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.

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