Arctic and Antarctic Holidays
 

North-East Greenland

Cruising from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) to Scoresby Sund

This tour includes: Longyearbyen & Raudfjord (Spitsbergen) • Kaiser Franz Joseph Fjord • Scoresby Sund • Sydkap • Illoqqortoormiut • Akureyri (Iceland);

Your Itinerary

Saturday 25th August
Your Scandinavian Airlines flight departs London Heathrow Terminal 3 (schedule to be confirmed). On arrival in Longyearbyen transfer by airport bus (stops right outside the hotel) to Basecamp Explorer for overnight stay.

Sunday 26th August
Longyearbyen is the administrative capital of the Spitsbergen archipelago of which West Spitsbergen is the largest island. Before embarking there is an opportunity to visit this former mining village. The Parish Church and the Polar Museum are well worth visiting. In the early evening the ship will sail out of Isfjorden.

Monday 27th August
We sail into Raudfjord on the north coast of West Spitsbergen, a beautiful fjord with spectacular glaciers. It is home to Ringed and Bearded Seals, seabird colonies and a surprisingly rich vegetation. We have good chances to see Polar Bears, for instance near Hamilton Glacier, or more to the head of the fjord. From there we continue to Moffen Island on which Walruses haul out.

Tuesday 28th & Wednesday 29th August
At sea, on our way to Greenland, we may see the edge of the East Greenland sea-ice. We keep watch for whales, and also for migrating seabirds.

Thursday 30th August
Approaching Greenland we will attempt to sail through the sea ice into Foster Bugt, making our first landing at Myggebugten. Beyond the old hunters' hut (in the first half of last century Norwegian trappers hunted here for Polar Bears and Arctic Foxes) there is an extensive tundra populated by Musk Oxen. The small lakes are home to geese. We sail through Kaiser Franz Joseph Fjord, a magnificent fjord with towering mountains on both sides, its inner reaches choked with huge icebergs. An alternative is Sofia Sund, which is much narrower, and where we can see Musk Oxen from the ship.

Friday 31st August
We will land at Blomster Bugt to view the beautiful geological formations. Arctic Hares are usually seen here, and there is a lake with Great Northern Divers and their young. In the afternoon we sail along Teufelschloss and Ella Ø and may land at a beautiful spot in the early evening.

Saturday 1st September
The first half of the day we spend in Antarcticahavn, a wide and extensive valley where we also could see groups of Musk Oxen. At this time of year the autumnal colours of the sparse vegetation make the landscapes even more beautiful.

Sunday 2nd September
Today we reach the Scoresby Sund and sail in the morning along the ragged and glaciated Volquart Boons Here we may organise a zodiac cruise along one of the glacier fronts of this coast, and have our first landing near for instance Maane Glacier. Later we land on Danmark,Ø where we find the remains of an Inuit settlement abandoned around 200 years ago. The circular 'tent rings' of stones indicate the summer houses, while the winter houses can be seen closer to a small cape. The sites are excellently preserved, allowing entrances and even bear-proof meat caches to be identified. There are also grave sites. In the evening we continue our sailing through the beautiful fjords to the west, choked with ice-bergs.

Monday 3rd September
We go ashore at Cape Hofmann Halvø, a reliable spot for viewing Musk Oxen. We may also spot Rock Ptarmigans and Great Northern Divers at sea. The landscape here is particularly beautiful, especially during autumn when the Dwarf Willow and Dwarf Birch change colour. Arctic Blueberry and Crowberry add their own colourful touch - the berries are tasty too! In the evening we sail through the fjord towards Scoresby Land, enjoying the contrast between the warm autumnal colours of the vegetation on shore, backed by huge dark mountains, and the cold blue of the icebergs.

Tuesday 4th September
In Northwest fjord in Scoresby Land in the morning, we encounter huge icebergs, some over 100m high and more than a kilometre in length. Most of the bergs are grounded as the fjord is only about 400m deep here. We land near Sydkap to view the remains of the Thule culture winter houses. As many as 20 people lived in these tiny houses, hunting Greenland Whales and using their vertebrae to build the houses. We may also land at Gurreholm on Jameson Land. The landscape here is gently undulating.

Wednesday 5th September
In the morning we land at Illoqqortoormiut, the biggest settlement in the Scoresby Sund with about 500 inhabitants. At the post office you can buy stamps for your postcards, or just wander around to see the sledge dogs and the drying skins of Seal, Musk Ox and Polar Bear. After dinner we will sail south passing the amazing landscape of the Blosseville Coast.

Thursday 6th September
We will spend the whole day at sea and we will have splendid opportunities to see large whales and seabird migration and, in the night, the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights).

Friday 7th September
In the morning we arrive in Akureyri and are taken by a chartered bus during a 6 hours drive through North Iceland to our hotel in Reykjavik.

Saturday 8th September
You'll have a free morning in Reykjavik before taking the Flybus to Keflavik to connect with our flight back to London departing at 1610 hours* and getting in to London Heathrow Terminal 1 at 2010 hours. If you would like to extend your stay in Iceland we would be happy to advise and book.

* If you prefer, you can take the early morning flight - please ask for details.

Disclaimer: This itinerary is dependent on sea and ice conditions. The final itinerary will be decided by the ship's captain and your Expedition Leader to maximize opportunities.

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