This was a three week Expedition Voyage into the Arctic and Svalbard. We were most certainly not on a cruise being 'entertained'. It was a voyage of discovery, where every day we learnt something new. The itinerary changed on an almost daily basis, due to the weather, and other external factors. But the expedition team coped well with the frequent need to re-plan landings.

Some days we had a 'normal' port of call, tied up to a quay. But just as often, we were making landings from the Maud which was at anchor offshore. And some landings were complex military style operations, due to the need to coordinate the ribs (small inflatable tender vessels) launched from the tender-pit, the polar-bear lookouts, and the different landing parties due to the limited number of people allowed on shore at any one time.

Seeing glaciers close up, polar bears in the wild, white tailed eagles close up, humpback whales diving, tasting glacier ice, cooking saami bread on an open fire, participating in citizen science water and cloud observations, were all things that made the expedition stand out. Read more