Under sail to Spitsbergen’s ice and wildlife, that was the idea for this voyage in the very early arctic summer, in early June 2019, with SV Antigua. And it was pretty much what happened: there was ice, there was wildlife. There was snow, there were snow shoes. There was some snow-free tundra. There was a lot of arctic nature outside and good spirits inside.
In other words: it was really a good trip, very enjoyable and rich in memories. Even though the sun was a rare phenomenon through several days, but we also got our share of fine weather in the beginning and in the end. All polar bears seem currently to have gathered in Isfjord, and we saw several ones there, although a bit distant. And the whole rest of it: polar fox, reindeer, a good number of bird species … Ingolf identified birds that many others amongst us did not even see 🙂
The following pages have photo galleries of the individual legs of our journey and a few words about what kind of experience that part generally gave to us. Enjoy following our wake!
Some of the placenames and species names are linked up to other pages on this website that have background information or 360 degree photos of those sites.
Photo album – Spitsbergen with SV Antigua, 01-09 June 2019
Huts are places of longing, dreams and adventure in Spitsbergen’s beautiful landscape. Even if the modern visitor’s eye may mostly be directed towards nature, most will have an open ear every now and then for exciting survival stories about explorers and expeditions, adventurers and trappers.
These huts are silent witnesses and and every one of them tells a little part of the whole story. The little book “Svalbardhytter” and the poster that is part of the same project make these fascinating places accessible for everyone.
From remote ruins, just traces in a few cases, to “famous” trapper huts such as Fredheim in Tempelfjord and Bjørneborg on Halvmåneøya, the war weather station Haudegen, the former scientific base Würzburger Hütte on Barentsøya and Hammerfesthuset, Svalbard’s oldest building.