Many had been thin­king in Lon­gye­ar­by­en that Spits­ber­gen would remain a covid-free bubble, but it didn’t real­ly sur­pri­se that this is not the case. A num­ber of peo­p­le have tes­ted posi­ti­ve in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, inclu­ding tho­se that show sym­ptoms – not dra­ma­tic ones, lucki­ly, as far as known at least.

So now ever­y­bo­dy who arri­ves in Lon­gye­ar­by­en needs to make a test upon arri­val. The admi­nis­tra­ti­on fears the con­se­quen­ces of a major out­break in such a remo­te loca­ti­on.

Coro­na has come to Spits­ber­gen. And if you do the same, then you have to get tes­ted upon arri­val the­re.

Nobo­dy knows what this might mean for the future, what 2022 may bring. Many in Lon­gye­ar­by­en (and else­whe­re) feel unwell as soon as someone says “Omi­kron”.

Digi­tal Spits­ber­gen muse­um: new and impro­ved pages

So at the time being, a vir­tu­al jour­ney may be the bet­ter opti­on, and cer­tain­ly the che­a­per and easier one, available at any time. I have made a num­ber of new pages within spitsbergen-svalbard.com and impro­ved older ones, making it wort­hwhile to visit both well known and remo­te cor­ners of the Sval­bard archi­pe­la­go. It is fair to say that what I am buil­ding up here over years is kind of a digi­tal Spits­ber­gen muse­um, espe­ci­al­ly in the pan­ora­ma sec­tion which makes many loca­ti­ons in Sval­bard easi­ly acces­si­ble to anyo­ne with inter­net access world­wi­de. The new and impro­ved pages are my Christ­mas pre­sent for all Spits­ber­gen enthu­si­asts who like a digi­tal trip to some beau­tiful, but – in real life – hard-to-get-to places. Enjoy!

Some of the new/improved pages:

Some of the loca­ti­ons repre­sen­ted on spitsbergen-svalbard.com with new or impro­ved pages:
Enjoy! Access via the links in the list below.

• Heley­sund
• Ryke Yse­øya­ne
• Cherm­si­deøya: Nord­kapp
• Depotod­den: Oxford House
• Tokros­søya (the visit the­re was one of my per­so­nal high­lights in 2021)
• Vibe­buk­ta (1)
• Vibe­buk­ta (2)
• Ham­burg­buk­ta
• Gru­mant­by­en (with some new infor­ma­ti­on)
• Nord­re Rus­seøya
• Relikt­buk­ta
• Andøya­ne
• Teo­do­lit­kol­len
• Her­man­senøya

Light­ing up the Christ­mas tree in Lon­gye­ar­by­en. Befo­re Covid-19 – a long, long time ago.

Hap­py Christ­mas and the best wis­hes for a hap­py and healt­hy new year!