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9 Day Spitsbergen Expedition Cruise

9 Day Spitsbergen Expedition Cruise

Follow in Amundsen’s footsteps to these islands of extraordinary beauty with their glacial landscapes, migratory bird life and remote settlements. Here, where the sun never sets in summer, you lose touch with time, whilst slowly savouring a mountainous beauty unmatched anywhere in the world.

Our Ships

The Professor Molchanov and Professor Moltanovskiy were both built in Finland as polar research craft for the Hydro-graphic  Institute of St Petersburg and later converted to passenger use. Both are crewed by experienced Russian officers and men, the former being widely acknowledged to be experts in polar navigation. Whilst marginally different in date of build, profile and internal layout, all have specially strengthened ice resistant hulls.

The Antarctic Dream was built in Holland as a patrol boat with an ice resistant strengthened hull for the Chilean Navy and subsequently rebuilt and refurbished in 2005. The Plancius was originally built as an oceanographic research vessel for the Dutch Navy and subsequently modified as a polar exploration vessel. Both ships are crewed by Chileans on the bridge, in the engine room and hospitality areas.

Our Expedition Leaders

Cruises are led by experienced leaders with a strong and academically based enthusiasm for the Polar regions in general and their specialist subject in particular. As eclectic a group by way of nationality, gender, career path, experience and academic discipline as it is possible to find, they nonetheless find common ground in their love of nature and the environment.

Just some of them who lead and have led our expeditions in recent years are:

Ian Stone, a Polar historian and honorary research associate at the Polar Research Institute at Cambridge.

Morten Jorgensen has worked for the Danish Ornithological Society and as an observer for the Danish Polar Center.

Robin Buzza moved to Spitsbergen after rowing from England to the North Cape in an open boat. Enough said!

Rolf Strange has recently published Rocks and Ice, a book on the geography and geology of Svalbard and has worked as a guide and zodiac driver for Oceanwide Expeditions since 2000.

Day 1 OSLO Scheduled SAS flight to Oslo. Overnight Clarion Oslo Airport Hotel.

Day 2  OSLO – LONGYEARBYEN Early morning scheduled SAS flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen. Transfer to your ship. Evening sail north along the west coast.

Day 3 In Krossfjorden Zodiac along the sculpted front of Glacier.  Kittiwakes, Brünnich’s Guillemots nest; Arctic Foxes patrol and Bearded Seals cruise the fjord. Later we sail to Ny Ålesund with its Barnacle Geese, Pink-footed Geese and Arctic Terns.

Day 4 Sail to the mouth of Leifdefjorden and go ashore on the tundra island of Andøya.  King and common Eiders and Pink-footed Geese nest here. We might also sail alongside the impressive Monaco glacier. Polar bears can occasionally be seen.

Day 5 In Hinlopen straits we get a chance to see Bearded and Ringed Seals, Polar Bears and Ivory Gulls. On Lomfjordshalvøya we Zodiac to the bird cliffs of Alkefjellet. Later we land in Augustabukta. See Spitsbergen Reindeer, Walrus and a rare Ivory Gull colony.

Day 6 We reach our northernmost point at Phippsøya, at 81 degrees north we will be just 540 miles from the geographic North Pole. Taking our time we might see Polar Bears, Ivory Gulls an possible even a Ross Gull, before it is time for us to journey south again.

Day 7 Retracing our route westwards, visit Raudfjord, a fjord dominated by spectacular glaciers and Seals. At Ytre Norskøya the bird life is prolific, with colonies of Little Auks, Black Guillemots, Puffins and Arctic Skuas.

Day 8 Sail south to Alkhornet. Seabirds nest on its cliffs and Arctic Foxes search for fallen eggs and chicks, while Spitsbergen Reindeer graze. Cruise through beautiful Borebukta following a glacier front.

Day 9 Longyearbyen – UK Dock at Longyearbyen. Return SAS flight(s) to the UK via Oslo.