Palanderbukta & Hinlopenstretet
Through the hours around that time of night when the sun dips low towards the southern horizon, National Geographic Explorer made her way north from the pack-ice south of Nordaustlandet to the Hinlopenstretet, where she then headed east into Palanderbukta. The sun was high in the sky by the time our expedition leader Bud’s dulcet voice woke us from slumber at 7am. Another glorious, virtually cloudless day had begun. From the ship our surroundings appeared lifeless and desert-like. The land form comprising of rounded glaciers and raised beaches of shattered sedimentary rocks. The areas of rocky shoreline recently exposed from under winter’s snow, glowed warm, buttery yellow in the harsh morning sunlight.
Palanderbukta, a broad arm of water cutting southeast into the ice cap of Northaustlandet is named after Baron Adolf Arnold Louis Palander, a Swedish explorer (1842-1920). With the promise of such a fine morning to go exploring, guests and expedition staff were soon out amongst this fascinating landscape. The options this morning were hiking, kayaking or a Zodiac tour of the fjord.
On land it soon became apparent that even this barren landscape was able to support a surprising number of flowers and plants including polar willow, Svalbard poppy and purple saxifrage. One of the morning’s highlights, for those of us on shore, was the discovery of a vast variety of fossils embedded in the shattered sedimentary rocks we were walking over. Another remarkable discovery was that of a truly ancient whale skeleton, high up on the hillside. How did it end up there? Probably as a result of isostatic rebound. The rising of the land when the weight of glaciation has been removed. How this whale skeleton had arrived where we found it was intriguing. It was also interesting to ponder on the question of how long ago this might have been. While most of us chose to stretch our legs on land some intrepid adventurers opted to savour the stunning surrounding from the kayaks, while others chose to cruise Palanderbukta by Zodiac and were fortunate to spy some walrus. One observation of the morning was how few birds there were in this area compared to where we had previously been on our travels round Svalbard.
During lunch we headed west across the Hinlopenstretet to the stunningly spectacular bird cliffs of Alkefjellet, that are found just south of Cape Fanshawe. Here the towering cliffs of dolerite, rising straight out of the sea, provide a suitable nesting location for upwards of 60,000 breeding pairs of Brunnich’s guillemots. The sight, sound and smell of this wonderful location will remain a treasured memory for us all.
Later in the afternoon we continued our journey north through the Hinlopenstretet where to our delight we encountered at least three separate groups of fin whales feeding. An awe-inspiring spectacle, the second largest animal to ever exist on the planet repeatedly dove and came to the surface. Spouting plumes of spray as their broad heads barely broke the water’s surface, the narrow ridge of their backs and the sickle-shaped dorsal fins would then appear before they once again dove to feed on plankton, in the nutrient rich, cold polar sea around us. At the evening recap, just before dinner, the seafloor of Palenderbukta was revealed to all in attendance. Remarkable images of rarely seen ,extraordinary animals from the murky depths had been captured by the ships remote submersible camera and presented for all to see.
Further north in Hinlopenstretet, later on in the evening, the sighting of blue whales feeding added still more excitement to yet another extraordinary day.
