Our last day around Svalbard was a rather special for me because we walked on a glacier in the morning and then saw more walruses in the afternoon. The day was topped off for a few of us with a quick visit to the northern-most colony of harbour seals near Danish Island. The beautiful creatures put on quite a show for us, twisting and diving and cavorting in the icy icy sea. On the way back to the ship, we cruised passed the launch site of a hydrogen balloon expedition in what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole in the 1890s. It was 33 years before the bodies were found after crashing in the north-east. On the way back to ship, there was quite a strong wind blowing and the sea was a bit rough - we got thoroughly drenched crashing through the waves - my kind of wahoo ride!
That night we weighed anchor and headed southwest across the Greenland Sea.
Crevasses made most of is nervous so we didn’t hang around too long or get too close. It was very exciting.
The approach up onto the glacier was a bit slippery with boot-sucking mud and a fast stream. I took one look and shook my head, but Lindsay came back and led me across, the darling man. I'm so glad he did. Coming back, it was the same deal. One passenger went flat on her back and ended up with mud head to foot poor thing.
This is the site of Smeerenburg, or Grease Town, where the Dutch set up a summer whaling station in the early 1600s. The pile of rocks are the remains of one of the blubber ovens. Within 30 years, the Bowhead whale population was decimated; these are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and sub-arctic waters.
This place was so desolate. That's Dr Gary Miller our expedition leader in the red and black.
This desolate spot is Virgohamba where Solomon Andrée launched his ill-fated hydrogen balloon expedition to the North Pole. Landing there is prohibited.
No comments:
Post a Comment