Svalbard Cruise: Polar Bears Special

Tuesday 1st June – Longyearbyen

•  Arrival at your convenience into Longyearbyen. The airlines Norwegian and SAS both have daily flights from Oslo or Tromso. You can also continue directly from our Across the Arctic Circle: Fair Isle, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen cruise
• Longyearbyen is the main town in Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, and the northernmost settlement in the world.
• You can visit the Svalbard Museum to learn about the mining industry, Arctic exploration and the local wildlife. You can also explore the streets of Longyearbyen or hop on an ATV for a tour outside of the city limits (YPT can help organize your day).
• Board the ship at 4:00pm in the Svalbard harbour
• In the early evening, the ship sails out of Isfjorden, where you might spot the first minke whale of your voyage.
• Dinner and overnight on the ship

Wednesday 2nd June – Raudfjord

• This voyage will take you into the pack ice and along the remote shorelines of rugged north Spitsbergen.
• Our goal during the trip is to be off the vessel as much as possible. While our planned schedule and activities are always subject to change due to local conditions (ice, weather, wildlife spotting opportunities), a typical day involve a zodiac cruise and a landing in the morning, and another cruise and landing in the afternoon.
• Today, on the north coast of Spitsbergen, we plan to visit Raudfjord (Red Fjord), famous for its striking red sedimentary rocks. We’ll also try to approach the glacier front of Ayerfjord. This area, historically significant as the site where Willem Barentsz first discovered Spitsbergen, offers an opportunity to explore rocky islands teeming with nesting birds like Great Skuas, Barnacle Geese, and Arctic Terns.
• During our cruise of the expansive Raudfjord, we may also see ringed and bearded seals. The cliffs and shoreline also support thriving seabird colonies, rich vegetation, and the possibility of polar bears. We will try to land at Alicehamna or Buchananhalvøya, a large peninsula which juts out into the middle of Raudfjord.
• Dinner and overnight on the ship

Thursday 3rd June – Monaco Glacier

• Depending on the weather and sea ice, today we could sail into Liefdefjorden, the “Fjord of Love”, land at Texas Bar and cruise within sight of the 5-kilometer-long (3.1 miles) face of Monaco Glacier (named in the honour of the first Prince Albert of Monaco, a famed explorer of the early 1900s). The waters in front of this precipitous glacier are a favorite feeding spot for thousands of kittiwakes, and the base of the ice is a popular polar bear hunting ground.
• Texas Bar is one of the historic areas we visit on certain Svalbard trips, and it always proves to be a cherished landing site among both our guides and guests. An old trapper’s hut, Texas Bar is not actually a bar at all. In fact, the bulk of its career has been dedicated to hunting and science. It was built in 1927 by Hilmar Nøis and Martin Petterson Nøis, Norwegian trappers who erected several other such huts in the surrounding region.
• If ice conditions prevent us from sailing here early in the season, we may sail along the west coast of Spitsbergen.

Friday 4th June – Highlights of Hinlopen 

• Torday, we aim to sail into Hinlopen Strait, home to bearded seals, ringed seals, and polar bears. The islands in Hinlopen Strait are known to be ‘bear traps’, where the bears are stuck when the sea ice retreats at the end of spring. At the entrance, there is even the possibility to spot blue whales. After cruising among the ice floes of Lomfjord in the Zodiacs, you can view the bird cliffs of Alkefjellet, with their thousands of Brünnich’s guillemots.
• On the east side of Hinlopen Strait, we may attempt a landing on Nordaustlandet. Here we may see reindeer, pink-footed geese, and walruses. Here, we will see Isisøyane or the Isis islands. They were covered by the icecap of Austfonna which covers a large part of Nordaustlandet. Austfonna is the third largest glacier by area and volume with the ice being almost 600 meters thick at the thickest point. However, with the retreat of Austfonna, Isisøyane appeared and it was evident that the Isisøyane were actually island. They were named in 2009.
• We can take an alternate route if ice prevents entry into Hinlopen.
• Dinner and overnight on the ship

Saturday 5th June – The Seven Islands

• The northernmost point of the voyage may be north of Nordaustlandet at Chermsideøya or Phippsøya, in the Seven Islands. The Seven Islands that make up the northern-most part of the Norwegian archipelago. The three biggest islands are Martensøya, Parryøya, and Phippsøya, with the four smaller islands being Nelsonøya, Tavleøya, Vesle Tavleøya, and Waldenøya.
• The islands are markers for many of the great explorations of the Arctic. Some of the islands are even named after famed explorers – Parryøya for Parry, Phippsøya for the British explorer Phipps, and Nelsonøya for the renowned British admiral Horatio Nelson, who, legend has it, was almost eaten by a polar bear when he visited the area as a young naval midshipman.
• Here we may reach 80° north, just 870 km (540 miles) from the geographic North Pole. Polar bears inhabit this region, so the ship may park for several hours among the pack ice before wheeling around west again.
• Dinner and overnight on the ship

Sunday 6th June – Sailing the continental shelf

• While retracing our route west, keep watch for polar bears and elusive Greenland (bowhead) whales. About 40 nautical miles west of Spitsbergen, we sail the edge of the continental shelf.
• Here fin whales forage during the summer in the upwelling zones (where cold, nutrient-rich water wells up from below the sea’s surface) that run along the Spitsbergen banks.
• At the mouth of Kongsfjorden, you have a good chance of sighting minke whales.

Monday 7th June – Forlandsundet, St. Johns Fjord, or Alkhornet

• Walruses sometimes haul out in Forlandsundet at Sarstangen or Poolepynten, which is situated at Prins Karls Forland, a beautiful flat trundra with a almost tropical like sandy beach. A perfect spot for a polar plunge, if you see what we mean…
• Alternatively, we might sail into St. Johns Fjord or south to the mouth of Isfjorden, landing at Alkhornet. Seabirds nest on these cliffs, Arctic foxes search below for fallen eggs and chicks, and reindeer graze the sparse vegetation.
• Dinner and overnight on the ship

Tuesday 8th June – Back to Longyearbyen

• Even great adventures must eventually come to an end. The vessel arrives back in Longyearbyen in the early morning, and bus transportation to the airport will be provided.
• YPT able to arrange extra activities like hiking, or day tours to Pyramiden or Barentsburg, for those who want more of a taste of Svalbard