Brassvellbreen
As a kid I remember seeing a lot of advertisements for a certain recruiting organization that focused on adventure in exotic places with the saying “We do more before 9 AM than most people do all day.” It’s kind of like that in Svalbard. My journal notes include the following excerpts:
“Woke up in Hornsund to stunning vistas and sheer cliff walls towering overhead. Polish research station ahead in Isbjornhamna. Sounds of birds everywhere – I can hear kittiwakes a mile away and there are guillemots, fulmars, dovekies, glaucous gulls and even a few puffins all around the ship.”
“We call the station and talk to Nina Karnovsky, an American woman doing research on dovekies and the changes that occur in their diets due to changing environmental conditions – mostly oceanic currents and sea ice. Polar bear on shore marauding the camp so we avert the landing and move to Gnalodden – a monolithic point of rock in Hornsund where low-hanging clouds occasionally envelop the peak and thus it seems that the mountain goes up and on forever like in a Dr. Seuss story.”
“On shore is an old trapper’s cabin occupied by a French couple doing more research. Green slopes of mosses and lichens abound. An arctic fox works the base of the cliff as do the glaucous gulls. The pair on the big rock has 3 chicks this year – little ones are about 28 days old and just losing their down.”
“Cobalt blue icebergs choke the bays and we do an afternoon Zodiac cruise in Burgerbukta. Solace surrounds, and kayakers of all ages glide effortlessly through the fjord. Several guests brave the elements and go for a polar plunge in the 35 degree water. They are crazy!”
“Great dinner with fun conversation as usual. We are seeing everything.”
“After dinner I am up in the crow’s nest – spot a couple of sperm whales in the distance and later we stop for a big fin whale just off the shelf drop. Midnight and I hit the sack. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
We may not pack everything in before 9AM, but I seriously doubt that many people do more before 9AM than we do all day on the National Geographic Endeavour.
As a kid I remember seeing a lot of advertisements for a certain recruiting organization that focused on adventure in exotic places with the saying “We do more before 9 AM than most people do all day.” It’s kind of like that in Svalbard. My journal notes include the following excerpts:
“Woke up in Hornsund to stunning vistas and sheer cliff walls towering overhead. Polish research station ahead in Isbjornhamna. Sounds of birds everywhere – I can hear kittiwakes a mile away and there are guillemots, fulmars, dovekies, glaucous gulls and even a few puffins all around the ship.”
“We call the station and talk to Nina Karnovsky, an American woman doing research on dovekies and the changes that occur in their diets due to changing environmental conditions – mostly oceanic currents and sea ice. Polar bear on shore marauding the camp so we avert the landing and move to Gnalodden – a monolithic point of rock in Hornsund where low-hanging clouds occasionally envelop the peak and thus it seems that the mountain goes up and on forever like in a Dr. Seuss story.”
“On shore is an old trapper’s cabin occupied by a French couple doing more research. Green slopes of mosses and lichens abound. An arctic fox works the base of the cliff as do the glaucous gulls. The pair on the big rock has 3 chicks this year – little ones are about 28 days old and just losing their down.”
“Cobalt blue icebergs choke the bays and we do an afternoon Zodiac cruise in Burgerbukta. Solace surrounds, and kayakers of all ages glide effortlessly through the fjord. Several guests brave the elements and go for a polar plunge in the 35 degree water. They are crazy!”
“Great dinner with fun conversation as usual. We are seeing everything.”
“After dinner I am up in the crow’s nest – spot a couple of sperm whales in the distance and later we stop for a big fin whale just off the shelf drop. Midnight and I hit the sack. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
We may not pack everything in before 9AM, but I seriously doubt that many people do more before 9AM than we do all day on the National Geographic Endeavour.
