Bamsebu and Calypsobyen, Svalbard

First of all I’m pleased to report that the seas overnight were flat calm and I, along with everyone else we have spoken to, managed to get at least 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Anyway, we have two landings in Svalbard today, the first being Bamsebu on Ingebrigtsenbukta Bay. This settlement, if you can call one remaining little shack a settlement, used to be a small whaling stop. It’s a fascinating piece of history but also a sad reflection on the times as the bones of hundreds of beluga whales are piled up on the shoreline. We were able to look in through the window of the shack (it was habitable and used a few years ago by a couple of arctic journalists), and could walk along the entire length of the little sand and shingle spit. Bird life was abundant and we saw eider, purple sandpiper, arctic skua and snow buntings, to name just a few. There were also reindeer tracks and droppings and a very pretty purple arctic flower growing very close to the ground.

At one point we were chatting with Jean, the expedition geologist who was acting as one of the lookouts. His radio cackled with a warning that some unknown, but large, wildlife had been spotted. Everyone trained their binoculars in the required direction…Jean must have been wondering if he should ready his rifle. After a few moments we spotted it, it wasn’t a polar bear but it was a rather large, and very pale furred reindeer in the distance. Imminent danger was over and several very happy explorers were ticking off one of the boxes in their “must see” list.

All too soon we were back on board and as we contemplated lunch, the captain weighed anchor and we set off for the short sail further into the fjord for our second stop, Calypsobyen.

Calypsobyen, or Calypso Bay, rather lived up to its tropical name as the sun came out and the temperature was a balmy 8C. This name was further enhanced by Jean, who had explained in an earlier presentation that Svalbard was once situated in the tropics but that plate tectonics had moved it over the millennia to where it is now,

Anyway, our landing point was at the site of an old coal mining facility. By facility, I men a couple of wooden shacks a couple of wrecked rowing boats and some old, twisted, very rusty ironwork. There wasn’t much else there but we spent the time wandering slowly along the beach, finding such diverse treasures as lumps of coal, old bones of land, sea and air creatures, a spent rifle bullet casing, more reindeer poo (again) than I’ve had hot dinners and an old plastic bottle. (The bottle was collected and put in the special bin at the landing site and at the end of the season, all the plastic collected is weighed and money donated to the charitable HX Foundation). Thus, we did our bit for the beach cleanup.

Thankfully we did not find and collect a large bird egg….one of our explorers did….and showed it to the Exploration team who did their best not to go ballistic, but explain in no uncertain terms why it must be left alone.

Unlike the morning’s stop, there was little in the way of wildlife or bird life, but, as always, the views and scenery were fabulous. Blue skies, jagged mountains and glaciers surrounded us, as well as a couple of Russian fishing trawlers. (Well, we assume they were fishing but you can never really tell).

The weather forecast for the evening and tomorrow continues to look very favourable which bodes well for more landings and exploration (and sleep).