NorthWeGo

Joining the ship today, full of new experiences !

I copied the Voyage Tracker text of the vessel, a narrative from the ship's expedition team.

Today, Seabourn Venture was docked at the port of Longyearbyen for the entire day, presenting a unique opportunity for guests to explore this remote town, the northernmost inhabited place on earth. For those continuing from the previous voyage, it was a chance to delve deeper into this unique destination. Meanwhile, departing guests savored their final onboard experiences, and new guests were warmly welcomed into the Seabourn family.

As Longyearbyen is one of those hard-to-reach places on Earth, many guests spent at least part of their day touring the community and visiting the museum to maximize their Arctic experience.

The Svalbard Museum hosts a fantastic display of information that defines Svalbard's history, including its natural and human history, from the whalers, trappers, and miners to today's focus on ecotourism. Coal mining put Longyearbyen on the map, giving the settlement its name, reputation, people, and culture. John Munro Longyear, the American businessman who founded Longyearbyen, first visited the archipelago as a tourist. Today, Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard, is a place of active science and research through the activities of the University Center in Svalbard and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

The first tourists arrived at Spitsbergen in the middle 19th century. They came with a different perspective than Seabourn Venture's guests arriving today. Svalbard's first tourists were here looking for hunting trophies; most probably had already shot an elephant in Africa or a tiger in Asia. They dreamed of taking a polar bear skin back home, and this is what they did. Not only polar bears but also Arctic foxes, seals, walruses, and reindeer. It wasn't only whales that commercial hunters and trappers threatened: this early inauspicious tourism was also a factor. One such famous trophy hunter to visit Svalbard was Sir James Lamont, an amateur explorer who named Lamontbukta and Lamontoya on the west side of Spitsbergen Island after himself.

Once all guests were on board and checked in, Seabourn Venture began the new voyage, sailing south away from Longyearbyen while music filled the air at the Constellation Lounge. It was a relaxing moment for those guests who had joined the ship today after long travels to reach the ship and the start of their expedition on board Seabourn Venture.

Text by Andrés Fernández, photos by Matthew Costa, Jean Paul Perret and Andres Fernandez.Read more