Svalbard Immersion & Greenland - V442A Seabourn Venture departing 30 Jun 2024

Many a polar expedition has begun from Tromso. The town was founded in 1794, but its roots go back to Hanseatic and, even earlier to Viking times. Situated inside the Arctic Circle on the forest-clad island of Troms, this spirited city is linked to the mainland by the spectacular Tromsobrua Bridge, built in 1960. During WWII, Tromso was one of the few places in northern Norway to escape bombing, and a number of old wood buildings still remain. At the Tromso Museum, the exhibits include an extensive display on the people of Lapland. The town also boasts both the world’s northernmost university and brewery.

Honningsvåg is Norway’s northernmost town, and one of the smallest, with its population of 2,000 jammed into a mere one square kilometer. Devoid of permafrost, this subarctic region displays scores of colorful mountain landscapes carpeted during the summer in a lush tapestry of grasses and mountain wildflowers. In this truly unique environment, many private village gardens grow trees, despite the shortness of the Arctic summer. Honningsvåg is also the gateway to the northernmost point of continental Europe, the North Cape, or Nordkapp, often referred to as the ‘end of the world.’

Storstappen Island, rising from the sea to a height of 928’ (283 m), is a valuable nature reserve supporting colonies of some 140 great cormorants, 100 European shags, 20,000 black-legged kittiwakes, 5,000 razorbills and an impressive 100,000 puffins. To be here is a truly awe-inspiring sensory experience, viewing thousands of birds flying to and fro overhead at the same time, creating an almost deafening cacophony of sound with their cries and wingbeats.

Skarsvåg is a village in Nordkapp Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies along the northern coast of the island of Magerøya, and it claims the distinction of being the world’s northernmost fishing village. The local fishing fleet primarily fishes for cod in the waters north of Magerøya.

Isolated in the Barents Sea about halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape, little Bear Island is the southernmost island of the Svalbard Archipelago. It has seen various occupations over the years, for coal mining, fishing and whaling, but no endeavor lasted long, and the only inhabitants now are technicians manning the meteorological station at Herwighamna. They offer a few services, such as mailing postcards home with a whimsical postmark, or an unofficial souvenir stamp for your passport, but otherwise, having got there is pretty much the only point of being there. They do apparently appreciate occasional visitors.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Longyearbyen, the seat of the Governor of Svalbard, is located in a narrow valley along the shores of Adventfjorden a small tributary of Isfjord, the largest fjord system in Svalbard. It extends 100 kilometers (60 miles) into the island of Spitsbergen. Nine large tidewater glaciers, with a combined ice-front of 21 kilometers (13 miles), as well as dozens hanging glaciers drain into the fjord.

The town’s 2,100 inhabitants exist in one of the most northern settlements on Earth, making their living by a combination of coal mining, education and tourism. Because of the town’s extreme isolation, proximity to wildlife, and Svalbard’s pristine environment, unique laws exist that are found in few other places. All individuals venturing outside of town are required to carry a rifle for protection against polar bears, possessing a cat is illegal, no one is allowed to be buried here and how much alcohol can be purchased each month is restricted.

Longyearbyen was named after the American industrialist John Longyear whose Arctic Coal Company began mining here in 1906.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter, and summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day.

Isolated in the Barents Sea about halfway between Spitsbergen and the North Cape, little Bear Island is the southernmost island of the Svalbard Archipelago. It has seen various occupations over the years, for coal mining, fishing and whaling, but no endeavor lasted long, and the only inhabitants now are technicians manning the meteorological station at Herwighamna. They offer a few services, such as mailing postcards home with a whimsical postmark, or an unofficial souvenir stamp for your passport, but otherwise, having got there is pretty much the only point of being there. They do apparently appreciate occasional visitors.

Scoresby Sound is a large fjord system of the Greenland Sea on the eastern coast of Greenland. It has a tree-like structure, with a main body approximately 110 km long that branches into a system of fjords covering an area of about 38,000 km². The longest of the fjords extends 340–350 km inland from the coastline.

Warmed by the Gulf Stream as well as by highly active thermal hot springs and volcanoes, Iceland is somewhat misnamed. While it is a stark and barren country with three huge areas of glaciers, one theory is that early Norsemen sought to mislead other potential settlers by giving a pleasant name to fierce, inhospitable Greenland, and a forbidding name to the imminently habitable Iceland. Irish monks and hermits established themselves here in the 8th century, but left a century later when the pagan Norsemen arrived. Europe’s first Parliament of General Assembly, the Althing, was established in the year 930 and still functions as the legislative body, although it was suspended by the Danes at the end of the 18th century and not reconvened until 1843. Reykjavik was the site picked by the island’s first permanent resident, Ingolfur Arnarson in 874, and is home to more than half of the island’s total population. The world’s northernmost capital, Reykjavik is proud of its virtual lack of air pollution. Both electrical power and home heating are derived from the geothermal activity on the island. The city’s large swimming pools are always warm, and in the countryside exotic fruits such as grapes and bananas are cultivated in greenhouses made cozy with the help of underground hot springs.