The field work of winter and spring up north was a big success. Here's a quick update.
During late March we embarked on a private expedition with Sven-Olof Lindblad, owner of Lindblad National Geographic Expeditions (see expeditions.com). Sven-Olof brought along some family, and key people from his company. We wanted to see what kind of scenery and wildlife Svalbard has to offer seen from a ship in winter. This time of year we are normally on land and ice, traveling by snowmobile, so this was new to us all. During ten days we cruised around the archipelago and encountered some amazing wildlife, including bears, walrus, seals, and even an orca. But most of all we experienced the amazing winter light, and even caught some of the last northern lights of the season.
In early April Fredrik went out on an eight day snowmobile expedition around Spitsbergen with two American photographers. The expedition took them through some really tough conditions, with extreme cold and long travels.
Later, in May we did our first cruise with passengers. With our ship M/S Freya, and 18 wonderful guests, we cruised mostly around the northern and eastern parts of Svalbard. It was an amazing week. Lots of beautiful scenery, a few polar bears and lots of other wildlife.
