Hanging out with the Wahlbergs in Norway

Posted on August 11, 2016 by David Cross

We made a quick stop at Wahlberg0ya which is an island in the Hinlopen Strait.  Since there were no animals on this island, I guess we can only have veggie burgers….

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Let’s give a view of some of the flora of the Arctic Circle.  The flowers are very tiny.

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You have to look very close, but when you do…some of the flowers are quite bright and surprising to see in the Arctic Circle.  They love to bloom and branch out in the summer months.

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Surprisingly, there are many colors to be found on the isolated islands…and the bright orange are not flowers, they are sunburst lichens.

Check out some of the sites and visits we conducted in the arctic circle in my additional blog postings during the cruise:

 

 

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Trapped by Arctic Ice!

Posted on August 11, 2016 by David Cross

This evening, we headed around Nordaustland island to explore the twin ice caps Austfonna Vegafonna.  We tried to go through the passage to the west of the island which is normally ice locked.

sun at night

It was a bright and sunny morning…at 1:00 AM the sun was high in the sky.

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Quite fun to travel through a fjord that is full of glacier debris and ice calves.  I am not sure which campers from the Northwest keep leaving their dirty stuff on some of the ice flows…or if that is the pollution from around the world that is being collected by the ice.

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And then we came to the wall of ice.  Check out the massive waterfall spewing water from the glacier as we started to get up close for some fresh water and ice for evening cocktails.  Shaken, not stirred, martinis will be made.

Check out some of the sites and visits we conducted in the arctic circle in my additional blog postings during the cruise:

 

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Even in the Arctic Circle – You are Followed

Posted on August 10, 2016 by David Cross

We went back south to check out the (small) Stor0ya island.

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We wanted to explore for some more local wildlife that may be hanging out around the research points.  I think this is one of the cell phone signal capture points that Snowden mentioned in one of the latest NSA documents he posted online last week.

single polar

We lucky – we found another polar bear. At first, he was taking a nap, and then he got up and started bobbing around to check us out.  He had his bird posse hanging out with him and the music of course.  They like the blues style of the Harmonica player/musician on our boat.

Check out some of the sites and visits we conducted in the arctic circle in my additional blog postings during the cruise:

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Late Night Polar Bear Attacks in Arctic Circle!

Posted on August 10, 2016 by David Cross

The ship headed up to the ice barrier today…we wanted to explore the where the northern ice line exists.  And supposedly, this is where the polar bear mafia resides.

ice night

We got up to approximately 81 degrees 55 minutes north and then the ice flows started to appear.

sun at night

I don’t know if anyone knows it…but in the summer months in the Arctic Circle, the sun never goes down.  Never.  The next few shots are taken at 11:30 PM, 1:30 AM and 3 AM in the morning.  We were looking for polar bears.

bear snack

We found one that just completed his late night snack. I think it was a seal tartar main course since this is a French ship…

bear roll

He was so happy, he kept jumping around and rolling on the ice like a dog. Maybe he just had too much champagne with his meal. Champagne is always flowing on this French ship!

bear swim

We also found one that is performing a late night swim at 3 AM to get some exercise.  The rumor is he is working on a triathlon next year in Hawaii.  Unconfirmed.

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Walruses or Zombies in Arctic Circle?

Posted on August 9, 2016 by David Cross

The Seven Islands Archipelago

We traveled much further north to 80 degrees 45 minutes north.  Much colder and windy for sure.  No satellite or Internet up here!  These islands are famous for the British North Pole expeditions by John Phipps and William Parry.  We hopped into a zodiac and explored around the islands.  Waterproof gear, warm hats and gloves are recommended.

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And we found some walruses.  Could not get too close to them, but the zoom lens on the DSLR camera makes a huge difference.  Some are brown looking and some are reddish.  What does that mean?  If they are red, it means they are HOT! They are getting too warm laying on the beach with their friends!

walrus 2

If they are cool, they are much more grey.  Here are two of the younger ones playing in the water nearby to cool off with a little water polo in anticipation of the upcoming Olympic games that they are looking forward to watching.  They have to be careful of puncturing the ball sometimes with their large tusks.

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Walking back to the Zodiac, checked out the local hunting/explorer cabin/shelter.  It is amazing on how many people visit these islands for exploring and rough campsites.

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It has a small stove and two bunk beds.  For the adventurous types, these islands could be a fun place for a little hiking and camping.

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Also, look what I found on the shore.  Do you know what it is?  A small whale vertebrae.  Who knows how old it is…I guess you never know what you may find here in the Arctic Circle!  It was a little too big to consider for my carry-on luggage when returning to the US though…

 

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Ever Hike a Glacier?

Posted on August 9, 2016 by David Cross

The satellite connectivity and Internet speeds are horribly slow.  The nice pictures are just too large to upload.  So for this posting, I am using the famous high end Microsoft Paint program to reduce the size of the pics so they will actually have a chance to make it up to the WordPress site with some reliability.  How do they look?

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This one is called the 14th of July Glacier.  I have no idea why it has this name, but is a strange (naming) coincidence since we are travelling on a French ship…

1 - glacier

We had an opportunity to go hike up to the Glacier.  It was actually a challenging hike up as the soil was very rocky and very unstable.  Beautiful sunny day…about 45 degrees Farenheght.  Yes, you do not want to wear warm clothes in this sun.  You will bake like the ice that is melting.

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It was about a mile hike and an ascent of approximately 100 meters.  It was a fun climb that definitely needed good hiking boots given the terrain.  The heavy rubber boots from the ship met the need nicely.  So did my GoPro that I used to climb up here from the ocean edge.

The glacier looks gorgeous from a distance, but up close, you see all the debris and rocks that are collected by the moving ice.  It is pretty cool to see how the glaciers work first hand and understand how rocks are crushed and moved off the mountains.

 

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We are back! Blogging from Ny-Alesund

Posted on August 8, 2016 by David Cross

We wanted to make sure we could run in the Arctic Circle, so we stopped at Ny-Alesund which is at 78 Degrees 55 minutes North latitude.

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It is located in the northern part of the Svalbard islands which are controlled by Norway.

norway run

There is limited space to go running unfortunately.  So we ran in some 1 K circles.  Our version of the weekly track workout.

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Because there is high risk if polar bear attacks.  We did not bring a rifle with us on this trip to carry when we were running. You do get to run with the reindeer though.  They are quite friendly, but usually very busy mowing down everything green in the summer months.

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Also interestingly, this is the farthest north post office in the world.  Also, interestingly, this is also the location of a secret NSA station.  They even had some stealth visitors flying in when we were running by.  You can see the plane landing in the in the distance.

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Outside of the secret NSA Echelon program, the town is the site of some old mines and most famous for the airship mast where in the early 1920s, explorers used to launch their blimps (Zeppelins) to go up and explore the North Pole.  Even though it is 100 meters away from the main builds, you still have to carry a rifle to go up to it.

 

No polar bears yet, but stay tuned for more!

 

 

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Longyearbyen Norway

Posted on August 3, 2016 by David Cross

Longyearbyen Norway is a very remote and interesting place to visit.

It is the last stop for Arctic expeditions to fly into and land before heading north.

It is where the global seed vault exists/is stored and even where GitHub stores its source code repository.

In summer months, you do not see the snow, but you can hike up to the vault area if you like.  It is basically using the old mines that were established here many years ago.

You do have to be careful of polar bears.  They are not friendly and are very dangerous.  Check out some of my subsequent posts on this topic.

Overall, it is a great place to explore if you can fly north from Oslo and spend a day exploring.  In this case, we are joining an expedition for the next 2 weeks.

The next step is to board the ship and explore further north.  Leaving the satellite coverage area of the Arctic Circle for a few days. The satellites do not cover the entire planet! 🤕

Be patient as the next few blog posts will be delayed because we are that far north 😬

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Flying to the Arctic Circle

Posted on August 3, 2016 by David Cross

The best way to explore the Arctic is to fly up to Longyearbyen Norway.

It is definitely starting to get interesting…  when you approach the Svalbard islands from the south and see all the snow you wonder if anyone can live here.

Then you start to see random houses in the mountains. Look close you might see one or two.


This is a very solitary lifestyle. I hope the fish is good up here in the north.

What is like in this remote village?  Check out my next blog posting!

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Headed Further North into the Arctic Circle

Posted on August 3, 2016 by David Cross

Enjoyed some 70 degree days in Oslo, now is the time to break out the jacket, hat and gloves as we wait to board the charter flight to the Arctic Circle. 

Stay tuned for more later today! 😎

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