Tuesday 4th August - Faksevagen - Zeipelodden

Overnight we sailed south back into Hinlopen Strait that divides Svalbard into two.

At 7am we were woken by Kit announcing that the way through to the ice cap that covers much of the eastern half of Svalbard was blocked by pack ice and so we had to divert to a new landing site at Faksevagen in a fjord off Hinlopen Strait. It was a great shame as I wanted to see the ice cap again, but it was not to be! We didn't want to risk getting stuck in thick ice again.

We took the Zodiac ashore to do a walk up one of the mountains surrounding the fjord.  Our group was led by Will and we walked in sunshine up the gravel slope. We saw many tiny tundra flowers and some lichen. We spotted 2 reindeer, but no other animals. We reached the top after about thirty minutes, at a height of 554ft. There was a good view over the fjord and the Explorer at anchor. Faksevagen, or Fakse Bay, is named after a horse in Norse mythology.

On the way up, Wendy took photos of the wild flowers that have such a brief existence in the short Arctic summer, as well as this picture of a lone reindeer grazing on the slopes of the hill.

Reindeer

Moss Campion

Arctic Saxifrage

Patches of lichen growing on a rock

On the walk, I heard one of the guests behind me say that they had just found a camera lens cap. I thought no more about it.

We returned to the boat and had lunch on the aft deck as we sailed to our afternoon landing at a fjord on the eastern side of the Strait. In the distance, we had our one sighting of the eastern icecap or Austfonna and the start of the 100km wall of ice.
 

The western end of the icecap wall

We had a lazy afternoon before our second walk started at 6pm. The weather had become cloudy and the temperature was near freezing.

As I was getting ready to go on the next landing, I discovered that my protective lens on the video camera was missing! Could that possibly have been the one found in the morning? We were the last to leave the ship for the landing at a 'polar desert' site, Zeipelodden at Palanderbukta (Palander Bay).

The polar desert of Svalbard

It was a short ride to the shore as the weather cleared and the sun came out. On shore, I found the passenger, Alec from Edinburgh, who had picked up the lens and handed it in to Reception and I was able to thank him.

We had a very interesting hour, guided by Danny, the Ecuadorian geologist. We saw very strange frost-created stone circles. They are made from the the freezing and thawing of the permafrost.

Frost-created stone circles 

On the stony shore were some old whale bones. We saw a large jawbone and the skull of a baleen whale, possibly a fin whale. Where the bones are lying, small "gardens" of plants grow up around the immediate area, supported by the nutrients from the bone marrow. Nitrogen-producing phosphates fertilise the ground. We all marvelled at how nature works and at the cycle from life to death and then back to life again.

Here is our expedition guide, Danny, explaining the cycle.

Whale skull and jawbone

The wild flowers in the 'garden'.

Svalbard Poppy

A short distance away was the carcass of a young polar bear, with a similar 'garden'. It was a 2 year old, that had died of starvation in 2006. We learned this from Chris Srigley, who had seen it when it died. Over the years, it was reduced to bones and a few tufts of fur. We could see the femur, a ball-joint and the skull with a complete set of teeth.

Polar bear skull with Arctic flowers

On the way back to the boat, we stopped to take photos of a small iceberg which was not far from the Explorer.

The Silver Explorer framed by an iceberg

We returned to the boat in time for our 'hot rocks' dinner on the aft deck with Tim, Jo, Pauline and Jan. First, I went to Reception and, amazingly, they had my lens and it wasn't damaged!

We had a great evening, especially so with the wonderful scenery as we cruised along the Hinlopen Strait.

A very happy group enjoying 'hot rocks' in the Arctic

Pack-ice caused a detour and we had to abandon the visit to the bird colony that we had seen on our previous cruise to Svalbard. The boat slowed to a crawl as it forced apart large chunks of ice while we made our way to clear water. All very exciting! The 6 of us were all freezing by then, so we finished the evening in the bar. Another wonderful day.