Wild Norway & Svalbard May 30 - June 15, 2015 SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO Liefdeorden Poolepynten Longyearbyen SPITSBERGEN Hornsund Bear ARCTIC Island OCEAN Skarsvaag/ North Cape Tromsø LOFOTEN ISLANDS Nusord Reine Kjerringøy Arctic Circle Sanna/Lovund Halten NORWAY Geiranger Bergen Monday, June 1, 2015 Bergen, Norway / Embark Sea Adventurer A gray, rainy morning failed to dampen our spirits as we gathered for our tour of Norway’s attractive and historic second city. This took us past the leaning gabled buildings and narrow alleyways of Bryggen, the old, Hanseatic, part of town, and on to Troldhaugen, the charming summer home of composer Edvard Grieg from 1885 to 1907. Here, in the turf-roofed Troldsdal concert hall, we were treated to a lovely recital of some of Greig’s work by the renowned pianist Knut Christian Jansson. Following lunch back at our hotel in the center of Bergen, we set out for the city’s historic harbor where the Sea Adventurer awaited us, ready to begin our Wild Norway and Svalbard adventure. A brass band welcomed us with rousing tunes as we arrived at our ship. Sailing out through the maze of narrow channels, the clouds parted and the sun shone upon the wooded hills around us. We were underway! Tuesday, June 2 Geiranger Fjord / Geiranger We began today with the story of the remarkable life and achievements of Nansen—The Greatest Norwegian, a great tale, told by T.H. Baughman. Emerging from the lounge, we found ourselves deep within the fjord network that would lead us to Geiranger Fjord. As we sailed deeper into narrower fjords with high snowcapped mountains towering above us, we marveled at the little farmhouses perched precariously on narrow and apparently inaccessible ledges high on the near-vertical fjord walls, and at the beautiful thin ribbons of waterfalls that cascaded hundreds of feet from hanging valleys down to sea level. This was Norway’s fjordland at its best. We enjoyed a blustery barbeque lunch on the back deck, before a particularly powerful gust of wind forced most of us to beat a retreat to the dining room. Arriving at the head of Geiranger Fjord, we landed by Zodiac at the small village of Geiranger, bustling with passengers arriving from several large cruise ships. Our ship seemed tiny next to these behemoths, and we all agreed we much preferred our little Sea Adventurer. Buses weaved us higher and higher up almost continuous hairpin bends on the road leading out of Geiranger, first above the treeline, and then above the snowline with continually changing and spectacular views of the fjord below us. Walls of snow over 15 feet high lined the road, as we made our first stop at a frozen lake 3,380 feet above sea level at Djupvasshytta where snow was still falling and a cold wind blowing. Ahead of us, snow blocked the road; we returned the way we had come, stopping at an overlook with stunning views down Geiranger Fjord, perhaps the most famous fjord in the world. We continued down and through the village, rising up more steep hairpin bends of the Eagle’s Way, back to the snowy mountains where we had just been and along the fjord to the Seven Sisters Waterfall. Later that evening, as we sailed back along Geiranger Fjord, our captain skillfully maneuvered the ship to give us superb close-up views of this 820-foot-high cascade. Wednesday, June 3 Halten This morning, Jim Fox explained the fascinating history of The Norwegian Language and gave us a brief lesson in the many ways to say ‘thanks’. Later, in his beautifully illustrated presentation, our orni- thologist, Mark Brazil, answered the question posed in his title, What Does it Mean to be a Seabird? Following lunch, we boarded our Zodiacs for a landing at the lovely little red and white village of Halten, within the low, rounded granite and gneiss islands of the Froan Nature and Landscape Reserve. We were the first cruise ship to visit since 1982! Extensive breakwaters were testimony of the importance of this former fishing settlement which once housed over a thousand fishermen, a cannery, school, and hospital. Evidence of earlier times was explained to us by our archaeologist, Mary McLeod, who showed us a compass rose, perhaps dating from between 1100 and 1400 AD, carved into the bed- rock of the island and the only one of its kind in Norway. Returning to the ship, we donned our finery for the captain’s welcome cocktail party and dinner hosted by Captain Joachim Saterskog. Thursday, June 4 Sanna / Lovund / Melfjorden An early wake-up call from Expedition Leader, Russ Evans, arose us from our slumbers to see the spectacular rock towers of the tiny island of Sanna in the Traena Archipelago, our landing site this morning. Hikes with our expedition staff took us to Kirkehelleren, a huge cave on the mountainside, with a record of occupation stretching back 6,000 years to the Stone Age, and through a gap between the towers where we saw huge white-tailed sea eagles soaring in the air. After lunch on board, we landed on the nearby island of Lovund in search of the elusive puffin. Guided by local schoolchildren keen to practice their perfect English, we hiked to a viewpoint which gave us great views across to Sanna, the surrounding islands, and distant views of puffins flying out of their burrows on the slopes above us. During dinner this evening, glasses were raised as we crossed the Arctic Circle, and soon afterwards we enjoyed a Zodiac cruise in the beautiful and remote Melfjorden with its smoothed and glacially polished rock shoreline. We marveled at the height of the treeline here above the Arctic Circle, due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. Friday, June 5 Kjerringøy / Reine, Lofoten Islands We landed by Zodiac on a beautiful white beach at the old fishing settlement and trading post of Kjerringøy, whose timber buildings are now preserved as a museum. An excellent audiovisual presentation introduced us to the history of this prosperous 19th-century fishing village and its people, before we toured the well-preserved buildings, tasted freshly- baked flatbread, and watched skilled ropemakers at work. Returning to the Sea Adventurer, Mary described to us the World of the Vikings in whose homeland we are traveling, before we arrived in the scenic little town of Reine on Moskenesøy, the southernmost island of the craggy Lofoten Islands. Some of us explored the town and its packed racks of drying cod, while others kayaked in the fjord and had a close encounter with a pod of orca. Saturday, June 6 Nusfjord The beauty of the narrow little harbor at Nusfjord took our breath away as we arrived by Zodiac this sunny, calm morning. Boarding our buses, we set off through mountains and along lovely shorelines, through deep tunnels and across bridges, as we crossed from Flakstadøya to Vestvågøya en route to the Lofotr Viking Museum. We enjoyed a glass of mead in the atmospheric and smoke-filled great hall of a reconstructed Viking longhouse, once home to a wealthy chieftain, and gazed at the wonderful artifacts from the site in the exhibition hall. We continued on past tall mountains and white sand beaches to rejoin the Sea Adventurer anchored off the small port of Henningsvaer on Austvågøya; our visit to Lofoten had taken us across all five main islands of the group. After lunch, T.H. gave another great presentation, this time the story of Roald Amundsen: Man of Both Poles, as we sailed for Trollfjord. The sides of this small, but perfectly formed, narrow fjord rose steeply above us to jagged snowcovered mountains. Sunday, June 7 Tromsø Today began with our arrival by Zodiac at Sommarøy for the start of a scenic drive through mountains and along fjord coasts to Tromsø, the largest city in northern Norway. At the stunning Tromsdalen Church, known as the Arctic Cathedral and designed by Jan Inge Hovig in 1965, we were fortunate to hear the massive organ play as we admired the colorful, 75-foot-high stained glass window, The Return of Christ, designed by Victor Sparre. Nearby, a short cable- car ride took us up to the ridge of Mount Storsteinen with a spectacular view of the Arctic Cathedral far below, and across the city and its fjords. Visits to two of the city’s museums followed; the Tromsø Museum with its fine exhibitions about the Saami and archaeology of northern Norway; and the Polar Museum, packed with fascinating exhibits on hunting and Arctic exploration, highlighting the expeditions of Nansen and Amundsen, which both began in Tromsø. As we sailed, Carmen Field described the importance of some of the marine organisms we take for granted, including phytoplankton, in High Sea Drifters: The Plankton of the Arctic Waters. Monday, June 8 Skarsvaag / North Cape The fittest among us landed early at the foot of North Cape, ready for a thousand-foot climb to the tundra plateau above and a hike to the visitor center at the northernmost point of Europe. There we were joined by the remainder of our shipmates who had arrived by bus from the nearby port of Skarsvaag. The drive gave us a view of the bleak Arctic tundra plateau here at 71º North, and of reindeer grazing on the low vegetation. A photo stop at a Saami camp allowed us to see the bright, traditional costumes worn by these northern people. Returning to Skarsvaag, we were shown the huge king crabs being harvested here; introduced into the Arctic waters of Siberia, these animals have now spread west into Norwegian waters.