13. July 2023 - Spitzbergen

Daily Archives: 13. July 2023 − News & Stories

Drone flights: tourists fined

Posted on 13. July 2023 by Rolf Stange

Drone photography can be fun and it can open a whole new perspective on the world. But there are rules, a fact that seems to be unknown to many. This includes a no flight zone of 5 km around the airport of Longyearbyen. Most of Longyearbyen is actually located within this no flight zone, something many seem to be unaware of, or they decide to ignore it. This is forbidden and it can be expensive: recently, several tourists got their drones confiscated and fines of 12,000 kroner – and it might even be more, depending on the individual case.

Flying a drone Svalbard: principally possible – but there are rules.

If you want to fly a drone in Svalbard, then you need to make sure you know the regulations. Check the Sysselmester’s website or the Spitsbergen guidebook, it has all the information you need to know 😉

On organised tours including cruises, there may be restrictions from the tour operator/ship owner beyond the legal regulations.

Kiepertøya & Kapp Ziehen

Posted on 13. July 2023 by Rolf Stange

Thu
13 Jul
2023

Also this day didn’t work out quite as planned. Thick fog all over the place, it just didn’t make sense to cruise towards Bråsvellbreen. We rather made use of the time to make some mile the way we have to sail anyway, to the south. At some stage, we just have to make these miles.

I wouldn’t have placed a bet on it, but actually, we still found the opportunity to make not only one landing on this day, but two. Not the longest hikes ever, but two interesting landings in place where you certainly get to every day. Obviously, you don’t go for long hikes on an island like Kiepertøya when there is fog in the area and you know the next polar bear isn’t too far away. You rather stay close to the boats that you keep ready on the beach, ready for take-off at any time as needed. And enjoy the beauty of a little peninsula and lagoon on a little, remote, wild arctic island. There is a dramatic story connected this place (click here for more pictures and info about Kiepertøya).

Later we even managed to make a rare landing at Kapp Ziehen, the northeast corner of Barentsøya. Also definitely not an everyday place. And it looks and is different from Barentsøya and Edgeøya elsewhere. It is more polar desert like, more closely related to the barren land of southern Nordaustland, for example in Vibebukta. That is no coincidence, that has to do with the geology.