Smeerenburg
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2008
1
12
21
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Northwest coast of Spitsbergen,
Norway
Saturday, July 12, 2008
We tried to make a landing at Smeerenburg Fjord, but the conditions were not safe again. So we cruised further into Smeerenburg Fjord. To give us something to do the crew put on a couple presentations. The first that I attended was one on the types of birds found in the Svalbard Archipelago. It was somewhat interesting (me not being a bird person didn't help), but it was long. The second presentation was "Photography 101" as applied to the Arctic conditions. The presenter gave us little hints on how to protect your camera, how to compose a shot, and how to use light to your advantage. It was pretty informative, but I had heard most of the composition and light talks before. It was useful to hear about how to protect the camera and lenses, though.
Around lunch time, they decided that visibility was an issue and so they moved us on toward Amterdam Island. The professors wanted the group to meet in the library before the zodiacs were launched. They gave us group verbal quizzes on the Svalbard Museum in Longyearbyen and the Polar Museum in Tromso. The alumni helped and I am proud to say that I answered most of the Svalbard questions correctly. Just as the quiz was over, gangway time was announced (meaning that boarding the zodiacs would begin in a half hour).
I was ready in a flash and waited around while the zodiacs were launched. I did get on the first zodiac, though. The ride to Amsterdam Island was wet. It was snowing/raining and the wind was up, which was blowing spray. Amsterdam Island was an island on the very northwestern portion of the Svalbard Archipelago. It was used for processing whale blubber during the whaling years. There were still a few remains of "blubber ovens" near the landing site. These remains weren't much more than a few logs stacked together in a squarish shape.
We landed on this tidal flat on this windswept spit of land in the southeast part of the island. It felt like the end of the earth. The wind was blowing so that it was snowing sideways. It was probably close to freezing out. The sky was overcast and the clouds low. The visibility was reduced to maybe a mile. When we landed the ship was just in view. The place felt like the end of the Earth.
The Norwegians had apparently put in a large orange marker on the point. There was also a small monument to the whalers who had died overwintering on the island. All up and down the beach, there was driftwood everywhere. Yet there wasn't a tree to be seen standing. The driftwood was in all forms from branches, to boards, to logs. The logs came from Siberia where trees are being cut for timber. There was also a lot of seaweed washed up on the beach. The guide said that a storm had been through and had eroded the beach, and torn the seaweed loose.
We walked along the beach while the guide told us some history of the place and stories of Nansen and the Fram. The walking was semi treacherous through the grey sand because of all the driftwood, seaweed, and rocks. There were a few tidal pools inland which were surrounded by moss-covered ground. There were several species of birds spotted along the way. The goal of the walk was to find an old capstan that was on the beach. After crossing a swiftly flowing stream that was draining the tidal pools, we made it to the capstan. It was more like half a capstan, but it was clearly old. It was hand crafted, not worked with machines. The guide didn't know what ship it was from.
After we had seen our fill of the capstan, we made our way back to the landing zone. The weather started to improve and the sun began poking through. I got several shots of distant mountains with the sun shining on them. Along the way we saw a ring (or maybe a harbor) seal poke it's head out of the water and swim along the shore.
When we made it back to the landing zone, the weather started to deteriorate. The wind picked up again and it began snowing again. People started getting on the zodiacs and heading back to the ship. There was a slight hiccup when one of the staff flooded two of the outboards. She finally got one started and the pick up went quicker. I waited as long as they would let me and finally got on the second to the last zodiac. The ride back wasn't as bad as the ride in because we were going with the wind.
Back at the ship, I took off my excursion gear and went through a bunch of pictures that have not been sorted yet. I got through almost all of them before dinner. At dinner I sat next to the expedition's videographer. He was from Canada (lived in Vancouver at the time). He was telling me how he got to be the expedition's videographer. He worked for Princess Cruise Lines for 4-5 years where he was the ship's videographer. He said that he liked it, but not on huge cruise ships. So, he somehow found Quark and likes working on the smaller vessels better. He was telling me stories of crazy things that happened while he was at sea. For example, they were coming into a port and the harbor pilot was coming out to steer the ship to the dock. He slipped while stepping from the tug to the ship and fell between the vessels. The vessels came together and killed him instantly. He also said that people have thrown themselves overboard before. They have to go back and look for them, but it is always hopeless. Weird stuff.
During the post-dinner announcements Pat got up and said a few words about the MSU Team Arctic. It was nice to hear us get some recognition despite the fact that I am not an official student. John and Pat keep refering to Lindsay and I as students, though, because we are always learning. After dinner I went up to the bar to listen to a crew member tell a story about how he had a hair raising experience in an old twin engine plane up in the Canadian Yukon. The plane nearly crashed when one engine failed because its carburator froze. They made an emergency landing and were saved by the deep snow. Then I headed back down to my cabin and did a bunch of laundry in the sink.
