Day 1 – 25 July 2020 We started our third Svalbard photo expedition for the season with the first international group of 12 photographers from UK, Norway, Italy, Denmark and Belgium. In the afternoon we sat our course north, and on our way out Isfjorden we experienced world-record high temperatures at this latitude of 21,7 degree Celsius.
Day 4 – 28 July 2020 We continued to search for wildlife in the drifting ice and after lunch we saw another polar bear who came quite close to our expedition ship. The polar bear was also diving several times under an ice floe and came up againg with part of a baby seal flipper or a fish tail in its mounth. We have never observed this kind of behaviour before, so it was very special. Later that day we also saw in the distance a mother polar bear with a yearling cub walking determined toward south. During the night we travelled east toward Storøya.
Day 5 – 29 July 2020 We woke up to a windy day close to Storøya, and we saw groups of walrus and one sleeping polar bear during our zodiak excursion. The rest of the day we travelled south along the Austfonna glacier, but with dense fog it was not much to see, so we decided to go northwest back to the drifting sea ice.
Day 6 – 30 July 2020 The fog made it also difficult to see any wildlife up in the drifting sea ice, but several times the fog lifted slightly and we saw two resting polar bears from a distance, a few seals and northern fulmars. With all the time spent in the sea ice we didn’t have time for Hinlopen on this expedition, so we rather set course for the Monaco glacier.
Day 7 – 31 July 2020 The Monaco glacier is usually a very popular place for expedition ships in Svalbard, but with the Covid-situation we were alone. With partly fog and midnight sun we had amazing photo opportunities in front of the glacier, and the Ivory gulls and other seabirds were easy to photograph. A magic night!
Our third Svalbard expedition of 2020 was also a great success and covid-free. We thank our guests and partners for trusting us in providing a safe expedition in these difficult times!
Text & photo: Ole J Liodden
Let us know if you want to travel with us on a similar photo expedition to Svalbard.