Svalbard. Bearly made it with the bear necessities. 31st July to August 15th 2022.

[Galana]

11 hours ago, kilopascal said:

Too cold. Too long in a boat. Yada yada. And indeed there it was June 14 in an @Janzin trip report on Svalbard. So good on ya @Galana.

Even those of us with the Y chromosone (and an inbuilt stubborn streak) can change our minds. Faced with all those wonderful reports I just HAD to find out for myself.

 

And I was wavering by the 15th when I wrote...

"Sending for details when I get home."

 

So glad that I did.

 

And there is yet more to come from this trip. I am just half way at the 'dawn' of day 8 and Svalbard is not done with me yet.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Galana
added text.

[kilopascal]

6 hours ago, Galana said:

And I was wavering by the 15th when I wrote...

"Sending for details when I get home."

Uh oh. I should have read further.

[Galana]

8^th and 9^th August.

After all that excitement with the Humpbacks we all returned to our cabins whilst the Malmo headed east through nice calm seas.. When I rose and went on deck around 05.00 we had clear skies and no fog and no sign of land. Just the steady throb of Malmo’s trusty engine as we pushed along at around Warp speed. Well 8 knots anyway. Lots of birds following along and eventually at about 06.30 we sighted land dead on the bow as it should be. As we drew closer it seemed to be one massive lump of white ice but we could make out a line of rocks along the shore line. And on one of those rocks was a very interesting white blob. Away all boats! Well two, once the rest of the guests had finished their breakfast and joined us at the Zodiacs.

Bear number 7 was very cooperative even though we had perhaps disturbed his beauty sleep and we had over an hour with him until he finally got bored and got up and went in search of a more comfortable and quiet spot to continue his dreams. 

 

We left him to it and cruised the Zodiacs up and down the coast seeking others and apart from some Walrus and 1,000s of Kittiwake on what appeared to be a small inland ‘lake’ we found nothing.

Back for lunch whilst Malmo continued down the coast of Kivitoya where we came across an unfortunate Harp Seal resting on an ice floe. Sadly this beautiful animal had got ensnared in old fishing line or net and made a pitiful site. Even here in the wilderness careless human activity is taking its toll of wildlife.

 

 

Shortly after lunch another bear was seen so the Zodiacs were launched again.

 

Sadly the first bear was spooked by our appearance and remained up on the snow where it made for a more traditional setting but distant but it was Bear number 8.

 

 

Then we found another one closer to shore. Bear number nine 9.

After more scanning of the ice slopes our sharp eyed guides spotted two more high up on the ice slopes which after examination we decided was not mother and cub but a honeymoon couple seeking privacy.  Good to learn old traditions being kept up in the north and not discarded like those show off Lions of Africa. So that made our bear total 10 & 11. I append a photo in the best traditions of ‘Big Year’ as  an EBC or in this case “Every BEAR counts!”

 

 

 

A while later further scanning of the slopes yielded yet another bear in the snow line and after checking this was a further new bear to us and not one that had simply changed location. Number 12 it was.

 

And with those in the bag we returned to Malmo and set course west again to return to the north coast of Nordaustlandet where we would spend the ‘night’ passing to the north of the island in the hope of another bear.

And we did. Thirteen!  Unlucky for some but not us, was us finding another bear shortly after breakfast. Again back in the Zodiacs, I am getting quite adept at this manoeuvre. Time between the call and getting afloat down to mere minutes. OK. So I don’t have much of a change of clothing so it is a matter of down to cabin, on with outer waterproof, Life vest, and wellies and I am good to go.

 

This bear was an old female with a clear identity of an almost fur less head and ‘face’. She was moving slowly along the upper tide line and seemed to be scavenging, or at least inspecting, the line of flotsam including discarded or lost ropes etc., We followed her along as she was moving quite purposefully until after about an hour we lost her in some low lying rocks. But we now had bear number thirteen and it was not yet lunch time.

The afternoon passed quite quickly as we found some Walrus, including a mother and calf on some floes near yet another glacier.

Yet another glacier.

Plus a close encounter with a Bearded Seal. These are the largest seal in these waters and along with Ringed seal form a large part of the Polar Bears diet. Pelage is fairly non descript and it is only with close approach can one see the defining eponymous feature of a magnificent set of whiskers that also form part of the animals latin name Erignathus barbatus.

 

And so another excellent day drew to a close, or it would if it ever got dark but up here without a watch and regular meals life must be very confusing. I Know I was.

What would the ‘morning bring’ and where the heck would we be when it did?

 

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by Galana

[Dave Williams]

Your photos have never been better Fred! Quite superb!!

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Dave Williams said:

Your photos have never been better Fred!

Steady on. I do have a certain standard to live down to.

[Galana]

10^th and 11^th August.

Indeed. Where are we? My dead reckoning based on information and time and distance computations has not got a circle of uncertainty of about 80km in diameter. Best guess is ‘somewhere to the north and west of Murchison fjord in Gustav V land.” Our pleasant cruise was interrupted by the call of ‘two bears seen on the beach’. Zodiacs were prepared but just before launch came the call that it was a false alarm. They were white rocks.

This later caused some merriment as the sightings log now included "2 Stone Bears."

We got some minor compensation with yet another Bearded Seal and after breakfast an excursion into another fjord produced a small flock of Light –bellied Brent Geese.

This is also a species that visit Isle of Man in winter so perhaps we were again looking at ‘our’ geese. Another Bearded Seal was the only other mammal we found although somebody swore they could see three foxes but failed to get a fix.

Around lunchtime as we checked out yet another fjord and glacier there was a solitary Reindeer grazing the saltmarsh.

Dinner was a BBQ on deck and the crew were viewing a James Bond movie ‘Casino royale’ but after my by now customary post prandial glass I took an early night after a quiet day.

 

 

Next morning I was up at 05.00 to some mist that promised to burn off as the sun rose higher and as it lifted the scenery was really beautiful.

Another day, another glacier. This time the floes proved to be the home of a much sought after bird that frequents the high Arctic. One I had seen but briefly on this trip but here I found some ready subjects for my lens. Truly beautiful and not hard to work out how it got its name of Ivory Gull. Pagophila eburnea ‘Ice loving white bird’. I could not have put it better myself.

Permit my indulgence for a few shots of this lovely bird as I experiment with positioning it against the ice to check out the ‘whiteness’ of both for a colour match.

The plan this morning was to take a trip ashore and visit some Walrus. I opted out of this as I could see them from Malmo so I thought to record the excursion rather than be in it.

An interesting sequence evolved which I found of interest.

First the landing party arrive and gather on the beach for the safety talk whilst the area is checked out for Polar Bear.

Two Walrus were lying a bit detached from the main ‘cuddle’ and one decides to leave as the shore party approaches leaving the other still ‘sleeping’.

He then gets a close encounter of the Human kind and decides his pal had the right idea and joins him in the water.

 

Then whilst the main herd pay little heed to the intruders the two pals decide that it is time to check them out even though for safety reasons the party have withdrawn back along the beach.

 

 

I quite enjoyed having the boat to myself for three hours or so whilst the others sported themselves ashore.

Shortly after lunch the mist returned and our viewing was restricted for the afternoon and Malmo moved out into more exposed waters to the west of the Archipelago where we encountered a big swell causing the boat to take up a rolling motion. The hard working chef took this as a personal afront as he had just prepared a delicious Creme Brulee for tonight’s dessert and the motion of the boat proved incompatible with easy setting. So we got Trifle tonight instead!

 

 

Tomorrow is our last day so our remaining time is running out for more sightings. Surely we cannot stick on unlucky thirteen for bears and somebody has deleted the two Stone ones from the score? Oooh!.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Galana
added text.

[Atravelynn]

Page 1--Enticing first line.  What a harrowing start.  It all had to fall into place and it did.  Furry, feathered and finned, you saw it all and in multiples.  Glad you were able to get some pants on in time so as not to miss any of it.

 

Page 2--Great seal action and nice perspective on the walrus.  It seems the group was having tea with them.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Atravelynn

[Galana]

8 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

It seems the group was having tea with them.

I think they had settled down to talk of many things
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings.

 

[TonyQ]

You have done really well for Bears, and the Ivory Gull is lovely.

I agree with Dave, your photos are excellent 

[Galana]

6 hours ago, TonyQ said:

I agree with Dave, your photos are excellent 

Thanks. @Dave Williamstoo.

I put it down to the extra daylight.

As everyone knows, these Bridge cameras are very dependent on good light so, given that there is twice as much every day in these latitudes, it stands to reason that using 24 hours worth instead of just twelve I can do twice as well.

[Galana]

12^th August.

The final frontier.

I woke and went on deck still not knowing our exact location but able to narrow it down to within a days sailing of Longyearbyen where we were due to dock this evening prior to disembarkation.

A quick look around and I was able to guesstimate we were heading south down the Forlandsundet with a large cruise ship on a reciprocal course in the distance. The weather was bright and sunny but the sea had still a definite beam swell running causing the boat to roll around quite a bit. This simply drew my attention to how lucky we had been with the weather throughout our ten days with flat seas enabling all excursions as required.

 

I took the opportunity of the absence of other guests to snap a couple of photos of the ‘passenger lounge’ for the record.

The bridge called ‘two bears on shore’ and whilst we could just make them out a closer approach was not possible due to the rocks we could see in the breaking swell

and as it would have been very silly to wreck the boat on our last day we let them go and although I did get some sort of record shot of two white blobs I decided they exceeded the criteria for EBC by a fair margin and our bear count remained at 13 for now.

 

At around 07.50 there were distinct ‘blows’ in the distance directly ahead and as we closed it became apparent that we had more whales. But these were not Humpbacks. Too big and too fast. The sickle shape of the dorsal fin and their manner of fishing told us they were Fin Whales. Balaenoptera physalus which at over 22 metres  and weighing in at 70+ tonnes is second only to the Blue whale as the largest creatures on earth. Somebody suggested there was a Blue Whale showing too but it was hard to make it out as the Fin Whale’s mottled colouring can look ‘blue’ in certain lights. I was more than happy with Fin Whale as I had only ever seen one ‘possible’ prior to this when Dolphin watching off the Isle of Man many years ago. Due to their fishing technique it as hard to get good photographs especially with the rolling of Malmo but it was clear that there were young ones closely following an adult on occasion as they blew.

All in all we had these magnificent creatures with us for over an hour and whilst they were relatively relaxed they did not welcome too close an approach and given their scarcity we were only too pleased to have seen them at all. I got some shots of them surfacing with the baleen screens clearly visible so the ID was not in doubt.

And the day was not done yet. As we headed south we found a Polar Bear mid channel heading for the shore near Daudmannsodden and the nearest land that ‘he’ must have come from was a good 20km behind him.

Of course we stayed well back so as not to hassle him as he made his way to the rocky shore where again we had to steer clear due to the surf and rocks.

However we watched him clamber ashore and make his way along the beach. We were also treated to see him roll on his back to shed off most of the water after his swim. Bear number 14 was noted in the record.

After watching some distant Humpbacks about 5 or more km south we also saw another bear, or the same one, but the distance indicated it was a new bear particularly as it was heading in the opposite direction to number 14 when last seen so we can safely count this as number 15.

The trip was ending very well indeed and even a relatively uneventful afternoon failed to bring us down from a great high of a very successful and memorable trip. We made our way slowly to our dock in Longyearbyen and our celebratory end of cruise special dinner of Rack of Lamb, my favourite.

Next morning we all disembarked and went our separate ways. I was booked into the Svalbard Polarfaren which I had booked for one night to readjust and re-pack for my trip home.

I will draw a veil over the disastrous ‘sightseeing tour’ I had mistakenly pre-booked for Sunday morning other than to say it must rate as one of the worst experiences in my long life.

My last day did improve after that when I was joined by two cruise companions who insisted on taking me for a cup of coffee/hot chocolate. Thank you Cindy and Kevin.

 

 

I will add a few thoughts later should anyone still be awake.

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Galana
amended text as some photos failed to upload.

[TonyQ]

I’m still awake!

Amazing how many bears you saw, and the whales

[janzin]

15!! really 17 bears!! Unbelievable, and so many whales.  Super envious.

 

Is that Fruene where you had the hot chocolate? Why didn't you buy me any Polar Bear chocolates?

 

[Treepol]

What a wonderful cruise and the last day was a true Arctic send off with a polar bear encore and the fin whales.

 

I liked your photos of the swimming bear and the whales surrounded by birds.

[Galana]

2 hours ago, janzin said:

Is that Fruene where you had the hot chocolate?

Yes. We even could sit outside it as so mild.

 

2 hours ago, janzin said:

Why didn't you buy me any Polar Bear chocolates?

You were not around so I gave them to Cindy.

The Hotel even placed two Polar bear chocolates on my pillow which found their way home with me. Along with a trio of Ceramic Cubs for Lady G which were well received.

1 hour ago, Treepol said:

I liked your photos of the swimming bear and the whales surrounded by birds.

Thanks. They were a bit special. Birds often give away the location of Whales or Dolphins as they know food is on offer.

 

@all Yes I think the trip a huge success for sightings. I would have been happy with the first sighting as I never really expected much than say that final sighting but to get up close like that was really special. And can it get better than Whale watching in pyjamas and wellies?

I am now trying to find space on my walls for a Polar Bear photo.

[kilopascal]

Remarkable trip. With this good fortune you might give up planning 333 days ahead. Naw. That would be silly wouldn’t it. Nothing to look forward to. Thanks for the awesome report. 

[Galana]

9 hours ago, kilopascal said:

With this good fortune you might give up planning 333 days ahead. Naw.

Already got tickets for next February in TZ and almost fully paid up for our annual Hebridean Odyysey in May BUT always room to try my luck with another last minute  spur of the moment booking. I had a lot of luck but if I am honest I think if given too long to think about it I may have come up with too many excuses why I should not have gone. I am even more grateful to Lady G for her welcome 'encouragement.'

[Galana]

Sunday 14th and Monday15th.

The return home.

My final day in Longyearbyen ended with an excellent dinner with friends that we strung out until 10pm after which I took a settee in the Lounge and read whilst awaiting my Taxi at 00.01. I recall being told by an embarrassed Receptionist that I must stay awake as sleeping was not permitted in public areas. Well the fire was nice and I guess I must have nodded off.  I apologised and suggested that perhaps like her grandfather, us seniors were prone to resting our eyes from time to time. She laughed and confirmed my thoughts.

The Taxi arrived spot on time and I set off for Longyearben International with some sadness that my excellent trip was finally ending.

The airport was an eye opener. There were no check in staff just machines. I waived my Passport under the screen and hit the right buttons and out came my Boarding Pass and Luggage tag right through to Manchester,England. I thought it might confuse things to try for Isle of Man even though we are an ex Norwegian colony.

Then my luggage was placed on the conveyor belt and the baggage tags scanned by one of those things you see at Supermarket check outs and my bag disappeared up the belt and into the unseen bowels of the airport. A quick walk through 'Security', what nice people, and I was in the Departure lounge. I had dreaded being at the airport, ANY airport, so early in the morning but here of course it was still broad daylight. Quite unnerving. You could see outside the windows and saw my plane arrive on schedule.

Boarding on time and we were off non stop to Oslo. One of the eternal mysteries of air travel. Why, when one has a long layover ahead do planes leave early and why when connections are tight are they always late?

So we landed in Oslo without delay at 5.25 with a six hour layover. Oh well. Where is the SAS Lounge? I found it and had breakfast and read until heading for my gate passing through immigration. Again the plane boarded and left on time for the two hour flight to Manchester. And another 4 hour layover. At this rate I had spent twice as long in layovers as I had actually flying!

And to make matters worse my next carrier won't open their checkin/bag drop (yes my self checked bag had arrived on its own from Longyearbyen) until two hours before the flight. So why please do they ask one to get to the airport at least three hours early 'because of the well publicised delays??'  They are actually making things worse and blaming the airport. No wonder Security have problems when they have anxious passengers worried about making their flights.

And of course it is not over yet. The bloody inbound plane was an hour late and even when we got aboard the pilot could not do his sums and kept moving passengers around until the weight on all three wheels was within limits. I thought that was why we had allocated seats by computer?  Not with "Scotland's Airline" it seems. I half expected to see them bring out  the bathroom scales.

So I got into IOM an hour late to find Lady G patiently waiting with the car to whisk me home and my own bed.

 

I knew I was home as it got dark at Ten p.m. just like it should.

 

Final post later.

 

 

 

[Galana]

Final thoughts.

Go! Sell the children but GO!

I had not shopped around prior to the decision but knew deep down that a larger vessel just would not be worth the price saving. Even ‘bespoke’ charters from prominent UK Agencies were talking of 50 pax and 8 to a Zodiac and simple maths indicated that that meant 6 Zodiacs to a sighting. Not ideal even if they could all be launched in time.

And my experience of other Continents told me that ‘foreign’ agencies would sub contract to an ‘in country’ supplier anyway, so by going direct it would cut out the ‘middle man’ and, possibly, bearing the cost of the agency’s man coming along on a freebie. The only advantage I could see was an ‘inclusive quote’ to include plane tickets and transfers.

My choice was made for me by the good reports on other Trip Reports. It was Arctic Wildlife Tours and either ‘Malmo’ or ‘Freya’ and so it was done.

 

Airlines had not been researched, I had heard of ‘Norwegian’ , 'Whizair' and other Low cost newcomers but in my haste to get tickets I just automatically went to Scandinavian (SAS) website and bought what was on offer.

I did try to contact ‘Trailfinders’ but their wait times holding on the phone for ‘my call that was important to them’, they said, were excessive and they ‘failed’.  Sorry Mike, you dropped the ball.

As it happened SAS came good despite their predilection for routing me via other Scandinavian Capitals. My first routeing was via Stockholm and the second, final, included a night in Copenhagen. There MUST be a direct flight MAN-Oslo as I came back that way and did not notice a stockpile of SAS Airbus on the MAN apron so where did they go?

An explanation of my choice of MAN is that living on the Isle of Man I need to get to UK hubs and usually do this through Manchester (MAN) as it is only a 45 minute hop away. I avoid LHR like the plague in view of its well publicised problems and my preferred route is to MAN and onwards with KLM to AMS and the outside world.

Once in Oslo there are direct, even nonstop, flights to Svalbard with SAS and others. My return flights have been covered in my final report as above. This would be my choice despite the long layover in Oslo of 6 hours. One big advantage I found with SAS is that they do not charge for seat reservation or fast track or boarding and lounge access at least not on the ticket they sold me. And all of these little things can and do mount up when transferred to a Low cost carrier.

 

Clothing. You are at 80 north, it is cold even in summer but nothing more uncomfortable than what a normal cold day in Europe would be. Gloves, Fleece, outer layer and ‘Long johns’ were fine for me. Deck shoes or flip flops for down time on Malmo and Wellies for the Zodiac to keep your feet dry. I did bring Hiking boots but never wore them. Obviously I was in summer conditions and early or late season would dictate more ‘hard weather’ protection. Some folks brought re-chargeable hand warmers but I had no need of such things.

 

Equipment. I decided to leave my Netbook at home. There is no Wiffy on Malmo and as I mainly use it for backing up photographs I decided it was not worth the hassle. Back up was via multiple SD cards to minimise risk of loss.

Binoculars, worn on one of those X straps to ease hands free wearing of them and accidentally dropping them over board, they performed well. There was a bit of initial misting due to the cold air but it soon cleared.

Camera. This is where I had the only problem. Switching on for the first time after an interval often brought up a “card unreadable” flag which worried me at first. The shutter was dead.  I thought ‘batteries’ of course as they don’t like cold weather. But they had not let me down in Ladakh at minus 22 so why in the Arctic? Switching on and off a few times seemed to get the card reading again so I guessed it was not the Batteries but the actual Camera body getting ‘Cold Soaked’ and this was actually affecting the electronic circuits. I got other odd messages such as reminders regarding exposure compensation etc., which supported my guess. I tested this by keeping the camera, when not in immediate use, between my thighs when in the Zodiac and that seemed to cure it. Maybe Nikon need to fit a pre start warming element much like that fitted to early glow plug diesels? But that was the only problem. I did not use a carry bag unlike some other guests who seemed incapable of life afloat without multi lenses and bodies and a large bag to carry them all in.

It was also easy for me to switch to Video for those action events that are always hard to convey in a still shot. Burst shooting is fine, but maybe I am unlucky as the best bit always seemed to happen just as I was ‘storing’ just after shooting a burst.

Joking apart I did find the bright Arctic light of much assistance with decent exposure times.

 

Life aboard Malmo. Berths for twelve passengers so nice and compact. The crew were extremely friendly and helpful whatever their jobs from Captain to Cook.

Food was wonderful. I did not go for or expect Gourmet cuisine but could not find fault with either quality or quantity. Booze was run on an honesty tab and despite Norway prices ashore I found the marked prices on board a pleasant surprise.

The boat often ran all night to reposition and some pax found the engine noise disturbing.  I am not the soundest of sleepers but got my four or five hours each night without a problem. Who needs more when it never gets dark outside the porthole? There was no ‘Bar scene ‘ as such as everyone seemed ready for their bunks by about 22.00.

 

Wildlife. For those who do such things I only got three ‘lifers’ for my personal bird list, Little Auk, Brunich’s Guillemot and the lovely Ivory Gull. This was of course due to the fact that many of the birds of Svalbard are Palearctic migrants and can be seen in my home waters. For the same reason I only ‘scored’ about ten birds for my 2022 Big Year.

Mammals of course were the big attraction, I had never seen Polar Bears, Walrus or any of the seals we found or the delightfully evil Arctic Fox.

The whales were something else entirely. Awesome encounters. I had seen Blue and Humpback before but never Fin and Beluga and they were almost worth the trip in their own right.

I don’t know why but Reindeer did nothing for me. Perhaps it is something to do with Christmas and Rudolph!

Longyearbyen. A small pleasant township. Some nice shops and restaurants and decent Hotels. Shopaholics can indulge in several decent shops with quality products so no need to be bored waiting for a flight or cruise boat.

There is even a cafe where one can pet Huskies if you feel the need. Personally I don’t think dogs and food mix well. One place that our guide recommended was/ is “MIX” in a shopping precinct(mall) which was reputed to sell the best Ice cream. I tried it but having been reared on Italian made, and latterly under Manx Purity laws, I have to say it was no great shakes. Oops. It was fine as Ice cream goes but nothing very special (unless you are stuck in the arctic with limited choice.)

Activities of course are mainly adrenalin based. ‘Safaris’ on ATV’s, Skimobiles, Husky ‘sleds’ abound. Bikes to hire and Kayaks to float about on. Also if booked there are some all day wildlife orientated tours by minivan and enclosed fast RIBs to distant Walrus colonies.

There is an interesting museum and I found the Tourist Bureau very helpful.

Caveat! Do not try the two hour ‘sightseeing tour’. It was truly one of the most awful experiences I have ever suffered. OK. So there was a cruise ship in so the coach was crammed but even half full would have been 20 people too many. Total disinterested pax which made it hard to hear the commentary which to be fair to the driver did his best. I got off and walked home.

Finally. Currency is the Norwegian Kroner , (NOK) at about 12 to the £. But don’t take much with you as it is hard to spend and I brought half my notes back with me. Why is it hard to spend? Well I was told there is no Bank so shops/hotels and all and sundry service providers cannot Bank their takings and want/insist on cards only. Even for the bus fare, an Ice cream or an inexpensive map of the town from the Tourism bureau. Glimpse the future here in Svalbard.

Finally I recall @janzinquerying the fate of Polar Bear Chocolates. Look away now.

Here they are.

Delicious.

The End!

[janzin]

ohhh I might have to go back just to return to Fruene! Those chocolates!(and their cookies were outrageously good too.)

 

I think they ship....

 

[iphonewifeNikonhusband]

This is a fantastic report! You took wonderful photos and saw so much! We are just back from 11 days on the Quest - I am intimidated to post my iPhone snaps and cannot post videos on my thread for some reason. DH has the good photos from his Nikon. Thanks for the great report! 

[Galana]

Thanks @iphonewifeNikonhusband Don't be intimidated. Everything counts. I find uploading videos to You tube and then posting link on here works for me.

[Zim Girl]

Great report @Galana, you had some fabulous sightings!

Lots of useful info in your 'final thoughts', thank you.

[Towlersonsafari]

what a splendid report- the polar bear seemingly looming above you is spectacular1 @Galana

[kilopascal]

Thank you for the final thought @GalanaThose are very helpful.