Bear (Bjornoya) Island

Bear Island is the southernmost island of Svalbard and a full 24 hours sailing from the northern tip of Norway. The reason for the visit is because there are a significant number of different bird species which nest on the island. It is uninhabited and just a very Rocky outcrop. It was called Bear Island because someone in the 1500s landed there saw a polar bear and shot it. It is rare for polar bears to make it to this island.

We sailed through significant ice flows and in the end the captain made the call that because the ship is not an icebreaker we cannot go any closer. On a positive note however, the day is clear and sunny, which means we can actually see the island. This is unusual usually it is fogbound. What we see are snow covered rocks in an ice encrusted sea.

Although we don't get very close to the island, we still have fantastic views of the birds. Most of the birds are fulmers which fly very close to the ship. There are also flocks of guillemots, small black and white birds which sit on the ice flows to feed. Despite the fact that it is freezing cold on deck, we spend a lot of time outside watching the birds trying to take the perfect shot of a bird against the backdrop of the island mostly unsuccessfully. My quest for the day was to capture the image of a Fulmer against the backdrop of the island, not the best way to spend your time given how cold it was standing on the deck watching for a bird to pass by instead of simply looking at the wonder that is nature. I didn't quite succeed. I did however manage to capture photos of fulmers and a flock of guillemots. That was very successful because they are flying away from the island so I was pleased about that.

In the distance we see a black blob it is impossible to make out what it is except it clearly isn't water, it turns out to be a walrus. Bob does manage to take a photo to confirm it was in fact a walrusRead more