Norway and the Arctic

The national park was large. With only half a day, we opted for the motorbus tour which included 2 best lookout points - Eagle's Bend and top of Dalsnibba. A visit to the fjord museum and a short hike back to the port. Yes, it does not do the place justice but that's the best we can do for this round :>

After dinner, the ship arrived close to the small island of Runde, a bird breeding area.

In previous night's briefing, we were told that the the final 30 mins sailing into the Gierangerfjord is the most scenic. As the captain planned to arrive in the fjord early, alarms were set before Jonathan's wakeup call and we were on deck before breakfast to savour the sights of multiple waterfalls on both sides of the ship, rainbows and golden rays reflecting off the gushing water. Great pre-breakfast feed.

When leaving Gierangerfjoid, the Captain decided to give us a treat, slowed the ship down and navigated close to the 7 sisters waterfall for a perfect view of the falls.

The multiple C-bends on eagle road is an attraction on its own. Take the last seat of the bus and look out of the window as it makes its turn! The town organises a half marathon with the end point at the top of this winding road. You can opt to bike if you don't want to run :P

Our guide assured us that our driver passed his driving test yesterday.

Key highlights of the morning city tour.
Sverresborg Folk Museum (open-air museum with great city section of 1700s houses of rich Danish merchants, rural sections of farmhouse and a section on Sami people artifacts and culture.

Nidaros Cathedral, one of the oldest and 2nd largest in norway. Interesting stories of how King Olav Tryggvason became a Saint.

No tour of a norwegian city is completed until you find the local brewery. Great flight of 9 tasters of their local brews.

A free and easy afternoon roaming Trondheim old city area where the hansa buildings sit along the river.

Reindeer stew for lunch at the retro Baklandet Skydsstation restaurant

Landing on the island of Torget, to climb the famous ‘holed mountain’, Torghatten, carved by water, ice, and time to form a geological masterpiece. It started to look gloomy with forecast of snow. Our luck with the weather held, giving us a great view when we reached the top. The descent was steep, rocky, slippery, final stretch was flats of beach and farmland back to our starting point.

Mike our geologist explained how land here has risen, i.e. the sea-level/beach used to be somewhere mid-level of the hill, as seen by the changing size of the rocks along the descend.

Afternoon landing on Vega Island (archipelago of 6,500 smaller islands and islets). The islands are famous (and recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) for their millennia-old practice of eider down harvesting. A short nature walk followed by a visit to the eider duck musuem.

Thank you G Adventures for adding this stop, its one of my favourite.

G Expedition crossed the Arctic Circle in the wee hours to get to Engabreen. We are now heading back south to cross the Arctic Circle "again" when everyone is awake. The Captain blasted the horn to signify the crossing. We toasted champagne/akvavit as we pass the Vikingen Island where a monument stands to mark this famous line of latitude.

As long as you have got Susan (Expedition Operations Manager), you will get waffles and coffee no matter how remote a place is!

In this case, you get your waffles with a window view of the glacier.

The morning landing was for the long hike with the "mountain goat" group to scale the mountain towards where the glacier Engabreen ends at the lowest point of any glacier on the European mainland. Conditions were wet and slippery, slowed down our process and we were just 200m short of touching the glacier.

A walking tour with the local guide to the Black-legged Kittiwake colony near the harbor, island’s museum, showcasing a history of life by and on the sea, northern rim of the island to watch a Atlantic Puffin colony

The ship drop us off at the small village of Å (last letter of Norwegian alphabet). We travel the island chain by bus from south to north.

After having learnt the history of Tørrfisk in Å, a brief photo stop in beautiful Reine, we arrived at Nusfjord

After lunch, we proceeded to Borg where we visited the Lofotr Viking Museum, followed by Henningsvær for a walk around the town and cod drying on the racks

After dinner, Captain's time to perform again, he guided the G Expedition into the short and narrow Trollfjord, pivot on its axis and cruise back out.

Zodiac excusion to get up close to the bird cliffs. The usual Kittiwakes colony, a Whitetail Sea Eagle being chased away by the flock of Kittiwakes, Eurasian Shag, Black Guillimot with their pretty red feet.

Post breakfast chats were interrupted as we arrived in Bleik Canyon with the announcement of whales. This sub-marine canyon, more than 760m deep, is a feeding ground for these giants. For 2 hrs, the Captain navigated this ship in this area, keeping speed to manage the high swells and spotted at least 6 sperm whales.

The largest city in Northern Norway.
Highlights were the organ recital at the Arctic Cathedral and the history and artifacts of Polar exploration at the Polar Museum.
Botanical gardens had a good collection of apline or high latitude plants.

Polaria while being the most northerly aquarium was quite underwhelming for me.
No comment on the cable car ride as we were fogged out as soon as we reached the top, so nothing for us to see or do there.

My original plan was to visit Ølhallen (the oldest pub in Tromsø with 64 taps).
Our city tour ended late, with only 45mins left, I decided on Skarven Pub near the port to save walking time. All is not lost as Skarven had 9 local craft beer on tap including one from Bryggeri 13, Tromsø Mikrobryggeri, and one from Graff

This is a day at sea, crossing from Tromsø to Svalbard.

Sailing by Bear island, it looks like another dramatic rock cliff with lots of bird life. Fog, wind and weather did not permit launching zodiac, so we decided to check out the bridge and see the captain at work.

Anyone fancy cocktails with 1000yr old glacier ice?

G Expedition repostioned to the end of the fjord into an area known as Brepollen.

It was a surreal feeling having lunch in the dining room, at the end of a fjord surrounded 270 degrees by glaciers.

After lunch, we went exploring in our Zodiacs, getting up close and personal to the glaciers, marvelling at the sheer size and intricate weird formations in the ice.

After 90mins in the cold, not being able to move much in a zodiac, Randy warms you up with a cup of hot chocolate with Kahlúa in the mud room.

We are finally in Hornsund, Svalbard. Zodiacs landing ashore at Gnålodden on the northern side of this fjord. Purple saxifrage covered the tundra, and a chance to go into the actual wooden cabin where Wanny Woldstad, the first female trapper, spent her winter.

These shy little fellows are so fun to watch. Always diving into the water as soon as you get close, probably popping up at the exact same spot after awhile. Their clumsy water landings (crash landing) are quite amusing.

Nope, they are not related to the penguins.

Landing at Bamsebu, we visited another trappers hut. The beach donned heaps and heaps of bones. A reminder of the beluga whaling industry in Svalbard during the 1930s.

Inland, we encounter our first polar bear, unfortunately probably dead for more than a year.

Near the island of Akseløya, we were out looking at puffins and reindeers when we received a call from Captain Sergey that a large pod of Beluga whales were spotted.

Excitement build up as all zodiacs zoom to converge near the spot, cut the engine, settled down and wait. Beluga started to appear, initially at some distance away. Very soon they were everywhere, moving along in their pods, infront, behind, and below our zodiacs. They just kept coming and going for about 20mins. What an encounter!

Back onboard Dr Tom Smith shared his research work on Beluga in N Canada to help reinforce our understanding of these marine mammals.

For the brave souls who need to conquer the arctic by plunging into -1 degree celsius waters ... you should be proud of your certificate. Certainly not for folks from the Equator.

G Expedition anchored at Trygghamna, off the main section of Isfjorden. A short hike through snow, mud and greens. Reindeers decided to make an appearance near us. Other sightings include snow buntings, barnacle geese and kittiwakes making their nest in the cliff.

On the last zodiac ride of this trip, finally a Polar Bear sighting and a Bearded Seal at close.
Chances of sighting polar bear is 1 per 100 sq km.

Thanks Jonathan for picking this site as the original planned site did not have enough ice.

A place where Troll groups meet up to gear up for their expedition mission!

A place where all G Adventurers come for their daily refill of breakfast, lunch and dinner!

A collection of random shots to answer the often asked question of what do you eat onboard?

Other areas onboard where we hung out for 2 weeks.

It has been quite a trip. A winning formula of great luck with the weather, "cooperative" mega fuana and a fantastically passionate team on this ship made this a really unforgettable journey. We have learnt and seen so much.

Thanks for living the talk on sustainable travel in your everyday actions and keeping up the push to reduce one-use plastics.

All good things must come to an end (for now)! Till we meet again somewhere around the world!

Thanks for the closing song ... All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go .... I am leaving on a jet plane

Disembarkation from G Expedition was 8am. Leaves us a lot of time to roam the mining town while waiting for our flight at 3am the next day. Longyearbyen only has 1 short street of shops.

I recommend dropping by WildPhoto in town, they have an excellent photo gallery.

Since it was summer, snow sled was only possible in Foxanna (2000m).

This is a complete crash course in dog sled, from fetching the dogs from the kennel, harnessing them, setting them up in their formation, driving the sled and sending them back home.
Really hard work and Astrid our guide made it looks all too easy. Really good experience.

While technically we did not stayover in Longyearbyen, we have to book a room as our flight is at 3am and you are not allowed to wait at the airport.

Pros: We loved the "miners" industrial deco of the place, food at the restaurant was good and they have svalbard beers on tap, shared toilet was roomy and clean.
Cons: Its a long walk back to town where the attractions were.
Having said that, we will book here again if we come back.

No prize for guessing that it is the northern most airport you can fly to on a commercial plane.