Svalbard
Starting our journey south
ONE LAST MORNING WITH THE POLAR BEAR Our plan for this morning had been to hang out with the bear for a bit longer [...]
Smeerenburg
OUR ASPIRATIONAL DESTINATION Getting to Smeerenburg had been our ultimate goal in Svalbard. It is located in the far north west of the archipelago [...]
Polar bear on a walrus
Well, while all sorts of historical trash was lying around at the western end of the bay, something far more gripping was happening at [...]
Virgohamna “…a desolate, dismal place…”
VIRGOHAMNA In 1912, Fridjof Nansen, one of Norways most renowned polar explorers, visited Virgohamna and described it as "...a desolate, dismal place...a disagreeable bay...". [...]
Cruising through North West Svalbard National Park
THE MOST NORTHERLY (AND DUTCH) WHALING STATION The next morning was clear and bright so we headed off to Ytre Norskøya. This was once [...]
80˚ North
A FOGGY DAY We awoke to a dark grey day. A thick, wet fog lay over us. The shore, only 100m away, loomed darkly [...]
Trying for Smeerenburg
SITTING OUT A GALE We had spent two days at Kobbefjorden, sitting out a gale from the northwest. The anchorage appeared to be well [...]
Spectacular views along the way to Kobbefjorden
FOG AND SCENERY We left our anchorage at Ebeltofthamna at 0400 in the morning, to catch a good weather window to make it up [...]
On land the first time!
OTHER-WORLDLY Anchored at Ebeltofthamna, once the wind dropped, we sat in an almost silent world. In front of us, and astern of the boat, [...]
Sailing through icebergs
MORE ICEBERGS After coffee and cookies with Maarten, Matthijs and Deborah on Saraban’de, we dropped our lines and headed northwest across Kongsfjorden to Krossfjorden [...]