Frank Allen’s (1987) Full Arctic Journal – Fall 2011 Trumpet of the Swan Issue

Beyond the North Cape

Sunday May 29 2011

This trip was to have a few surprises, some pleasant some less so. One of the less pleasant surprises happened when we arrived in Copenhagen. We had just finished a Trans-Atlantic Flight from New Jersey and had received instructions as to where to make our connecting flight to Bergen. We arrived at the gate and were waiting when one of us noticed that our flight had been moved to the opposite side of the airport.

This would be my second cruise with the Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society, the first one being a trip to Antarctica, and prior experience had informed my packing: this time I brought binoculars, a lighter pair of water tight boots and an expandable fanny pack. Also, I brought fewer clothes and would be using the ship’s laundry service. This time I would be aboard the Endeavor’s successor: the National Geographic Explorer and we’d be visiting the Fjords of Norway and Svalbard. A Fjord is defined as a glacially carved valley that ends in the sea and Norway is famous for them.

After a hurried walk through the Copenhagen Airport we caught our plane to Bergen, a major port city to this day with a rich history. I don’t know how airport security officials feel about cameras, so I had packed mine in my checked baggage. As a result I didn’t get many pictures of Bergen, but I figured there’d be plenty of others. I took part in a walking tour of Bergen, most of the others took bus tours, after which we were taken to our ship. As when I went to Antarctica, I took a moment to say hello to the Explorer and asked her to take care of us.

After a brief check in I was guided to my cabin and shown how to work the card lock, and then I got a pleasant surprise: the ship’s captain was the same Oliver Kruess that had looked after us in Antarctica. After the required life boat drill, we gathered in the lounge where the expedition staff who would be dealing most directly with us introduced themselves, explained their various duties and shared some of their stories. I’m sure none of them meant to be longwinded but I hadn’t had any real rest since the day before and their talks seemed to go on forever. Finally, about eight in the evening, the staff had finished and it was time for dinner.

I wasn’t hunger, I was tired and I hadn’t showered in at least two days. I skipped dinner, took a shower and went to bed.

Monday, May 30th

We began the day in the port town of Olden. It was cool and cloudy but a long walk was promised so I didn’t overdress. After checking ourselves off the ship, we boarded a group of couches that took us to the Brikdalen Park to see the Jostedal Glacier, a relatively small piece of ice. It’s a popular national park so the expedition staff wanted to get us there as quickly as possible. At the park’s center were a series of electric buggies called “Troll cars” to carry those who didn’t feel up to walking 1.5 mile 350 foot climb to the glacier face. I walked.

The Jostedal Glacier has advanced a retreated numerous times over the centuries of its recorded history. What really impressed me was how quickly plant life had been able to establish itself. Birch trees maybe an inch in diameter had grown up in as little as eighty years. Because of the clouds I was able to photograph a few rare moments when the sun actually broke through, but the most exciting part was just after I had arrived with a few others; there was a dull sound like a rifle shot in the distance, we turned and saw that the glacier had just calved.

After admiring the glacier, and the rest of the fjord, we returned to the lodge where we were treated to a light lunch, then returned to the ship. The trip back down Nordfjord was picturesque although marred a few time by the power lines. About six that evening we made a zodiac landing to visit the Monastery of Selja. Deserted for centuries, the story is that a young woman, desperate to avoid an unwanted suitor, had fled to the island. When the suitor’s solders found her, she retreated to a cave and prayed for bolder to seal the entrance. She got her wish.

According to folk lore, centuries later the cave was excavated and her body was in remarkably good condition. The Church canonized her as a result.

Tuesday May 31st.

We spent most of the day cruising. The western chain of islands protected us from the Atlantic’s furry so the only thing that would have told one that one was on a cruise ship would have been the passing scenery.

As ships go, the Explorer is pretty maneuverable, 367 feet long and 54 feet wide, and Captain Kruess was not only very skilled, but enjoyed showing off. By international law, a foreign ship in Norway’s fjords must have a local pilot on board. Since we were moving 24 hours, we had two to spell each other. One of them commented to us how the Explorer is a dream compared to some ships they’ve had to guild, smaller than many with passengers and crew who weren’t timid.

As with many places, there are people in Norway who maintain summer homes. Some of these homes were nested in a bay called Sandvika, a place with no roads. About 2:00 PM we went ashore. The houses were not yet occupied and we were asked to respect the owners’ rights. Some of the families had sheep which seemed to have weathered their winter without hardship. After looking around with one of the guided groups, I went back to the ship to enjoy a little bit of kayaking.

Wednesday June 1st.

Nordfjord has a large underwater rock that most cruise ships avoid, making it another excellent place for us to stop. We arrived in Black Ice National Park, a place where the water depth drops off so quickly that when anchored, the bow of the Explorer was as little as twenty feet from the shore. I guess they needed to be that close before the anchor could find anything to grab on to.

There were some very nice glaciers in the distance and I joined a group scrambling up a path of rocky debris called scree. Not everyone was up to the climb or scree scramble as we called it, and at least two fell and several had to go back. Fortunately it was a difficult place in which to get lost: just go down and when you reach the lowest point in the valley, that’s where you’ll find the ship.

We hiked as far as the snow, which was actually ice that had calved off of part of the glacier. Since there was no way of knowing when the next piece of ice might fall, our guild only took us as far as the snow where we got some fine pictures of the fjord and the ship within it..
After returning to the Explorer, we cruised back down the fjord a paused to admire one of numerous waterfalls, this one from close up, ten to twenty feet. As impressed as some of us were by this demonstration of Captain Kruess’s piloting skills, he would soon surpass that.

Although crossing the Arctic Circle was considered something of a mile stone, it didn’t have quite the same sense of accomplishment as crossing the Antarctic Circle had had. For one thing, there wasn’t the ice to contend with. One of the towns on the Arctic Circle has a rebar globe, so we docked there and went ashore to toast to the moment, but I found the globe to be somewhat underwhelming and the spiced wine was too bitter for my taste.

Thursday June 2nd

We arrived in the Lofoten Island in what was now the official Land of the Midnight Sun.

There was a planned landing at some more summer cottages which had to be called off because the beach conditions were deemed too dangerous for the passengers. I’d watched passengers who were having trouble getting from zodiac to beach in calm weather so I can understand our guide not wanting to risk it in bad conditions. Instead we were offered some zodiac cruises around the island itself.

Because of the rough looking condition I had left my camera in my cabin and only took my binoculars. We were getting some wonderful views of the nesting birds as well as the not yet occupied settlement.

When Rich, our driver, tried to take us around the north side of the island the weather really turned rough. Soon it was raining so hard it stung our faces and water was frequently being splashed over the bow of our boat. Our driver had changed as well. From mile mannered Rich he became “Mad Dog,” standing boldly at the tiller while the rest of us huddled against the wind, keeping us steady until landing entrance was clear. As he brought us alongside a crewman jumped aboard and secured the bow. He and another man then passed ropes through lopes in our boat then simultaneously held them fast and helped us into the ship. When we were safely aboard, Mad Dog pulled away leaving us to bask in the euphoria of our adventure.

Since we couldn’t use zodiacs to get ashore, the captain got us a dock and the expedition’s assistant leader negotiated some coaches to take us to a town with the shortest name, a single Scandinavian letter. A visit there had been part of the initial itinerary, but I was starting to feel a little chilled from the morning’s adventure so I stayed in the town we’d docked.

That evening we entered Trollfjord, the smallest of the fjords we would visit. The captain took us in all the way to the end, and then dazzled us by turning the ship around in a spot that couldn’t have been much wider than the ship was long.

At one point the bow was so close the fjord wall that a few people actually reached out and grabbed leaves from one of the trees growing from the wall.

To top off the evening, one of the staff complimented those of us who had gone of the morning cruises. Particularly, he complimented us for being able to get from zodiac to ship so smoothly saying that it was because we’d paid attention to our instructions. He then played a video of pratfalls around boats and docks.

Friday June 3rd

We arrived at the end of Tysfjord which is home to a community of people called Sami. Some of them were there when we dropped anchor, whether they had already arrived or had stayed all winter, I don’t know.

I joined a group that headed far into the mountains around Nordfjord, the longest hike I would take part in and fairly close to Norway’s boarder with Sweden. I set myself a turnaround time of 10:30 figuring that I’d want a good hour and a half to get back to the boats. It was actually 10:15 when I figured I’d gone far enough; after all, I wanted plenty of time to set a safe pace and enjoy the scenery. As it turned out, it took me nearly two hours to reach the boats and my feet had things to say that are not repeatable in polite conversation.

Saturday June 4th

Called the gateway to the Arctic, the town of Troms has been the stepping off point for many historic expeditions to the Arctic. It is, among other things, the home of the Arctic Cathedral, the Tromso Museum and the Polar Museum. It was also where we were joined by the Captain’s wife, Connie and their son, John-Garret.

After leaving Tromso we paused at Fugloya, also known as Bird Island, a nesting site for, among other sea birds, puffins, one needs to see them in order to truly appreciate the sheer number of birds nesting there. The closest I can come to describing it is to say that it reminded me of videos I’d seen of bats exiting caves in Texas at night to feed.

After that brief pause, we left the shelter of the islands for the open sea.

Sunday June 5th

This leg was bumpy and I’m not sure how well everyone handled it, but to a veteran of the Drake Passage it wasn’t bad at all. Around two o’clock bit of land came into view, one misleadingly called Bear Island. It was named by a Dutch navigator called Willem Barentsz. When Barentsz first charted the island, the sea ice reached all the way down to it allowing the polar bears to reach it. As the ice retreated, so too did the bears. Now the island is exclusively home of sea birds hatching their eggs and raising their chicks.

Some years ago a Russian transport ship ran aground against the island. Rumors are that the crew was drunk but the biggest concerns were fuel oil and rats getting ashore. Fortunately, the oil dispersed and the rats drowned. As a result of that incident, the island is off limits to everyone except official scientific surveys and all ships cannot come closer than about half a mile.

Monday, June 6th

Svalbard is an archipelago of a half dozen islands the largest of which is Spitsbergen. It is recognized as international territory under the sovereignty of Norway. A unique piece of geology, it has some of the oldest rocks ever found, and just about everything in-between. One can find something from almost any era in Earth’s history, including fossils. It also hosts some one of kind animals.

During the last ice age, reindeer, caribou as they’re commonly called in America, migrated to Svalbard and remained. Without wolves, their greatest enemy became the winter, so they became shorter with a more barrel chest to conserve heat and energy. Like their cousins on mainland, both male and females grow antlers and the females keep them though out the winter to help scrape up snow to find grass. Although they can be startled, they have no fear of humans.

Their are four species of seals inhabiting the Arctic Ocean: ringed seals, bearded seals, the harbor seal and walrus. These feed on various fish, shell fish and even krill. Although very much at home in the water, they still need to come on to the ice to rest and give birth. With the exception of the walrus, who at two tons and with those massive tusks fear only other walruses, seals are vulnerable when resting on the ice.

The next species of note is, of course, Polar Bears. Classified as Marine Mammals because they hunt on ice, they are the only purely carnivorous bear and everything about them is adapted to hunting on ice, their primary food source being seals. These are patient, intelligent hunters who will wait by breathing holes for hours for a seal to emerge. They’ve also borrowed into caves where seals were hiding and have even swam up to catch resting seals by surprise. While they do not, as a rule, hunt humans, they are taken very seriously and Explorer’s expedition team laid out a new set of rules for us.

From then on, whether on shore or in a zodiac, all members of the expedition staff were armed; a flare gun that could scare off most bears and a rifle they hoped would not be necessary. There would be spotters both on the ship and in zodiacs watching for bears and all passengers on land were to stay within sight of at least one of the naturalists. If an order came down to return to the boats, we were to return to the boats without question or attempts to take pictures. As of the trip I was on, Lindblad Expeditions have had no unpleasant encounters with bears and they intend to keep it that way. Polar Bears are a threatened species and all shooting are investigated by the authorities.
Another animal of note is the Arctic Fox. Scavengers who normally follow polar bears they were once hunted for their fur. I never saw a live one but I did see one dead.

Because of the high latitude, it was difficult to maintain satellite connections with the rest of the world; even so we were able to get satellite maps of the ice, but ice moves with the wind and ocean currents making it difficult to predict where we would be able to go. The Explorer has an ice reinforced hull and powerful engines, but she does have limits and while Ernest Shackleton’s adventure in the Antarctic made a thrilling story, no one really wants to repeat it.

It was soon decided that we couldn’t go up the east side of Spitsbergen so we headed west and north. As consolations we were treated to numerous resting seals, some tantalizing Bear tracks and a pod of Beluga Whales.

Tuesday June 7th

I believe it was last night that some whales were spotted. I had gone up to the bridge when the announcement was made, but when the naturalists tried to show us where to look they pointed directly into the sun. This added to the irritation I’d felt at getting out of bed and in less than a minutes I was going back to bed.

Some people can be passionate about wildlife spotting twenty-four hours a day; I’m not one of them. I decided that I would only take part in searching during the time I’d be up anyway and thus be in the right frame of mind to enjoy looking for them.

We made our first landing in Bellsund Fjord. Seeing our guides carrying rifles saw a sobering experience and I found myself taking things a lot more seriously. This was also my first experience walking on tundra which has, at least in the warmer seasons, a soft squishy feel under foot. The wildlife we saw included geese and the most photogenic reindeer I’ve ever seen. We also saw some of the less pleasant side of life: death. We found the remains of birds, probably geese, that had been killed and eaten and the body of an Arctic Fox.

Around 1:00 someone stopped our first Polar Bear, and it was feeding on a kill no less. At first it seemed to be sleeping, and then it got up and looked at us, then went back to eating the seal it caught earlier. Being cream colored on a white and irregular background was hard to spot, even with someone telling me where to look. The red from the seal helped. We must have watched it for an hour before it slipped back into the water and swam away; at which point the show was over.

I went down to my cabin to unwind. Our first bear of the trip and on a kill no less. It was a little hard to feel bad for the seal. Another seal was spotted shortly after that, but I was still breathless from the bear.

Wednesday June 8th

As a rule I try to get myself out of bed between 6:00 and 6:30. Since breakfast isn’t served until 7:30, I generally make myself a mug of tea and head up to the bridge where several other passengers are also waiting for something to see. This morning we were rewarded for our diligence.

Spitsbergen sits on the edge of a continental shelf and receives the last of the Gulf Stream which combine with the nutrient rich Arctic waters to create great feeding grounds for baleen whales, including the biggest: the Blue Whale. This morning we saw three including what the naturalists think was a mother and calf.

I didn’t even try to take pictures of them.

A little later we got a chance with some more stationary subjects: walruses. There’s a nearly flat strand of gravel called Moffen Island where walrus will commonly pull themselves out to rest. Averaging two tons with hug tusks, they are the only animal Polar Bears will steer clear of unless very hungry. Speaking of Polar Bears, we saw one walking across the ice and I got a profile of it I’m proud of.
That evening I was in a group invited to have dinner with Cotton Coulson and Sisse Brimberg, two long time employees of the National Geographic Society. Together, Cotton and Sisse have photographed over 50 stories for the National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Traveler, for which they have received numerous prizes. They work primarily in Europe as well as the Arctic, Scandinavia, Italy and France. They have many a story to tell.

Thursday June 9th

During the night the Captain “parked” the Explorer in the fast ice, fast ice being ice connected directly to the shore. It was hoped the some bears might come over to take a closer look at us. No luck.

We did however get another look at bird colonies and some of the pictures I took do give a scene of how many birds were in the air. We also started down between the straight between Spitsbergen and Nordaustlandet, the second largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. In the Hinlopen Strait we made land fall, this time on the eastern side of Spitsbergen well away from the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream and the difference was noticeable. The ground was little more than fine gravel and what little life we found was more algae than plant. The eastern most side of the land was steep with wave driven banks. The remains of a whale skeleton found well above the highest tide not only gave one an idea of sea level change but of how long it takes things to rot in that climate.

We also found the remains of a reindeer antler that had to have been ancient, and were treated to group of walrus sunning themselves.
In the evening we arrived at the Nordlaustlandet Ice Shelf, third largest body of Ice the biggest ones being Antarctica and Iceland. The face of it stretches for hundreds of miles and the expedition experts estimated it to have risen 50-60 feet from the water. That’s enough ice for a lot of drinks.

Soon it was time to head back. The Explorer need to dock in Longyearbyen at 11:00 AM of the 11th to get us off in time to be ready for the next group of guest and, admittedly, I was ready to go home.

The Arctic North however was not done with us just yet.

Friday June 10th

Throughout the morning we had many chances for picture taking and seeing wildlife. I got some of my best pictures of Beluga Whales and what may have been our most photogenic bear on the trip. We also got a glimpse of a minke whale.

In the afternoon we stopped in a place called Stefan’s Garden. It was a calm place and I hoped that we would have another chance to go kayaking. Sadly, the powers that be decided differently, but we did go ashore.

Saturday June 11th

Of the roughly 2,500 people who live year round in Svalbard, 2,000 of them live in the town of Longyearbyen. It has the northern most university, hotels, art gallery and museum. The permafrost makes digging extremely hard and even in the height of summer, very little grows there. There are two major industries, Coal mining and tourists. Their power comes from coal that they extract from a mine near town, about forty percent of their coal is used locally, and the rest is used in Europe’s auto industry. Everything is imported, and while they do have a hospital, its facilities are minimal. Everything else is in Oslo, three hours by plane. Reindeer occasionally wander into town and folks keep a constant eye out for bears.

Ours was the second cruise ship they had had that day, the first had to leave before we could dock and it carried five hundred passengers. Some days they get over a thousand tourists which can leave the town’s folk a little overwhelmed.

We disembarked at 11:00 so the crew could get the Explorer ready for the next group of passengers who would be coming in that evening. As we left the ship, I paused to say goodbye to her and thanked her for looking after us.

We were given a tour of Longyearbyen and an appreciation for the people who lived there. Finally, it was time to go to their small airport. I was ready to go home.