Loading

Svalbard Ice Lover 10 - 18 JuNE2022

Day 1 & 2 - 10 & 11 June We decided to get north and our first stop was at the northwestern corner of Spitsbergen where we saw our first polar bear for the trip, but from a long distance. We continued for Hinlopen.

Day 3 – 12 June 2022 Arriving in Hinlopen we headed for some sea ice. From our zodiacs we saw a polar bear walking on the fjord ice and luckly it came toward us. We had a great moment watching and photographing this polar bear walking on the thin fjord ice, and also tried to catch a bearded seal. In the afternoon we had a nice encounter with a mother and cub who had just finished eating a small seal meal.

Polar bear mother and cub in Hinlopen

Day 4 – 13 June 2022 We spent the whole day exploring the Hinlopen area which had just opened up with drifting sea ice. Not much wildlife to see, but great and peaceful Arctic landscape.

Day 5 – 14 June 2022 In the morning we visited the Alkefjellet bird cliff, which was accessible after the sea ice had drifted away. It was really interesting to see the bird cliff this early in the season when a lot of snow and ice was still blocking some of the nest sites.

Bird activity in Hinlopen

Day 6 – 15 June 2022 We had a midnight zodiac cruise in front of the Monaco glacier, with great landscape and ice. Some wildlife was also in the area, but not as much as we usually find later in the summer.

Later this day we had two polar bear meetings at the northwestern corner of Spitsbergen. One of them was playing with leftover from a seal kill. Very interesting to observe!

Great skua, Bearded seal and Arctic tern in Liefdefjorden
Two polar bears at the northwestern corner of Spitsbergen

Day 7 – 16 June 2022 We had a long zodiac drive in the Kongsfjord area photographing bearded seals, seabirds and calving glacier.

Blue ice in Kongsfjord

Day 8 – 17 June 2022 Our last stop on our expedition was close to a walrus colony. It was almost no activity in the colony, where they where sleeping, but luckely a few walrus came swiming alongside the beach which gave us some photo opportunities.

This Ice Lover Svalbard expedition of 2020 was also successful and we are looking forward to similar expeditions in the future. It was a pleasure to share the great encounters and photo opportunities with our guests!

Text & photo: Ole J Liodden

Let us know if you want to travel with us on a similar photo expedition to Svalbard.