Martinodden ist a small headland on the southwest coast of Edgeøya. It is part of an area of several square kilometres that has a series of small capes, bays and islands. This area consists of diabas, a basalt-like kind of rock. The southernmost one of these bays is Habenichtbukta, the northernmost one is Gothavika, a name given by August Petermann from Gotha (Thuringia, Germany) in the 19th century.
We can see Gothavika to the north (under the clouds) in this panorama. There is another bay on the opposite side, which is unnamed. It is part of Ekrollhamna, natural harbour that consists of several bays. But this natural „harbour“ is so shallow that it is partly unnavigable even for Zodiacs, at least at low tide, and some of the bays are completely inaccessible.
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.