At Sea - Norwegian Mainland to the Svalbard Archipelago - Day 12 - July 13, 2023

We woke up this morning to dense fog which followed us until late afternoon as we sailed north in the Barents Sea heading for the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Both the air and water temperatures had dropped by at least 15F since we left Norway's mainland and passed from the warmer Gulf Stream current into a cold arm of the south flowing Arctic current.



We passed by Bear Island which is supposed to have lots of nesting birds, but the fog was too dense to even see the island.  It is the southern most island of the Norwegian Svalbard Archipelago which was discovered in 1596 by Dutch Explorers and named after a polar bear they saw swimming nearby.

"Despite its remote location and barren nature, the island has seen commercial activities in past centuries, such as coal mining, fishing and whaling. However, no settlements have lasted more than a few years, and Bear Island is now uninhabited except for personnel working at the island's meteorological station Herwighamna. Along with the adjacent waters, it was declared a nature reserve in 2002." (Wikipedia - Bear Island)

As we ate dinner tonight, we saw Minke whales spouting off the port side of the ship.


Tonight we had our first glimpse of one of the items of Svalbard and we will dock in Longyearbyen (the capital) at 7:00 AM tomorrow.



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