Svalbard
Few places in the world can offer so many options for any keen photographer as the polar regions. The light constantly shifts and you have 24 hours of daylight to play with. Tom Magnelson, our guest photographer onboard for this photo cruise, spent the morning giving us amazing insight about Arctic photography. During his lecture we were able to learn, as well as admire some very fine pictures. As we already have seen, targets for our cameras have not been lacking. The ice creates some remarkable shifting; polar bears are always welcome; the birdlife is rich; and we have seen almost everything!
Today we are still able to explore more unseen terrain, the Arctic Tundra, as we landed on the NW tip of Edgeøya. We started with the rugged Spitsbergen with glaciers and high peaks, sailed towards Nordostlandet, which is almost totally covered by a glacier, and ended up at the most green and lush of all the larger islands in Svalbard.
In the afternoon we hiked into a deep U-formed valley. Our staff explained to us how the ice creates these wide U-formed valleys. Here we encountered a closer look at the rich polar flora but also came in close contact with the only grazer this far north, the Svalbard reindeer.
Since Edgeøya harbors large patches of tundra, this is the stronghold for reindeer in Svalbard. They are of course close relatives to the American Caribou, but no one has been able to explain how they were able to reach these isolated islands far north. If you give them time they are usually very curious animals and come up to you to have a closer look at the strange visitors on the tundra.
The whole afternoon we spent enjoying the tundra and later we set sail for Sørkapp, the most southerly tip of Spitsbergen. Some Minke Whales, Puffins, and pomarine jaegers were spotted from the deck. Even during recap and dinner most of the photographers were out on deck capturing amazing pictures of the sun hitting the high mountains and glaciers. Yes, another full day of photography.
Few places in the world can offer so many options for any keen photographer as the polar regions. The light constantly shifts and you have 24 hours of daylight to play with. Tom Magnelson, our guest photographer onboard for this photo cruise, spent the morning giving us amazing insight about Arctic photography. During his lecture we were able to learn, as well as admire some very fine pictures. As we already have seen, targets for our cameras have not been lacking. The ice creates some remarkable shifting; polar bears are always welcome; the birdlife is rich; and we have seen almost everything!
Today we are still able to explore more unseen terrain, the Arctic Tundra, as we landed on the NW tip of Edgeøya. We started with the rugged Spitsbergen with glaciers and high peaks, sailed towards Nordostlandet, which is almost totally covered by a glacier, and ended up at the most green and lush of all the larger islands in Svalbard.
In the afternoon we hiked into a deep U-formed valley. Our staff explained to us how the ice creates these wide U-formed valleys. Here we encountered a closer look at the rich polar flora but also came in close contact with the only grazer this far north, the Svalbard reindeer.
Since Edgeøya harbors large patches of tundra, this is the stronghold for reindeer in Svalbard. They are of course close relatives to the American Caribou, but no one has been able to explain how they were able to reach these isolated islands far north. If you give them time they are usually very curious animals and come up to you to have a closer look at the strange visitors on the tundra.
The whole afternoon we spent enjoying the tundra and later we set sail for Sørkapp, the most southerly tip of Spitsbergen. Some Minke Whales, Puffins, and pomarine jaegers were spotted from the deck. Even during recap and dinner most of the photographers were out on deck capturing amazing pictures of the sun hitting the high mountains and glaciers. Yes, another full day of photography.
