Wed
3 Aug
2016
So we are off again, this time with Arctica II. Sixty feet of steel, 12 souls inside, including skipper and boat owner Heinrich from Longyearbyen, Kerstin Langenberger as guide and me. Yes, this year we have got two guides on board.
Pizza from the pub in Longyearbyen is the first highlight on board, and then we sail out of the harbour. There is still a moderate breeze blowing in Isfjorden, so we can get used to life at sea a bit. Not too much, but enough for some. Not too long though, it is getting calmer again as we approach the northern side of Isfjord and it is calm as a lake as we are getting into the sheltered bay of Trygghamna.
The highest mountain tops are in clouds as we wake up next morning, but it is nice, clear and dry, so we start for a little mountain hike. Knuvlen is a tempting little top, just 325 metres high but with great views of surrounding glaciers, mountains and the fjord. The view is worth every single one of the many rocky metres.
Gallery Trygghamna – 03. August 2016
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It is getting grey as we continue into Forlandsund. We enjoy views of the coast as we pass Daudmannsodden nearby, but then it is a good opportunity to rest a bit, to read, to sort pictures … until we drop anchor in a little bay at Prins Karls Forland for a calm night. We took the opportunity for a little evening walk, discovering the tundra with the colours of some late flowers and the remains of a hunter’s cabin, once solidly built with driftwood logs, a material otherwise rarely used for that purpose.