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ONE LAST MORNING WITH THE POLAR BEAR Our plan for this morning had been to hang out with the bear for a bit longer and then to head south. [...]

OUR ASPIRATIONAL DESTINATION Getting to Smeerenburg had been our ultimate goal in Svalbard. It is located in the far north west of the archipelago on the island of Amsterdamøya [...]

Well, while all sorts of historical trash was lying around at the western end of the bay, something far more gripping was happening at the eastern end. Yep, perched [...]

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...". This is particularly poignant given [...]

THE MOST NORTHERLY (AND DUTCH) WHALING STATION The next morning was clear and bright so we headed off to Ytre Norskøya. This was once the world’s most northerly whaling [...]

A FOGGY DAY We awoke to a dark grey day. A thick, wet fog lay over us. The shore, only 100m away, loomed darkly and indistinct out of the [...]

SITTING OUT A GALE We had spent two days at Kobbefjorden, sitting out a gale from the northwest. The anchorage appeared to be well protected from northwesterly winds, but [...]

FOG AND SCENERY We left our anchorage at Ebeltofthamna at 0400 in the morning, to catch a good weather window to make it up to north-west Spitsbergen. The trip [...]