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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...". This is particularly poignant given [...]
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 the world’s most northerly whaling [...]
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 and indistinct out of the [...]
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 protected from northwesterly winds, but [...]
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 to north-west Spitsbergen. The trip [...]
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, was a broad shallow lagoon, [...]
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 with the intention of anchoring [...]
Blast from the past in Ny-Ålesund
After a night at anchored at Engelsbukta, our next stop was going to be Ny-Ålesund. Frederieke was keen to stop in this [...]