ocean voyaging Under power in the frozen North A one-month circumnavigation of the Svalbard archipelago Story and photos by Steve D’Antonio igration’s stainless ing fate amid this much winter it never rises. The steel-clad stem ice. Shortly after turning archipelago carries a host of came to rest gen- about and pointing our bow “the northernmost” superla- Mtly against the polar ice pack, southward, however, our tives: continuously inhab- a mere 520 miles from the jubilation turned to dread as ited civilian settlement, post North Pole. To memorialize it became obvious that our office, railroad, chain hotel the moment, I photographed plan was flawed: The path (a Radisson with excellent Above, the the GPS display’s latitude we took through the ice was Wi-Fi, thanks to an undersea Nordhavn readout: 81° 27.7’ N. The no longer there. The leads, as fiber optic cable used to relay 68 Migration crew shared a round of con- they are wont at the edge gratulations and posed for a to do, had of the polar photo on the bow, it being closed. ice pack as that much closer to the pole. The Sval- far north While there were leads that bard archi- as possible. would allow us to venture pelago is a land Right, Steve further north, the vessel’s of extremes — D’Antonio master and crew agreed that extreme cold, in the once- we would go no further; we extreme light booming were confident we had set a and extreme Soviet mining record for the highest north- darkness. colony of Bar- ern latitude achieved by a During our entsburg, now fiberglass power vessel, and month-long a ghost town. would ask no more. With passage, the a fiberglass hull, regardless sun never set, of its heft, we were tempt- while in mid- 26 OCEAN NAVIGATOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 www.oceannavigator.com satellite data to the mainland; vessels and especially those Svalbard boasts outstanding of the power variety. Other Internet connectivity), super- than tourist charters, we market, phone booth, coal encountered no others during mine, etc. our sojourn. Under special Svalbard, Norwegian for and seemingly peculiar trea- “cold coast,” is also known ties established in 1920 and by its former Dutch name 1925, Svalbard belongs to Spitzbergen (also an apt title, and is administered by Nor- it means “sharp mountains”). way, although other countries The islands are located are permitted to, and have, roughly midway between established settlements and Norway and the North Pole commercial concerns here. and are well off the beaten No visa is needed to visit, path, particularly for cruising and anyone can come here to 10° E 15° 20° 25° work without the usual per- SEA ICE EDGE mits. Technically, while part Above, the of Norway, it’s not part of crew of ARCTIC OCEAN Northernmost the European Union. Migration latitude 81°27.7’ N celebrate Built for high latitudes their furthest Migration’s route Our vessel, the late model north mile- Nordhavn 68 Migration, is stone. Below 80° N NORDAUSTLANDET owned and operated by cli- left, pas- ents and longtime friends, sage began O G a couple from Georgia. at Tromsø, A L E Experienced cruisers, they, Norway, then P SPITSBERGEN I H along with their golden- continued to Pyramiden C R doodle Gulliver, took deliv- Bear Island, A ery of the vessel in Florida the West Longyearbyen in 2010 and then cruised Coast of EDGEOYA D to the Bahamas twice. Later Spitsbergen, R A they voyaged from Florida north to the B L to Newfoundland (where I ice edge and A V S cruised with them in 2011), then south circumnavigating the island along the East as a shakedown in prepara- Coast. tion for a subsequent trans- N o r w e g i a n S e a Atlantic crossing. Their route 75° included Newfoundland, Bear Island Labrador, Greenland (where I also cruised with them in 2014), Iceland, the Faroe www.oceannavigator.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 OCEAN NAVIGATOR 27 ocean voyaging Islands, Scotland, Ireland, the fog alternately descended intensified, making the shore- U.K. and Portugal. Migration and lifted, while light rain line — which was no more was built specifically for high- sprinkled the windshield. Yet, than 75 yards away — for latitude and cold-weather in spite of the late hour, it the most part invisible. Still, cruising, and has served her remained bright — albeit in determined to get some fresh owners well. ethereal shades of gray. air and stretch our weary Our voyage north started limbs, Migration’s master and at Tromsø in Norway. We Tough run to Bear Island I launched the smaller of her slipped our lines at 2330 and After 43 hours and 256 nm, two tenders and cruised the moved into the Tromsø ship we made landfall at Bjørnøya, cove. We motored along cliffs channel. Located well above or Bear Island. The passage festooned with nesting ful- qualified as one of the mars and puffins; the water most miserable I’ve around us was filled with ever undertaken: 8- to bobbing birds. Most weren’t 12-foot short-period shy — some swam within waves on the bow and, a foot or two of Migration’s contrary to the fore- swim platform, a portent cast, a steady 25 knots of things to come. We were of wind. Although her careful, though, not to lose bow periodically disap- sight of the mothership for peared in a pearlescent fear of not being able to find the Arctic Circle on Norway’s explosion of seawater, Migra- our way back — or worse, One of far northern coast, Tromsø tion took it in stride. All drifting out to sea. nature’s own is a center for the Norwegian systems performed well and We were afforded little ice sculptures. fishing fleet and the last rest- there were no failures — her time to lick our wounds, as Due to numer- ing place of the German bat- crew on the other hand was we had a weather window ous calving tleship Tirpitz, sunk nearby laid low for much of the jour- that called for our departure glaciers, float- by RAF bombers in 1944. ney. There was one saving in just a few hours. And so, ing ice is com- We departed at that late grace: Because of our high with deep regret, we departed mon around hour in order to make a per- latitude it never got dark, without going ashore. We the Svalbard ceived but somewhat tenuous which meant while we could took hot showers — never archipelago. weather window; winds were do little to avoid them, we underestimate the restorative forecast to be light, however could see and prepare for power of a steamy shower wave heights at times could every oncoming wave. — ate for the first time in be significant — as much as Upon our arrival at two days, and caught up 9 feet. The forecast thereaf- Bjørnøya we sought shelter on chores before weighing ter only deteriorated and we in Sørhamna, located on the anchor and getting underway opted to proceed, a decision southeast tip of the island. It once again. we’d soon regret. would be generous to call it a Migration raised Sørkap- Migration was soon in the cove; it’s more an indentation pøya, the southernmost tip of Langsundkjeften channel, an in the lee of northerly winds. Svalbard, 24 hours and 174 inshore passage between the It was foggy and a cool 37° nm after departing Bjørnøya. mainland and outlying islands F, compared to 53°F when Mercifully, the conditions that leads to the Barents Sea. departing Tromsø. Shortly were far better than the first During the five-hour trek, after we arrived, the fog leg. Waves were just 4 to 5 28 OCEAN NAVIGATOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 www.oceannavigator.com feet with winds a scant 5 to ing off snow-capped peaks cast off by the glacier. During 15 knots. and a trio of nearby coastal the night we felt Migration Above, the Neptune got the last word glaciers, which represent a rock periodically, the result lower section on this leg, however. The small sampling of Svalbard’s of calving ice falling into the of a growler, final few hours had winds up 2,200 rivers of ice, including bay. an iridescent to 47 knots, the sea boiled the world’s third largest. After two nights there, blue through and visibility dropped to a we departed Hornsund. The the clear few hundred yards in mist Protection from the ice vistas grew more enchant- Arctic waters, and spume. Waves broke After entering Hornsund ing with each passing mile exemplifies over Migration’s bow, the fjord, the wind finally abated. as Migration plied her way how much spray pelting the windscreen We completed a slow cruise further north. Swirling mist ice remains relentlessly, until we were at along the face of the Hans- enveloped moss-covered hill- below the sur- last in the lee of Svalbard’s bukta glacier, at the end of sides and an impossibly rug- face. Below, Vesle Svartkuven peninsula. which we opted for a diminu- ged and unforgiving coastline the cold, com- In spite of making the lee tive anchorage called Kamavi- as sprawling glaciers, one paratively dry, of the mainland and moun- ka. It was barely large enough after the other, filled our low-bacteria tains, Migration encountered to allow Migration adequate starboard-side bridge win- environment katabatic gusts in excess of 55 swinging room but it afford- dows. Clutches of black guil- preserves knots. Thankfully, the wind ed us protection from both lemots and the occasional wooden struc- did offer some respite, blow- waves and a sea of growlers eider duck dotted the glassy tures.