Storfjord-Sør­kap­pøya – 18th August 2019

Sun
18 Aug
2019

Today we are hea­ding across Storfjord to the south cape and the west coast. The wea­ther should be ide­al, accor­ding for the fore­cast. And it was ide­al. It does not get any bet­ter. Sun and flat­calm water. The skip­per can relax (see pho­to). Fin wha­les show­ed up a cou­ple of times.

The south cape (Sør­kapp), usual­ly good for many miles in rough waters around the shal­low and dan­ge­rous coast­li­nes, opens a door for us today. The wea­ther is so good that we can dare to go ashore on Sør­kap­pøya. This island („South cape island“) is the sou­thern­most part of Spits­ber­gen (save for Bear Island/Bjørnøya, far to the south in the Barents Sea).

Sør­kap­pøya looks like a flat and bor­ing island from the distance, but it isn’t when you get clo­ser. The struc­tures are ama­zing. Geo­me­tri­cal pat­terns of rai­sed beach rid­ges, many lagoons, walls of stee­p­ly dip­ping, hard lay­ers of sedi­ments full of fos­sils. The low sun casts red evening light over the who­le beau­ty of this exci­ting place, it almost tou­ch­es the hori­zon – actual­ly, the first sun­set after the mid­night sun peri­od will hap­pen here tomor­row (and a cou­ple of days later in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, fur­ther north).

Gal­lery – Storfjord-Sør­kap­pøya – 18th August 2019

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

Late at night, skip­per Peter impres­ses ever­y­bo­dy as he takes Arc­ti­ca II safe­ly through Mesund, a nar­row and shal­low pas­sa­ge north of Sør­kap­pøya. That saves us many miles and it gives us a stun­ning pas­sa­ge bet­ween many small islands and rocks, while the red sun is tou­ch­ing the moun­ta­ins of Sør­kapp Land.

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