Hornsund, Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard Archipelago
This morning we woke up to beautiful cool breezes and sunny skies, arriving just after breakfast to Hornsund, the bay called Gaashamna, famous for its historical remains from the British whaling industry from 1600 to the 1700s. The whaling was targeted towards bowhead whales, whose numbers collapsed and have never recovered. A classic example of human exploitation, all that remains are the blubber ovens, house sites, graves, and, of course, the whale bones. These became the main subjects for our photography walk, allowing everyone the chance to take their time and perfect their photography skills, recalling all that they had learned during the past three weeks (see photo). As the sun rose higher, the photographers concentrated more on shooting the reflections of each other as well as the mountains in the water, and run-off from the nearby glacier.
What an expedition this has been, starting out in Tromso, Norway, sailing down the Norwegian fjords, over to the Faroes, surrounded by thousands and thousands of flying puffins. Then on to Iceland and finally northeast Greenland, a spot on the globe that the National Geographic Explorer has never sailed before. Memories of seeing the muskox, and visiting the old trapper huts, a spectacular visit to Scoresbysund and cruising in and around the glaciers near dusk. Finally we sailed back north across the Greenland Sea, mostly in the fog hugging the ice edge, eventually arriving to Svalbard, having a hike at Kongsfjord in the misty fog and light rain.
We came back to ship for lunch and then cruised Hornsund with its many tide water glaciers. The landscape was majestic and we found ourselves teaching photography on the bow of the ship since everyone wanted to stay outside and continue shooting. Mid-afternoon, Stephanie Martin spotted a polar bear swimming in the water at the edge of a glacier; we made a very safe and slow approach, but that was not the end of the excitement. Glaciers were calving all around us, and we spotted several more polar bears, one swimming and two on ice floes (see photo).
This being our last night before disembarkation tomorrow, it was a great finale to share perhaps the most iconic animal in the Arctic region. Hopefully some of our guests will return and share these adventures with us again.
