Bellsund & Van Mijenfjord. The morning brought with it snow-capped views and deep blue waters, atmospherically topped by high cloud and periodic glimpses of blue sky. But, as eager as we may have been to start exploring, we couldn’t get into the Zodiacs immediately, and instead gathered in the Discovery Lounge for our Arctic rules and Zodiac briefings. After collecting our rubber boots Frank regaled us with our first lecture on the diversity of wildlife th...

Longyearbyen was founded as a coal mining city by the American businessman John M. Longyear in 1906, today the capital of Svalbard is a modern community, featuring most amenities of modern life. Just outside the town civilisation ends and you enter “Polar Bear Territory”.....but only approximately one comes into town in any year! At 16:00 it was time for us to make our way to the harbour to join our expedition vessel. Arriving at the pier, the only thing we ...

The weather today was cloudy, odd snow showers and bitterly cold as we walked up the street but more pleasing as we walked back down with the wind behind us. As it was Monday more shops were open so we did some window shopping - most sold arctic or outdoor gear - there was one unique shop selling items made from sustainable skins - great for this climate but in the UK I would overheat in minutes! We did however buy some good socks and felt insoles not seen in the...

We woke around 7am and had a leisurely start with a cup of tea before going to an excellent buffet breakfast -offering most things i.e. hot, cold continental and waffles. After the price shock yesterday we decided to make a couple of cheese sandwiches for our lunch as neither of us can manage a large breakfast that some seem to consume to last them all day but we would like a light breakfast and a light lunch. The highlight of breakfast was seeing an arctic fox ...

We left home at 0530 for our 0715 rendezvous with the company collecting our car from Heathrow terminal 3. The SAS self service check in was seamless and allowed us to quickly make our way to Rhubarb, a new restaurant in the departure lounge, for breakfast - Greek yogurt and berries for me and a bacon sandwich for John - both great and the atmosphere was very relaxing...just what we needed after our early start. Our gate was the closest to the lounge - that's a ...