Day 6 - 17th June 2026 - Svalbard - Spitzbergen & the pack ice with Bird's Wildlife & Nature

We awoke over three nautical miles from where we started last night having drifted within the ice flows.  Another blue sky but foggy day greeted us up on deck where mysterious fogbows came and went as we started the engines and began to head south.  The bird life did not change but it did not matter – every encounter was special.  There were a few Bearded Seals and another Minke before we reached open water. 

Fog Bows

Brunnich's Guillemot - Anne Bielamowicz

Black-legged Kittiwake - Anne Bielamowicz

Black-legged Kittiwake

Little Auks

Polar Bear tracks

Black-legged Kittiwake - Jim Willett

Little Auk  - Anne Bielamowicz

Minke Whale - Anne Bielamowicz

It was a little choppier and the number of auks increased and as hoped as we reached the continental shelf once more both Blue and Fin Whales were seen once again along with an energetic pod of White-beaked Dolphins that the Kittiwakes were following.

Squally snow showers came in although apparently I missed the first one as I had nodded off on the top deck and also missed lunch in the process.  I think I just got comfortable on a bench and shut down for a while.   I may not have had to work very hard on this trip but it had been emotionally draining and I think my body knew that we were on the home stretch.

White-beaked Dolphins

Northern Fulmar

After dinner we all retired to the top deck and supped G’n’Ts in glorious warm sunshine as we moved back along the Tolkienesque jagged peaks and glaciers of Spitzbergen.  A delightful bouncing adult Long-tailed Skua heading north and the first Puffins for a couple of days was a fine way to round things up.

Brunnich's Guillemot - Anne Bielamowicz

Kittiwake - Anne Bielamowicz

Puffins - Anne Bielamowicz

Brunnich's Guillemot - Jim Willett