A Taste Of Winter

On our way around to the north coast we started to see sea ice fairly far south at 79° 52N 10° 56E. There were some large pieces but there were good leads and we were able to sail through without reducing our speed.

We were not surprised by the ice.  Before leaving Danskoya, Albatross, a Dutch yacht that we met in Lonyearbyen called on the radio and told us that they were unable to go around to the east coast due to heavy ice.

Our only concern was how far along the north coast we could go before running into too much ice. We were sailing along on a very comfortable reach and the ice was up wind of us, killing the swell even though there was 20 knots of wind. During our deliberations we caught sight of the Dutch schooner Noorderlicht, a veteran of the Svalbard waters and called them on the radio to inquire how far they had been able to get.  They were also unable to go around but told us that we should have no problem getting into Liefdefjord.

Once our anchor hit bottom at Worsleyhamma in Liefdefjord, it began to snow. The winter atmosphere had us both humming Christmas carols as we hibernated on Snow Dragon while we waited for the impromptu blizzard to end. It was mostly peaceful except for the loud bangs created by large chunks of ice falling out of Snow Dragon’s rig as the snow built up and froze. Two days later, the snow finally stopped and the skies cleared.   

We moved over to the island group of Andoyane, after hearing one of the expedition ships on the radio say that there was a polar bear and cub on one of the islands.  The mother bear made several appearances but the cub was no where in site. Or at least we think the large bear we saw was fully grown and not the two year old cub. 

The weather remained spectacular and was warm enough that we were able to have dinner on deck. Frances had just pulled fresh baked French bread out of the oven which we accompanied with fondue and carrot raisin salad. It was an excellent meal as we took in an increasingly rare glimpse of summer weather before the wind chill increased and we had to scurry back inside.

To get some exercise we dinghied over to one of the other islands, landing only after circumnavigating to make sure it was bear free. The island was hilly enough that Krystina did her normal routine of walking up to higher ground with the rifle to make sure no white and furry creatures were hiding, while Frances secured the dinghy. The moss covered island made for easy walking and its flower and bird life were so rich that we made two visits to take it all in before heading over to Woodfjord.  

For more pictures of Liefdefjord, please click on Liefdefjord Album.