Tromsø
After spending a quiet night alongside in Tromsø, we, the guests of National Geographic Explorer, have another day to enjoy this wonderful city. More and further in-depth exploration commences as some of us traveled outside the city to enjoy the tundra, a good walk, and the last of the summer flowers. Others chose to stay within the city limits visiting the Cathedral and learning more about the intrepid polar explorers detailed in the Polar Museums in town. Being a Sunday, the city was already quiet, but this Sunday there was a somber feel as it was a day of remembrance for the tragedies that struck Oslo merely a month ago.
This voyage is truly two expeditions combined into one, starting first in Svalbard where the monochrome colors of snow, ice, glacial moraines, and polar bears are the norm, where to see other human beings aside from ourselves would surprise us, and where we can truly get a feel for the harsh climate and tough conditions the early explorers experienced. Then in just the two days, we sailed south and a whole new world was opened to us. Suddenly we were in a land of brilliant greens, rocks lined with orange lichens, warm temperatures, and most of all the sights and sounds of other people – small red houses lining the fjords, and in Tromsø, a lively city square.
While we move from one incredible destination to another on this expedition, there is one very obscure place we explore – the underwater world. As Undersea Specialist on the National Geographic Explorer it is my pleasure, along with the Explorer dive team, to bring back pictures from Norway’s ocean, using SCUBA, Splash Cam, or ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle). In these costal ecosystems, the underwater niche is just as important as the terrestrial one.
The water temperatures here range from 45 – 55„aF, basically the tropics for those of us who have been diving in the sub-zero temperatures of Svalbard all summer. We find small kelp forests around the islands, some very healthy and others devastated by sea urchins, something we see similarly in the kelp forests of California.
As steep as the cliffs of the fjords are above the water, they also continue that way below the water. It is on these steep walls that we find delicate creatures such as sea anemones, soft corals, and sea spiders.
For the seafood lovers, the waters of Norway are filled with cod, scallops, king and edible crabs. The king crab found here is the same species found in Russian and Alaskan waters. Introduced in the Kola Peninsula in the 1960’s, the population rapidly expanded its territory and is now as far south as Tromsø. The bane of the fisherman’s existence, these crabs eat everything in their path, destroying the fish’s natural habitat, so that they must move further and further away from the traditional fishing grounds.
This afternoon we departed Tromsø and continue our adventure South along Norway’s Coastal Maninland.
