photographers (as witnessed here by these beautiful photos), birding experts and a geoscientist. I filled in as the person with the smallest camera and least relevant expertise...

haha, the only notes are in my head but fortunately the GPS on the camera also helped me determine where a few things were taken--and then there's Wikipedia! As you and I had discussed, another minor disappointment in the trip was that there were no evening talks or lectures about the arctic, wildlife, geology, ice or anything else...we basically had to fend for ourselves or try and pin Svein or Oddgeir down to ask questions. There was very little communication going on between the guides and passengers. No one even bothered to update the map until the very end when I pressed Svein to do it.  I think perhaps they were all too preoccupied with getting those Zodiacs running, but it was clear no talks were planned.

Edited June 12, 2022 by janzin

[Alexander33]

The landscape there truly is spellbinding. Thank you for the primer reference on the different types of ice. I’ve just been using the terms “floating ice,” “sea ice,” and “icebergs” as I saw fit. Now I’ll be able to pretend that I have some sort of expertise!  

Edited June 12, 2022 by Alexander33

[Atravelynn]

The landscape and ship shadow photos are gorgeous, along with the wildlife, especially when various shades of white overlap.

 

Did you ever find out what was the zodiac problem?  And all 3?  Thanks for the info on the survival suits incompatibility with boots.  Seeing the results here, I'd have to conclude your trip was well worth it despite the frustrations and disappointments, especially the zodiacs.

[vikramghanekar]

Fabulous trip report and outstanding photographs!

 I boarded MS Freya just after you left. Our trip started with even more drama!
We were supposed to set sail on Saturday evening. But news came that MS Freya's permit for cruising in Arctic waters had been put on hold for some technical reason by the Swedish government. This meant we had to wait!

This wait extended till Monday evening when finally the news came that we could actually leave.

It was frustrating to say the least to spend 48 hours in Longyearbyen port doing nothing but eating, sleeping and an occasional wander around the docs.

Our tour leaders, guides and even Captain "Storm" were completely stressed but could do nothing till the word came from Stockholm! I slept for more than 12 hours a day, having been working hard right till I left Mumbai and was completely exhausted.

It was bad but there are worse things that can happen.

 

The suits: You are absolutely spot on that it was a struggle to put on any kind of footwear when the suit was covering up your feet. I had purchased industrial rubber "muck" boots which were useless as they wouldn't fit. I used my "snow proof" shoes (perfect for walking in snow in Longyearbyen) which resulted in squishing my toes, sending up excruciating pain while out on the Zodiac for the first time. Later I simply loosened up my shoe laces, making the shoes as wide as I could so that I could use them with some (dis)comfort.  

 

Sea sickness: I easily get motion sickness in a car. So I had brought a variety of medication but just forgot to take them as we were in port for 2 days! Only once while making our way up north traveling on open seas I got really sick thinking "why did I come here". I spent probably 12- 14 hours in bed. (4pm to 6 am). Next day I learned 2-3 more people had ended up throwing up, and the attendance for dinner was quite thin!  I was not alone in the misery. The crew kindly offered me a patch from their stock and co-passenger Rima (radiologist from the US) also gave me a med (which I forget). "This was good for me during Drake passage to Antarctica, so should work for you easily" were her words. Fortunately, we did not spend much time cruising on open waters afterwords so I didn't need any medication going further.

 

 

Going North: We could not get as much North as you did because sea ice was coming in fast and the captain decided we would get stuck in ice if we ventured any further. But the sea ice was just beautiful. We saw a lot of bear tracks on the sea ice but didn't see a bear.

 

Hopefully I will start a TR!

Cheers

Vikram

 

[janzin]

3 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

The landscape and ship shadow photos are gorgeous, along with the wildlife, especially when various shades of white overlap.

 

Did you ever find out what was the zodiac problem?  And all 3?  Thanks for the info on the survival suits incompatibility with boots.  Seeing the results here, I'd have to conclude your trip was well worth it despite the frustrations and disappointments, especially the zodiacs.

Thanks Lynn! Yes, all three had problems although at first it seemed the one with the Yamaha engine would work, I think it started but then stopped.  That's why we speculated it was the gas, but as far as I know they never figured it out exactly. At least if they did, they didn't tell us!

[janzin]

2 hours ago, vikramghanekar said:

Fabulous trip report and outstanding photographs!  Thanks!

 I boarded MS Freya just after you left. Our trip started with even more drama!
We were supposed to set sail on Saturday evening. But news came that MS Freya's permit for cruising in Arctic waters had been put on hold for some technical reason by the Swedish government. This meant we had to wait!

This wait extended till Monday evening when finally the news came that we could actually leave.

It was frustrating to say the least to spend 48 hours in Longyearbyen port doing nothing but eating, sleeping and an occasional wander around the docs.

Our tour leaders, guides and even Captain "Storm" were completely stressed but could do nothing till the word came from Stockholm! I slept for more than 12 hours a day, having been working hard right till I left Mumbai and was completely exhausted.

It was bad but there are worse things that can happen.

Wow!! That would have really been infuriating.  I hope that you were offered some kind of compensation as that is even worse than our Zodiac fiasco.

 

Sea sickness: I easily get motion sickness in a car. So I had brought a variety of medication but just forgot to take them as we were in port for 2 days! Only once while making our way up north traveling on open seas I got really sick thinking "why did I come here". I spent probably 12- 14 hours in bed. (4pm to 6 am). Next day I learned 2-3 more people had ended up throwing up, and the attendance for dinner was quite thin!  I was not alone in the misery. The crew kindly offered me a patch from their stock and co-passenger Rima (radiologist from the US) also gave me a med (which I forget). "This was good for me during Drake passage to Antarctica, so should work for you easily" were her words. Fortunately, we did not spend much time cruising on open waters afterwords so I didn't need any medication going further.  Sounds like you had rougher waters than we did, but like with you, that passage going north was really the worst...that's when I got sick as well.

2 hours ago, vikramghanekar said:

 

 

Going North: We could not get as much North as you did because sea ice was coming in fast and the captain decided we would get stuck in ice if we ventured any further. But the sea ice was just beautiful. We saw a lot of bear tracks on the sea ice but didn't see a bear.  Wait...I know you saw bears as I saw you post an excellent bear photo on Facebook...a couple in fact...so I guess you mean you didn't see a bear on the sea ice?

 

2 hours ago, vikramghanekar said:

 

Hopefully I will start a TR!  Definitely would love to see your report, especially would like to hear how it was being with the Wild Focus folks.

Cheers

Vikram

 

 

[vikramghanekar]

 

18 minutes ago, janzin said:

Going North: We could not get as much North as you did because sea ice was coming in fast and the captain decided we would get stuck in ice if we ventured any further. But the sea ice was just beautiful. We saw a lot of bear tracks on the sea ice but didn't see a bear.  Wait...I know you saw bears as I saw you post an excellent bear photo on Facebook...a couple in fact...so I guess you mean you didn't see a bear on the sea ice?

We saw bears only on fast ice in fjords close to Longyearbyen , but not on sea ice up north!

[vikramghanekar]

57 minutes ago, janzin said:

Wow!! That would have really been infuriating.  I hope that you were offered some kind of compensation as that is even worse than our Zodiac fiasco.

1. Free drinks for 1 night ;-) 

They offered us 2 extra days on the ship. But that meant changing flights and everything, which was not possible for me and most other co-passengers.  One couple other than Jami and Theo (trip leaders) stayed on the boat as they were doing one more trip with a different group on a small sailboat (Arctica II) after couple of days. But not sure if they went out in search of bears. 

[shazdwn]

5 hours ago, vikramghanekar said:

 

 

Hopefully I will start a TR!

Cheers

Vikram

 

Please do, I for one would enjoy hearing of your experience