Svalbard, Bear Island & Norwegian Fjords

Embark in the afternoon and set sail.

Our flexible itinerary is dependant on ice and weather conditions. We will travel to see walrus haul-outs, might see polar bears, reindeer, Arctic fox, whales or a bearded seal. Also myriad birds. We will go ice cruising by ship and Zodiac and devote at least one day to exploring the pack ice north of Spitsbergen.
Conditions permitting, our Expedition Leader may choose to take us out in the Zodiacs for an even closer look.

Here are a few of the places we hope to visit:

Magdalenefjorden - where the remains of blubber ovens and a cemetery can still be seen.

Liefdefjorden - where we may encounter polar bears looking for bird’s eggs.

Monacobreen - for Zodiac cruise along the front of two different glaciers: Monacobreen and Seligerbreen. Monacobreen has a 5 kilometre long front and is a good place to look for seals, Black-legged Kittiwakes and Ivory Gulls.

Fjortende Julibreen – The 14th of July Bay is located at the entrance of Krossfjorden. Here we will go ashore for a hike up to the 14th of July Glacier.

Hornsund – This is the southernmost fjord on the rugged west coast of Spitsbergen Island. Jagged mountain peaks tower above glacier-filled bays. Amidst floating icebergs, we will watch for bearded seals, the beluga whale and the king of the Arctic – the polar bear. Sightings are fairly common as the polar bear’s favourite food, the ringed seal, breeds in the fjord. The surrounding bird cliffs are home to thousands of pairs of nesting Little Auks. We may visit the remains of whaling stations and trappers’ huts.

Close to 9 kilometres of cliffs are home to some of the largest bird colonies of the Northern Hemisphere. common and Brünnich’s guillemots, black-legged kittiwakes, northern fulmars, and glaucous gulls are all found along the cliff. Other species have been observed, including Atlantic puffins and northern gannets.

Leaving Bear Island head out on deck to watch for whales - white-beaked dolphins and minke whales are known to frequent the area.

During the morning Silver Cloud will sail through the Andfjord to reach Hinnøya, Norway’s largest island. On the island is Harstad, our port-of-call for the afternoon and North Norway’s third-largest town. The annual North Norwegian Festival of Culture takes place during the last week of June and we hope to see and hear some of it during our visit.

Over these days, we will explore the area of Tysfjord by land or Zodiac. This is the narrowest part of Norway and was formerly used by Sami reindeer herders of Sweden and Norway. Then on to the scenic Nordfjord and Melfjord and the Svartisen National Park, which extends to the bottom of Nordfjorden. Svartisen is one of the largest icecaps of the Norwegian mainland.

The Vega Archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a myriad of islands scattered in the Norwegian Sea and home to one of Norway’s largest eider duck colonies. We hope to visit the largest egg and eiderdown farm in Helgeland and the Coastal Museum to have a look at their motor collection and later make a brief visit to see the Vega Church in Gladstad. We then sail on to Storfjord, Sunnylvsfjord and Geiranger. The latter is arguably the most beautiful in Norway - impressive mountains, numerous waterfalls as well as farms clinging to the steep hillsides give the fjord its unique character.

Arrive and disembark