Edgeoya
After six balmy days in the Arctic, we awoke to a more energetic Arctic. We were anchored off of Sundnest on Barentsoya Island, 78.12N, 21.07E. We attempted to make landfall in a sheltered cove but wind gusts were reaching 50 mph whipping up whitecaps in the Storfjorden Sea. The temperature held between 3-4 degrees Celsius with a brisk wind from the Northeast. Captain Oliver Kruess and our Expedition Leader Lisa Trotter wisely decided to cancel the shore trip.
After a Scandinavia meal of meatballs, cauliflower, salmon with trimmings, lingon berry preserves, cinnamon rolls and Aquavit; our sturdy vessel made steady headway south to Ardasnuten on the southwest peninsula of Edgeoya Island.
On Ardasnuten, the winter snows had just melted, bringing forth the earliest heralds of summer. We walked in a driving rain but were thrilled to see buttercups, mountain sorrel, moss campion, nodding saxifrage and lousewort. Our Naturalist guide, Richard, pointed out to us that polar willow trees are smaller than mushrooms. We discovered an intact single egg of a snow bunting but no nest. At the end of our excursion, we were treated to the sight of a red phalarope male protecting his young chicks and the skeleton of a large bow whale lying partly buried in the beach sands. Long ago, four whalers were stranded here. Few vessels plied their way though these ice-bound waters, so it wasn’t until another ship was blown off course six years later that three were rescued. During that time, the men used their skills to fashion tools to hunt and survive. By the time they were found, they had killed 7 polar bears and 150 reindeer.
After returning to the ship and warming up in the sauna, we continue our journey south on the first circumnavigation of Spitsbergen this season.
