Meeting the local wildlife (no, no bears yet!)
Rosinis heads to Svalbard
Bob Hendicott
Sat 21 Jul 2018 22:58
We’re now in Ny Alesund, the most northerly settlement in the world.
It’s mainly a multinational scientific research station and feels very similar
to antarctic stations but on land rather than permanent ice. It’s the only
settlement in Svalbard outside Longyearbyen apart from a Russian mining centre
at Barentsburg, and a tiny Polish research station to the south, both of
which we’ll visit later. Ny Alesund is also the place from which many
early attempts to reach the North Pole were made, including several using
balloons and airships. Although we’ve been made welcome we do feel rather
like interlopers in someone else’s world. What’s also becoming clear is
how vast the Svalbard archipelago really is: we’re barely scratching the
surface, even of the west coast.
We spent the remainder of our time in Longyearbyen visiting a polar
exploration museum and walking as far as we could, without our rifle, up the
valley to the south. Old mine workings gave an insight into a world that
existed as recently as the 1960s which would have made coal mining in the UK
look like child’s play. En route we saw Svalbard ptarmigan, more snow
buntings and a brief glimpse of an arctic fox. We then moved back out to
anchor again ready for our departure on 19th Jul. As we left the weather
had taken a step for the worse, but we had an easy 20nm sail out of Isfjorden
before turning north into the sound separating Prins Karls Forland, a long
island off the west coast, from the Spitsbergen mainland: our destination
Poolepynten with its walrus colony. As we headed north the fog came in and
although we continued to sail in good breeze we could see nothing. As the
long low Poolepynten spit gradually came into view we spotted 5-6 walrus beached
in a huddle as we anchored on a shallow shelf just to the north west. By
now it had been raining hard for 2-3 hours and we were soaked. It was also
blowing strongly from the south: not the sort of conditions in which we felt
inclined to go ashore. So we settled down for the night hoping for better
weather and more walruses in the morning (bit of a debate at this point as to
whether the plural ought to be ‘walri’).
The morning came and it was foul: still strong wind and rain/fog.
Even worse, the walri had all gone. So we had a welcome lie-in then played
backgammon until lunch time, by which time we’d concluded we should cut our
losses and continue northwards. In the flurry of activity as we prepared
to weigh anchor I was standing near the shrouds, minding my own business,
(the heads were occupied you’ll understand) when, to my huge surprise, a
collosal pink belly emerged from under Rosinis’ hull and rolled over to reveal
two large eyes, some long whiskers and a pair of long white tusks no more than
10 feet away. Our friends had come to see us. He was inquisitive and
stayed a little longer, as did one of his mates a little further away. We
were too entranced to get cameras out, so no photos I’m afraid. We headed
north with a good breeze towards the very shallow narrows barring the northern
entrance to the sound – creeping through at slack water with only 2.8m under the
keel, which felt distinctly uncomfortable given the remoteness of our
situation. Within an hour the murk began to lift and before long we had
fine views up and down the coast. Ny Alesund is on Kongsfjord and as we
rounded the headland into the fjord we could see right up Krossfjord to our
north and northeast to the ice falls on the Blomstrand glacier which we hoped to
visit later. For the first time we encountered ice in the sea: growlers
that had calved from the many glaciers, even the smallest weighing several tons
with the potential to cause us serious damage if we hit one at any speed.
We arrived in Ny Alesund in the late evening and moored alongside a large Kiwi
yacht we’d also seen in Longyearbyen. After a pretty grotty start it had
turned into an excellent day. We had a short wander around to orientate
ourselves then had some sleep, having already decided that there was much we
wanted to explore locally, both ashore here and amongst the nearby
glaciers.
Today we’ve ranged slightly further afield around the sites of former
balloon expeditions and mine workings and also moved Rosinis four times as
various other craft have come and gone. Not a problem: all par for the
course in places like this. Tonight we’ll be joining the crews of the
other four vessels here and the local scientific community at their ‘pub’ which
only opens twice a week. It would be rude not to.
Attached photos show one of the Longyearbyen mines; the ‘city’ of
Longyearbyen; heading out of Longyearbyen; glacier scenery; Giles dressed for
action – our normal ‘on deck’ attire; the Lilliehook glacier where we’ll be
heading tomorrow; up close and personal with a growler; the toy train set in Ny
Alesund – one of the mining trains; Ny Alesund from one of the mines; one of the
local reindeer – not in the least worried about humans.
PS: we’ve just emerged from the ‘pub’ after a brilliant evening. It’s
half past midnight and the light is superb. I didn’t get to send the blog
first time around as I forget to compress the photos so they exceeded the file
size for the blog server. So I’m having another go. Then we’re going
sailing up to the Kongsvegen glacier, which is looking magnificent 6nm to our
east. With 24 hour daylight and weather that can change in a flash, we
can’t afford to miss an
opportunity. |