~Travel Friends & Friends 1~

North Pole
 
Spitsbergen Polar Bear Safari
 
 
Spitsbergen is an island in Svalbard a region of Norway. We spent 9 days cruising around the Island and into fjords. There was still a lot of ice and snow so we were not able to land on all of the expected destinations. The landscape is breathtaking and we saw an abundance of wildlife including polar Bear, reindeer, walrus, seals, 1000's of bird species, the elusive polar fox and beautiful wildflowers. Our temperature varied from 2-7 degrees C, however the only time we were really cold was on the zodiac boats in transit to and from the ship. The size of the colonies of nesting birds was amazing and the noise very loud. Probably our favorite day was the captain steering the ship onto a large ice flow with 6 polar bears (we saw 3 as a mother and 2 cubs were way off in the distance). One of the bears smelled lunch on the ship and came right up to us - - awesome!! We did not get a daily itinerary so some of the locations we sailed to are a little sketchy and the snow and ice determine our path for the day. There is someone on watch 24 hours a day (the sun is out all day there now) looking for wildlife for us to view.
 
Longyearbyen & Cruising Day 1
   

 

 

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Island's largest settlement - about 2,000- Town Square
Radio Tower & Buildings

 

 

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Housing for round the year residents

 

 

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This is what vacations are all about!
Toilet in the shower - WEIRD
Sailing From Port

 

 

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Views from the ship

 

 

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Longyearbyen businesses and port

 

 

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Our first views of the landscape

 

 

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First "small" iceberg
   
   
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