Svalbard and Franz Josef Land [11 days]

The Svalbard Archipelago is one of the most easily accessible territories in the High Arctic. It is ideal for scientific researches in various fields. There are several national parks in Spitzbergen, several natural reserves and special animal preserve territories. These include 15 special bird preserves. Svalbard has always been one of the main starting points for the explorers trying to reach the North Pole. The capital town of Longyearbyen is one of the northernmost towns in the world.

Franz Josef Land archipelago is the closest land to the North Pole in the Eastern Hemisphere (about 540 miles to the North Pole from its utmost Northern point). It has been discovered in 1873 by the Austrian “Tegetthof” expedition. Nowadays it is one of rare ‘wild’ places left on Earth (it is unpopulated except small Russian military base and two polar stations). The archipelago consists of 191 islands, 83% of them are still covered with permanent ice… [scroll down for more details]

Tour Details:

Day 1: Longyearbyen
Your independent arrival to Longyearbyen . Transfers to the vessel “Polaris”. In the evening it’s time to meet our Expedition staff members and crew officers; the presentation of the staff is followed by instructions on zodiac activities

Day 2: Krossfjord
Today we will pass by the Krossfjord Glacier for a great walking tour.

Day 3: Kvitoya Island
It is almost completely ice-covered (White Island) and belongs to the Northeast Svalbard Nature Reserve. On the ice-free parts there are moss beds which can be very colorful. Arctic terns and some other birds breed here. Polar bears and walrus are frequent visitors in this area. In the evening we are leaving the archipelago and heading for Victoria Island.

Day 4: Solar Eclipse
We expect to watch Total Solar Eclipse this morning not far from Victoria Island. Our masterly Captain will try to catch the best point for the ship to observe this majestic natural phenomenon.
Well we have much of interesting in the latter part of our expedition. If we have favourable weather conditions we’ll explore Victoria Island with its large population of walruses. Naturalists are not the only creatures attracted here by these Arctic animals - polar bears visit the area frequently to have their “walrus dinner”. We hope to meet them both while cruising near in our zodiacs.

Day 5: Franz Josef Land
We expect to reach Franz Josef Land archipelago this morning. A landing is planned on Bell Island to visit the house built by Lee Smith’s expedition in 1881.
A huge sea bird colony finds home on the cliffs towering over the southern side of Cape Flora.

Day 6: Wilczek Island
We start the day with a visit to Wilczek Island. On the southern tip of the island we’ll find a lonely grave of the machinist Otto Krisch. He was the only victim of the Payer Wayprecht Expedition.
Our next possible stop is Hall Island, Cape Tegetthoff. The island sights are very impressive: huge cliffs resembling dorsal fins of gigantic sharks submerge into the depths. The remains of the wooden structures built by the Wellman expedition (1898-1899) add colors to the vivid panorama. Arriving to Alger Island; our goal today is to land at the wintering place of the American Arctic expedition headed by A. Baldwin. If weather permits we will lower our zodiacs to sail among drifting icebergs. Polar bears are frequent visitors here; probably we’ll succeed in catching some… with our camera lenses.

Day 7: Wilczek Land Island
Today we plan a landing at Cape Heller on Wilczek Land Island. In 1899 two sailors, members of the Welle expedition wintered there, waiting for the core of the group that was trying to conquer the North Pole. As everywhere on Franz Josef Land, we are very likely to witness Polar bears and sea mammals. “Stolichky and Appolonov Islands”. Our expedition activities here are highly depend on weather and ice conditions. If we are lucky to have favourable conditions we plan a zodiac trip near the islands. The main attraction of the islands is walrus rookeries. Our zodiac drivers will do their best to get to the rookeries as close as possible.

Day 8: Champ Island
A magnificent Champ Island in placed in the very center of the archipelago like a diamond in a precious tiara. The landscape of Champ is majestic: the cliffs and ice-capped mountains are the highest on the archipelago. Here we’ll see unique nature creations: the stones of ideal spherical shape (up to 3 m of diameter). This is a remarkable day for bird lovers; we go on observing bird life in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island. The famous Rubini Rock, a huge cliff in the bay, is the shelter for thousands of sea birds. We will try to approach the cliff as close as possible to watch kittiwakes and other Arctic birds. There is an abandoned polar station on the shore of Tikhaya Bay. If weather is favourable we will go ashore to visit the station.

Day 09: Cruise
A relaxing day on the ship heading to Longyearbyen.

Day 10: Rossoya
If the weather and ice conditions are favourable we plan a landing in the region of Sjuoyane Islands. A visit to the island of Rossoya, the northernmost point of Norway.

Day 11: Longyearbyen
In the morning we arrive to Longyearbyen, disembark the ship and go to the local airport for your flight to Oslo

Prices are per person based on double occupancy.
Prices in GBP, USD and CAD are informative and may vary with the official exchange rate.

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Carbon Footprint for this package: EUR 19.06