Svalbard - Ortelius Basecamp Summer Solstice

[Kitsafari]

wowowow. seeing those blue whales would have been a massive highlight for me. you've got to be so so happy. 

[Galana]

Great photos and video. Put in perspective that tail fluke is the size of a Boeing 737 tail.

[kittykat23uk]

Day 7: Colesbukta

 

Date: 26.06.2022

Position: 78°08.4’ N, 014°32.9’ E

Wind: SSW2

Weather: cloudy

Air Temperature: +10

 

The morning started out lazy. Our expedition leader Rinie woke us up only at 7:45. Ortelius was sailing along the Western coast of Prince Karl Foreland. The weather was a little overcast, but very still. Some of us were drinking their morning coffee standing on the outer deck and on the bow. After yesterday’s fantastic observation of Blue whales in Kingsfjord we, of course, were hoping to spot some more of these giants of the sea, but mother nature decided to conceal them for someone else and we had an uneventful sailing. 

 

At 10 AM our expedition guide Laura gave us a lecture called “New Perspectives on Sustainability” where she touched upon many problems and challenges humanity is facing these times. It was very thought provoking, particluarly looing at the time lapse of images of the polar ice caps and how the amount of mulit-year ice has reduced over the last 35 years- scary stuff!  you can see the video here and read about the impact here: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/arctic-ice-melting-time-lapse-video/

 

A few of us, including me, got quite emotional. Her lecture was followed by another interesting one. Hella, our kayak guide gave a talk about whales with more detailed information on Blue whales as she has been working with these creatures for many years.

 

Ortelius entered Isfjord and headed to the place of our afternoon activity – abandoned Russian coal mining village Coalsbay, located at the coastline of Colesbukta. After 2 PM we started the landing procedure. When everybody was ashore we divided into 3 groups and started our hikes. I joined the medium hikers headed to the valley inhabited by hundreds of Svalbard reindeers. 

 

P6260002 Colesbukta by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260006 Barnacle Geese on old building by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260021 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260042 Antlers by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260072 Svalbard Reindeer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260110 Svalbard Reindeer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

After watching a couple of individuals a small herd of reindeer started to approach us. We waited quietly as they came closer and closer, lining up against the mountainous backdrop. It made for a spectacular scene. 

 

P6260178 Svalbard Reindeer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

P6260187 Svalbard Reindeer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260256 Svalbard Reindeer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260282 Svalbard Reindeer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260306 Svalbard Reindeer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260354 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

A possible casualty of climate change, this reindeer most likely died of starvation. The climate is getting so warm in winter now that what happens is the snow melts and then refreezes to such an extent that the reindeer can't reach their food source.

P6260359 Reindeer Skull by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260367 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260378 Compass plant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260385 Lichen by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260388 Pink-footed Goose by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We also found a pair of nesting snow buntings:

 

P6260420 Snow Bunting by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260492 Arctic Tern by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260534 Barnacle Goose by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6260542 Arctic tern by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Here's a map of the route that we took:

IMG_20220626_121155 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_121149 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_142925 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_143555 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_143913 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_143922 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_143922 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_155919 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_160522 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_160559 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_161927 Compass plant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20220626_161931 Compass plant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

When back onboard we had a farewell glass of champagne with our captain. Juan, our expedition guide and photographer showed us the result of his work during the voyage – a very beautiful slideshow that featured the highlights of our wonderful cruise.

 

During the dinner Carlos, our hotel manager, introduced us all his colleagues from the galley, restaurant and also all the members of the housekeeping team. They all deserved applause and respect.

 

The last evening onboard Ortelius was, as usual, spent in the bar as we cruised back into Longyearbyen. I took frequent strolls on the deck in between saying goodbyes and packing. At midnight I, along with a number of other passengers, disembarked for our stupid O’clock flight home at 0230. The remaining passengers had their final night on board, moored at the harbour - official disembarkation being at 0930. 

 

IMG_20220627_003945 Sign at the airport by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The flights themselves went smoothly but my coach home had been cancelled, so rather than waiting hours for another connection I opted for the train. It was quite an easy route now to get the Heathrow express to Paddington, then the new Elizabeth line from there to Liverpool street. I narrowly missed the 11 am train but managed to get the 1130 so I arrived home a lot sooner than if I had got the coach. Of course the train was about 2 ½ times the cost of my coach ticket, but at least I got my money back from National Express for the cancelled coach.

[kittykat23uk]

Some closing remarks, was it worth it and what would I do differently?

 

 

This is a difficult question to answer. Taken altogether the cost of the trip was:

 

£2795 for the cruise

£1055 for the additional 3 nights including all the excursions and accommodation.

About £500 for the flights LHR to LYR

 

 

Plus lets say another £150 or so for additional food, drinks and other sundries. 

 

Taking the pre-tour extension first, I think the day trips are overly expensive for what they offer. But I guess that is the nature of being miles away from anywhere - costs are going to be higher. The Fox Whisperer I definitely thought was worth it, the catch of the days, not so much; but it's luck of the draw what you might see. The walrus safari was great and I'm glad I did it, but if you are going on a cruise then I guess the chances should be high that a haulout location would be included so it's not really necessary to include it.

 

Then there is the cruise. On the plus side, I effecively got a twin cabin for the cost of a quad. We saw a good variety of birds and mammals. I got my sighting of polar bears and the blue whales were fantastic! Every day brought different experiences and we did see a good variety of wildlife considering the cruise was not solely focused on that. The food was excellent and the crew were fun and knowledgeable. 

 

But it wasn't the tour focus that I had hoped for. I don't know to what extent it was the tour programme, or to what extent it was the weather, or just how this company operates- it could have been a mix of all three, but it felt like we were never in any danger of being woken in the night for a polar bear sighting. We seemed to sail quite distantly from the coast, so even if people were actively looking it would have been hard to spot them in my opinion from those kinds of distances. They also basically didn't offfer any activities after dinner, which I hadn't anticipated- I thought with the midnight sun it would be hard to get any sleep as we would at least be cruising close to shore and actively looking for wildlife and that there would be the potential for zodiacs to be deployed in the event that bears were sighted. But the crew generally ate and drank with us, socialised in the bar with us, (in fact there was quite a lot of fraternising going on) so I guess it might not have been a good idea for a tipsy crew and drunken guests to be getting in and out of zodiacs.. Again this might have been more due to the route we took, but for me this was a big missed opportunity. I don't think the age range or party spirit of the boat helped focus on wildlife either, but again this was just not the focus of this tour. Thing is I'm not sure that it would be much different on other Oceanwide expeditions.  Rinie did advise that they do have other sailings that are more polar bear and wildlife focused, but that really one should try and book on a smaller more focused sailing if one really wants to focus on polar wildlife (and of course those tend to be in the range of £7000 plus which I found hard to justify to myself when i was originally looking at options). 

 

However, I don't think this is the whole story, you don't necessarily have to book a very small boat for good chances of multiple bear sightings. I heard from a tour leader who recently went on a large ship with Quark who had 15 sightings of polar bears on a similar number of nights to us around the same time as my trip. Apparently they have a very focused crew who are constantly on the lookout for bears day and night and because of that the guests are also very motivated to search (I'm guessing they braved the storms or maybe were just a day or two beind us and missed them, I don't really know). They also, as I recall, use charter flights from Oslo and I understand you get a swanky free yellow parka as a gift to take home (we got a water bottle). Obviously the cost of these trips are more than my cruise was, but if I were to go again I might consider Quark, because I wouldn't then plan any extra days in LYR. 

 

Another thing is that I would definitely look at a longer sailing, especially in the summer time as you need to allow time to get up into the ice, had we more time we might have got into more productive ice (but then probably missed the whales on the way back!). In terms of timing of my trip, I thought it was a nice time to visit to see a range of wildlife, I might consider going around June or July again.  

 

But of course more days adds more cost. In the end I probably went overboard on my first 3 nights in LYR but when in Rome!

 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by kittykat23uk

[Galana]

Barnacle Geese in the rafters. Whatever next?

Thanks for your summary. I have to agree with your reasoning.

I would want much more 'active' seeking of wildlife and less bar time. It is a matter of why you/we are there. We can drink at home (and usually do.) I am not a fan of 'cruises' per se and will take a boat only with the incentive of another purpose. Your fellow pax seem to have different priorities. A bit like sharing a game drive with 'unbelievers'.

But you DID seem some wonderful sights and even the flora was impressive.

For the price that was not too bad.

Thanks for the insightful report.

[janzin]

I do think your observations at the end are very interesting. There are certainly pluses and minuses to both types of trips. It's true that our small ship had a lot more flexibility and the crew was basically on alert 24 hrs a day looking for bears and we could have gone out at any time (IF our zodiacs worked!) I would not want to give that up! On the other hand, you got a lot more varied activities and also things like lectures/talks which we had none of, and I really felt that was a negative on our cruise. As I mentioned in my report, the guides were not that communicative as we never once had a talk about conservation, wildlife, if you wanted to even know where we were you had to go hunt someone down and ask.

 

The optimal cruise would be a balance of both, but I would certainly prefer the smaller ship that we were on. Of course as you note that makes it much more expensive as well.

 

The varied activities I know is also a product of the time of year, and of course our issues with the zodiacs. I agree that late June early July is a pretty optimal time of year to go.

 

Anyway it seems you had a splendid trip no matter! And got some wonderful sighting and photos.

 

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

@Galanayes that is very true and was a product of having little choice but to book this basecamp trip when my other cruise went tits up. But the way I try and look at this is, for the cost of a smaller sailing, I got two trips, the first trip was a week of whale watching culminating in realising a dream of snorkeling with orcas. the second trip netted polar bears, walruses, arctic fox and Blue whales and a bunch of other wildlife and some spectacular scenery!  

[kittykat23uk]

@janzinyes as we discussed I think an operator like Quark expeditions might do the best of both worlds. Might be worth looking into at some point. It was nice that they kept a map in the bar updated with all of our landings and the lecture programme made good use of some quiet time and was very informative. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by kittykat23uk

[TonyQ]

@kittykat23ukthank you for an excellent report.

Wonderful photos of wildlife and the stunning scenery.

Really interesting writing, and very helpful final thoughts 

[michael-ibk]

We are really spoilt this year with all these beautiful Svalbard reports! Really enjoyed yours Jo, especially the birding focus. Awesome to see Blue Whales! You mentioned guide Barbara - was your birding guide Christophe by any chance?

[kilopascal]

Great report as always. Your perspective on things is always appreciated. I have just reread your Pantanal report for that reason. We will be there in just under 6 weeks. With your friend Julinho. 

[kilopascal]

1 hour ago, michael-ibk said:

We are really spoilt this year with all these beautiful Svalbard reports

Seriously! Did everyone go to Svalbard this year?😀August 2023 on Freya for me and after reading all of these I’m more excited than ever. 

[kittykat23uk]

7 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

We are really spoilt this year with all these beautiful Svalbard reports! Really enjoyed yours Jo, especially the birding focus. Awesome to see Blue Whales! You mentioned guide Barbara - was your birding guide Christophe by any chance?

Yes it was Christophe! 

[kittykat23uk]

5 hours ago, kilopascal said:

Great report as always. Your perspective on things is always appreciated. I have just reread your Pantanal report for that reason. We will be there in just under 6 weeks. With your friend Julinho. 

 

Oh now I'm super envious! Please give Julinho my love! I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time!! 

[pomkiwi]

@kittykat23ukThanks for this report and the excellent photos. Really interesting to see how much the experience had altered within a few weeks compared with my trip.