There aren’t many roads in the Svalbard archipelago, so if you want to get up close to polar bears, it’s best to get on a ship and look for them on the remote islands and pack ice. So, after a few days of hiking around the capital Longyearbyen, I joined the M/V Expedition for a 10-day trip to do just that.
The main Arctic tourist season starts in April but I’d chosen to go in mid-August, late in the season, because with less ice you have the chance to cover more ground and maybe get to some of the less explored islands further East. The intention of the voyage was to follow the ice up North and, subject to ice conditions, circumnavigate the entire island group.
Life on the ship has its own routine – a wake up call at 7am followed by a hearty breakfast – after all, you need to build up your energy for a tough day of standing around on deck in freezing temperatures. With lunch at 12 noon and dinner at 7pm, a typical day was designed around 2 activities – such as a beach landing or a trip on the zodiacs, plus a lecture on Arctic wildlife or history. But travel in the Arctic is unpredictable and plans can be affected by a multitude of factors including fog, ice and polar bear sightings. Flexibility is key.
Our first day demonstrated the need for such flexibility. We sailed up the West coast of Svalbard and pulled into the bay at Magdalenefjord. Here there are the remains of a 17th century whaling station with blubber ovens on shore. The crew had launched the zodiacs with the intention of landing all passengers for a closer inspection of this historic area. However, before any shore landing takes place there’s a thorough inspection of the surrounding areas to see if there are any polar bears. As I mentioned in part one, for the safety of man and polar bear alike, you don’t want to have an unexpected encounter. So, when one of the staff announced that a polar bear had been spotted about 2 miles away across the fjord, all plans for the shore landing had to be abandoned and our hike was converted to a zodiac cruise at short notice.
Once in the water our flotilla headed off in the direction of the bear and as they are naturally quite inquisitive creatures it didn’t take long for it to make its way down the slope and along the shoreline. Now, during the summer melt polar bears end up in a couple of places – some stay on the pack ice, which is their natural habitat and where seals can be found; as the ice retreats further North, so do the bears. Others get marooned on land where there is less food and they sit out the long days waiting for the ice to return in autumn, maybe scavenging a dead whale, birds’ eggs or eating a bit of seaweed, depending on their fat reserves to see them through this lean time. This particular polar bear looked pretty healthy and we were able to watch him for a good hour before he disappeared from view. Apparently the winter freeze of 2015/2016 only resulted in a thin layer of sea ice around Svalbard and by late June all of the ice had cleared. If we were to find pack ice and more bears we’d have to head a long way, so once we were all back on board the captain set a course due North and we motored steadily during the night.
I was up early the next day to see the pack ice, but out on deck I found the ship shrouded in dense fog. This is one of the hazards of travelling in the high Arctic – fog can descend at any time and as it limits visibility, you can’t move the ship or launch zodiacs until it clears. Occasionally the blanket lifted and we were able to push onwards through a patchwork of scattered ice. During this time we had some great views of seals and approaching one floe we counted almost a dozen harp seals which all slipped away leaving only a single larger and more confident bearded seal. All the while we were surrounded by kittiwakes and fulmars, which snap up the Arctic cod and plankton that gets disturbed as the ship pushes through the ice.
But really, we were in the ice to find polar bears and having not had any success all morning, our captain took us out of the pack and we raced to the East before plunging due North again. This time we were richly rewarded as the fog cleared completely and now with great visibility, a bear was spotted with a kill. Everyone was out on deck by this time, cameras at the ready, and we slowly approached the bear, stopping within the regulation distance so as not to disturb the animal. It appears that this was a young bear, possibly with its first kill because after tearing off a few chunks of flesh the bear proceeded to cover the kill with snow and then made a few charges at the opportunistic gulls nearby, which is unusual behaviour. We watched proceedings for over 2 hours until the bear settled down for a snooze, and the call of the dinner bell finally dragged us indoors.
The following day we called in at several barren islands off the North of Nordaustlandet. On Karl XII-Øya an inquisitive polar bear took to the water and started to follow one of the zodiacs, causing the boat to retreat swiftly. After watching us from a secure vantage point he swam back to the mainland and proceeded to climb up the hillside, presumably in search of eggs and chicks. We also spotted our first walrus here, with several mothers in the water with calves and two hauled out on the rocks. On the island of Brochøya, a very large and healthy male came to check us out near the shore, giving us some excellent photo opportunities, before he too set off up the rocks. Diving back into the pack ice we spotted a young bear in the distance. He ambled closer for a while, sniffing the air and finally settled down for a snooze.
The next day brought the first bad weather of the trip with light rain and lower temperatures. We continued East to Kvitøya, a seldom visited island that’s entirely covered by an ice cap. It was here that the three crew members of Salomon Andrée’s 1897 balloon expedition spent their final days. The bodies weren’t discovered for 33 years; such is the inaccessibility of this island. A landing was planned on the ice free spit of Andréeneset to give us a chance to stretch our legs after three days on board ship, but this time it wasn’t polar bears or fog that thwarted the plans, but a rolling swell falling straight on our intended landing spot. The crew were able to improvise once again however and after a lengthy reconnoitre we were all safely landed on a sheltered beach at Kraemerpynten for a quick walk on the ice cap. For sure, not many ships make it to this point – the most Easterly spit of land in the whole Svalbard archipelago and the last outpost of Europe – Russian waters are only 15 nautical miles away.
After these few days in the ice we now turned south and rounded Nordaustlandet, to view the dramatic dolerite cliffs of Alkefjellet, where an estimated 60,000 pairs of Brünnich’s guillemots nest on the tiniest of ledges. When only partly fledged the chicks flutter down to join the adult males in the water – many don’t make it, which explains why the area provides rich feeding grounds for Arctic foxes and we spotted three patrolling the grassy banks below the cliffs. Our afternoon landing was at Palanderbukta on the South East of Nordaustlandet and a fine example of the polar desert – rocky, barren, sparsely vegetated. As I’d opted for the ‘fast hike’ we struck off immediately to ascend the slope behind the beach. We crossed an area dense with shells and looking across the landscape you could see this was a raised beach, evidence of a previous shoreline. It was a fantastically clear afternoon with the sun shining brightly, and from the hill top we had some fine views over the glaciers and the ice cap, which is the third largest in the world after Antarctica and Greenland. On our descent we were able to take a close look at some of the hardy plants that eke out an existence here, such as the Svalbard Poppy and the Purple Saxifrage, the world’s most northerly flowering plant.
We were now on a Westerly course and very quickly the environment transforms from rocky desert to the more fertile tundra. This is due to the North Atlantic current, an offshoot of the Gulf Stream, which brings warmer water to the area. We passed through the narrow channel of Freemansundet which separates the islands of Barentsøya and Edgeøya. I usually keep my binocular next to me, so I can use it when necessary. Polar bears are often stranded here and with binoculars trained on the hillsides we were able to count seven distant bears, bringing our total for the trip to 17. As we’d been lucky to have several close encounters it’s easy to discount these far-off sightings, but be warned, on some trips distant creamy blobs can be the only sightings you get of the King of the Arctic.
Turning South down the coast of Edgeøya we put in for a landing at the historic site of Kapp Lee, the location of Russian and Norwegian hunting camps from the 17th century. From the beach we were able to get quite close to a walrus haul out, counting about 15 in total. This was an all male group – they can weigh as much as two tonnes with tusks up to one metre in length. At this site the walrus were heavily exploited in the past and skeletal remains litter the beach. Our ‘protection team’ set up a perimeter within which we were able to explore the remains of the hunting camps, the tundra and its rich vegetation, and watch several Svalbard Reindeer grazing the distant slopes. Our afternoon zodiac cruise took us up to the impressive glacier front within Hornsund, and strangely, as the calving glacier rumbled like thunder in the background, it seemed appropriate to have a quick swim! The water was only 3ºC and although most of my companions seemed to think this was ok, I was very grateful that the on-board sauna was steamy hot.
Far too soon, our final landing came at Skansbukta, deep within the sheltered Isfjord and close to Longyearbyen. This spot is particularly rich in botany and we found several species which are locally quite rare such as the Boreal Jacob’s ladder, Dwarf Birch and the Net-leaved Willow. The cultural history is also quite rich here as a failed attempt to mine gypsum has left a mine entrance, the remains of a railway and a small cargo ship abandoned on the shore.
And so, after almost three weeks in Svalbard I’d seen all that I came for and far more. This is a great wilderness and wildlife destination, and if you’re stuck for ideas for 2017, I’d thoroughly recommend it. Certainly if the worst global warming predictions come true, the pack ice – the true realm of the polar bear – is an environment that needs to be seen soon, before it’s lost forever.
Words + Photos by: Angela Manthorpe
