Edgeöoya (Edge Island), Svalbard Archipelago
Today we explored the southeastern region of the Svalbard Archipelago. First thing this morning, National Geographic Explorer made an east-to-west transit through Freemansundet, a narrow passage between Barentsöya (to the north) and Edgeöya (to the south). During breakfast we rounded Kapp Lee and entered the huge body of water known as Storfjorden, which separates Spitsbergen from both Barentsöya and Edgeöya. We steamed just off the western shoreline of Edgeöya and made our way down to a place called Rosenbergdaten, known from past experience as a great area for hiking and exploring the High Arctic tundra.
Unfortunately, as we got nearer to the anchorage site we spotted two polar bears not very far from where we wanted to go ashore. That ended that idea! It was a mother and cub prowling near the shoreline, looking for food. Finding these bears on land here really wasn’t too surprising, because at this time of year when the ice is gone from the inland waters, many bears get trapped ashore and have to wait for new ice to form later in the year before they can resume seal-hunting activities. Understandably, the land-trapped bears get mighty hungry.
It was time for Plan B, so we continued along the coast of Edgeöya to a bay called Russebukta in hopes of getting ashore there. After scanning the area with binoculars and spotting scopes, we determined the area was free of polar bears and a landing would be safe. This was great news, as it would be our last chance to hike in the Svalbard Archipelago during this expedition. Everyone was ashore in short order and the various hiking groups set off in different directions to explore the area. We walked on a large, relatively flat, moss-covered plateau that developed from an ancient rocky sea floor that had risen from the sea through isostatic rebounding. During the last ice age, a heavy covering of ice depressed the land significantly, but since the ice disappeared some 10-12,000 years ago, land surface has bounced back. The sea level has also risen as a result of the melting ice, but obviously the land has risen even more, because the region about Russebukta is what geologists call a raised sea bed terrace.
While people were ashore enjoying themselves, Expedition Leader Bud Lehnhausen scouted the shoreline in a Zodiac…just to make sure no polar bears suddenly appeared. Well, guess what! A large bear suddenly appeared and ambled out onto the wide river bed a half mile off from the landing site. It was deemed prudent for us all to evacuate the area and the call went out for everyone to return to the landing site. However, the long hikers were quite distant from the landing at this time, so we picked them up at a different site farther away from the bear. There was no panic, and no serious danger to us, but one never knows how a bear will react upon detecting humans in its vicinity.
The afternoon was spent sailing southward within Storfjorden, giving us wonderful views of the spectacularly eroded cliffs of Kvalpynten at the extreme southern end of Edgeöya. We soon found ourselves among numerous fin whales and some of them delighted us as they purposely approached the ship. This allowed us to marvel at the superb body design of these speedy “greyhounds of the sea,” which helps them to move through the water so efficiently. Naval architects must be very envious of their ingenuity. The smooth, still water surface also provided wonderful reflections and some of us took advantage of this situation to create artistic renderings of the ship (see photo). The afternoon was topped off with a cookout on the aft deck where we enjoyed reindeer kebabs as the snow-capped mountains of Spitsbergen slowly disappeared in the distance.
