Mary-Ann's Polarrigg Longyearbyen

... nice combination and the service was impeccable without being solicitous <br><br>We sailed away at 6 p.m. that evening and headed for our first destination of Barentsburg which is a Russian coal mining settlement. We arrived at about 9 and had our first disembarkment to visit the museum there. The town is not very attractive but the museum was somewhat interesting in describing the history of ...

... I did see an arctic fox! Very cool! <br><br>Despite the warm weather in Longyearbyen, I was nervous about whether I had enough clothes for on the ship - the wind chill on deck would be a factor. I had bought wool longjohn bottoms in Iceland for the whale tour and decided I should buy a top just in case. Needless to say, I got a lot of use out of both while on the tour!<br>

... gives a show for a couple of hours &#8211; we watch it almost until midnight in bright sunshine against a backdrop of a brilliant blue sky.<br><br>The next morning we plan to round the North end of Spitsbergen and begin our leg back to Longyearbyen. <br><br>We take a Zodiac cruise around an island whose geological composition is 2 billion years old. Ralph Lee White, who covers the geology angle, is our Zodiac guide. He tells us that Svalbard is a geologist ...

... br><br>Man&#8217;s search for energy and cheap transport has defined this region for nearly 500 years.<br><br>During the 1500&#8217;s the control of the seas and the shortest sailing times to the lucrative trading markets of the East determined world domination and no one did it better than the Dutch.<br><br>They were the first of the explorers who we know ventured into the Arctic to find a Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. In the Svalbard Gallery we found a rare 1570 ...

... starker, harsher beauty than the Antarctic. Prior to any zodiac landings, a check for polar bears must be made, and on-shore our guides must carry guns. A teenage girl was killed in 1995 by a polar bear when walking outside a settlement. It can be very hard to spot polar bears from a distance - a white blob amongst white ice and snow - not the easiest of tasks! During our ...

... we were advised of a delay with an update in an hours time. There were film crews wandering around the airport interviewing staff, and I wondered what all the fuss was about. As it happened, there had not been any flights able to fly in or out of Longyearbyen for the prior 3 days due to fog. I was very glad when our flight was able to proceed. On arrival at Longyearbyen, the usually sleepy little ...

... us to groups), but I was in the first zodiac of the group. Woody was the driver. As we approached the beach, you could catch a whiff of walrus. They eat around 50 kg of mussels a day and they smell somewhere between rotting meat and fish. We landed on a sandy and gravel beach. There was a large tidal plane with ponds stretching out to mountains in the distance. Near the beach, quite a lot of driftwood had washed ashore. Like Amsterdamoya, this driftwood consisted of logs ...

... so worried about us getting going and someone holding up the show. We made the winding journey up the mountain to the west, past the airport. Along the way we drove past the World Seed Vault. This is where the Scandinavian governments decided to archive seeds of the world so that in the event of a catastrophy plant species will not be wiped out. It is closed to the general public for security reasons, but you can see the entrance easily enough. It looks like a ...

... is for protection against polar bears. Our guide carried a .306. The guide service also provided gaiters to the participants. These are handy when crossing streams and sloshing through wet snow. I had on longjohns, a fleece, my Theta jacket, my new eVent pants, wool socks, waterproof hiking boots, heavy gloves, and a wool hat. This proved to be way too much and I ended up taking off my Theta jacket, hat, and putting on lighter gloves. Our little group started ...

... I might even get a circular polarizer. It would help my pictures and it is the same price you'd pay in the US, surprisingly. In the morning we got up early and had breakfast. The breakfast here was slightly sparser than what we had on the main land. It consisted of the same stuff, though. It was quite busy. I guess Guesthouse 102 is a popular place. I should say a little bit about Guesthouse 102. I'm staying in a room about the size of a dorm room. There are two ...