Bjørnøya
After an evening of whale and dolphin watching we continued our northbound passage overnight. The fact that the sun did not set, and that we have a lack of darkness, have now become part of the routine of life at these latitudes.
Our destination for the day felt like a place in the middle of nowhere. Bjørnøya, or Bear Island, lies approximately midway between Tromsø and Svalbard. It is an isolated and rugged lump of rock, approximately 10 miles long by 8 miles wide. As the only land in this section of the Barents Sea, its importance for the breeding seabirds cannot be overstated. On arrival, we encountered calm seas and a sheltered bay and deployed our fleet of Zodiacs to explore the spectacular sea cliffs of the south-east coast of the island via Zodiac cruise. These cliffs tower to heights of about 300 metres and the horizontal ledges are covered with tens of thousands of seabirds, dominated by guillemots (aka murres) and kittiwakes.
After an outstanding Zodiac cruise along the coast by boat, we made a landing and hiked to explore our first tundra experience. The apparently barren landscape at this destination soon gave up some of its riches with splashes of colour from flowering plants such as purple saxifrage and breeding shorebirds such as golden plover.
Back on board a little auk had been found hitch-hiking in one of the Zodiacs. It was duly rescued and we then had the chance to enjoy an unusual close up encounter with this tiny seabird before it was released back to the sea.
Tonight we will continue our journey north. Our destination: the much anticipated Svalbard.
