Embark on a 15-day Cruise Around Spitsbergen aboard the Rembrandt van Rijn (2024)

Highlights

• Explore the rich exhibits at Svalbard Museum
• Discover over a hundred species of plants in the stark countryside
• Spot the first minke whale as the ship sails out of Isfjorden
• Witness seabirds scouting out breeding places at Alkhornet
• Sail into Fuglefjorden, viewing breeding areas for great skuas & polar bear
• Follow the whalers' tracks on Ytre Norskøya to see 17th-century Basque oven

You land in Longyearbyen, the main town on Spitsbergen, the biggest island in Svalbard. Check out this old mining town, where you can visit the parish church and Svalbard Museum. The landscape might look bare, but there are over a hundred types of plants here. In the early evening, the ship heads out of Isfjorden, and you might catch a glimpse of your first minke whale.

Later, you sail to Trygghamna, where you’ll find the remains of a 17th-century English whaling station and an 18th-century Pomor hunting station. You can explore these sites the next morning.

You sail into Fuglefjorden amid views of Svitjodbreen and Birgerbukta, both breeding areas for great skuas, as well as likely spots to see a polar bear. On Birgerbukta, you can see 17th-century Basque ovens once used for cooking whale blubber. The aim next is to visit Ytre Norskøya, a small island that served for many years as a Dutch whaling lookout.

Here, you can still follow the whalers’ tracks to the summit of the island, passing popular bird cliffs on the way. On shore are the remains of more 17th-century blubber ovens, while Arctic skuas and common eiders breed among the graves of some two hundred Dutch whalers.

Today you start by sailing either to Sorgfjord or Murchison Bay, on the north side of which lies an extensive polar desert that is home to numerous reindeer as well as a Swedish research station. You then continue through the Hinlopen Strait, surrounded by lofty ice caps.

Over the following days, you may visit the following sites:

Lomfjord
This is a beautiful fjord fringed by towering mountains, offering great opportunities for a hike.

Wilhelmøya
A tundra landscape in which polar bears can possibly be seen, Wilhelmøya is also a good area for shoreline, inland, and altitude-gaining hikes.

Svartknausflya
You may take an excursion to this stark polar desert, which is almost devoid of vegetation but rich with invertebrate fossils and whale skeletons along its raised beaches.

Heleysundet
Anarrow but picturesque waterway between Spitsbergen and Barents; this route can only be made against the current.

Freemansundet
Depending on the conditions, you may also sail through this waterway. A walk at Kapp Lee may introduce you to a few new reindeer and walruses, and you might also visit a large colony of kittiwakes nesting in a canyon in Diskobukta. Arctic foxes and polar bears, with their young, often roam this canyon, scavenging for birds that fall from the ledges. Sub-fossilized whale bones are scattered across the raised beaches.

Hornsund
You continue your Spitsbergen voyage by sailing into the labyrinth of side fjords around Hornsund. At Brepollen, there is a large glacial deposit at the head of the fjord. Sailing along the glacier front affords you good chances of spotting bearded seals and polar bears. The geological formations in this area are vibrant and mesmerizing.

Bellsund
En route to Longyearbyen, you may reach Ahlstrandhalvøya. More fascinating geological formations can be seen here, as well as the remains of 20th-century beluga hunting. (This is still a good area to see beluga.)

$7,800 2-3 travelers

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Operated by Oceanwide Expeditions