Tjuv­fjord – 17th August 2019

Sat
17 Aug
2019

Here in Tjuv­fjord we can enjoy the rare fee­ling to explo­re new waters and lands. Not too many peo­p­le have been here befo­re, and cer­tain­ly not too many tou­rists. This was a clas­si­cal hun­ting area during the years of the trap­pers.

We find a reason­ab­ly well shel­te­red landing site and hike over a wide-open, bar­ren coas­tal plain to the flat-top­ped mou­ta­ins that are stret­ching all the way along this coast. Vom one of the tops we have a gre­at pan­o­r­amic views over the who­le Storfjor­den. An ama­zing sce­n­ery, and seen only by few peo­p­le. The­re are ple­nty of reinde­er- and polar bear tracks on the low­land as well as on the moun­tain slo­pes, but no human foot­prints other than our own ones.

The lar­ge lagoon of Tjuv­fjord­lagu­na is our next desti­na­ti­on, but the­re, the coast is hid­den by a den­se belt of drift ice. Not a bad thing – we keep the drift ice next to us for a cou­ple of miles, until we are near Zieg­lerøya. See­ing this island in ice, with the moun­ta­ins of Edgeøya in the back­ground, is ama­zing. This area used to be famous hun­ting grounds for the trap­pers in times long gone by. The­re is still a hut built by Hen­ry Rudi, the „polar bear king“, on André­e­tan­gen, just behind the­se islands.

Gal­lery – Tjuv­fjord – 17th August 2019

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

We enjoy the love­ly pas­sa­ge in stun­ning evening light towards the migh­ty moun­tain Kval­pyn­ten – yesterday’s polar bear is still wal­king around on the slo­pes in exact­ly the same posi­ti­on – and then we anchor in Habe­nicht­buk­ta. Tomor­row we will sail towards the south cape. The wea­ther fore­cast appears to be per­fect. Fin­gers crossed it holds true.

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