Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2007

Two puffins and a polar bear! We set sail last evening, at about 6, having had to get all the luggage – including camera, media and scientific equipment, on board by carrying it through another ship! We sailed out of Longyearbyen for a few hours and moored up in a bay called Trygghamna, which is Norwegian for “safe harbour,” very beautiful place, surrounded on all three sides by snow capped mountains. We ate a very welcome dinner of salmon and pasta, followed by grapes and cheese! Anna, the cook, is fantastic and keeps making us all lovely food to keep us going as it is rather cold!!!!

It’s around about zero degrees and getting colder as we travel north. Yesterday we went to visit the school in Longyearbyen and met some of the teachers and students, they showed us around there school, as there are a lot less students there than at Kidbrooke they teach them as a year group and the teachers teach lots of different subjects, though they have specialist rooms for gym, art and tech. The students made us a lovely soup from vegetables and sausages and one of the students played their guitar for us, apparently he taught himself how to play and has played for the King of Norway, he was very impressive!!

Woke early this morning and rushed onto deck as an arctic fox had apparently been spotted, except it was a reindeer!! Just goes to show how distance and scale are very hard to judge here, especially because there are no trees. That woke us up bright and early and after breakfast we were ready to go for a long trek, Christian the guide had to give us a safety lecture on how to behave if we saw a polar bear and he showed us what he would do with his flare gun and rifle if a bear came too close. However, he said, it was unlikely we would see a bear in that area at this time of year so we were not to worry. Off we set, walking along the shoreline and spotting whale bones and different varieties of lichens and vegetation.

As Christian guided us up a rather steep slope at the bottom of a mountain one of the students spotted the carcass of an arctic fox, most of the body had been eaten but its tail and paws were still intact. A few metres on we came across the carcass of a reindeer, Christian thought that it had probably fallen down the scree and broken it’s neck, it was rather sad looking! We walked under a mountain called Bird Ledge where hundreds of seabirds nest – very noisy! After walking for two and a half hours the Noorderlicht sailed to us and sent the zodiac to come and pick us up from the shore.

On our return we had to raise the sails, which took a lot of organisation and effort – need strong arms to raise sails, and we were taught how to tie nautical knots – very useful!! We then sat down to lunch, at which point the Captain came in to say he could see a polar bear on the shore!!! We think had been attracted by our scent! It was an amazing sight and though it was far away I managed to get some really good shots, everyone was on deck capturing the bear in as many forms as possible! As we were staring in awe at the bear a pair of puffins flew by!! I am sooooo happy now, I really wanted to see a polar bear and some puffins and I got see both at once!! WOW!!!!!!

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My team were on watch for the next two hours and we hoisted sails and tied knots and steered and learned a lot about how to sail a ship! Whilst keeping an eye on the polar bear until he decided to toddle off over the mountains! We also saw some guillemots and some arctic gulls, it really is amazing experiencing all this wildlife! Jethro is now strumming on his guitar whilst we are blogging, writing diaries, making tea and chilling after a hard days work – team 4 have just raised the mainsail! Having such a fantastic experience so far, hard work but well worth it!! Speak soon, Jess x

Die Norderlicht. Ruhig und friedlich liegt der 2-Mast-Schooner im Hafen von Longyearbyen. Bis gestern. Denn dann kamen wir. Um 6:00 pm starteten wir unsere erste Fahrt nach Trygghamna, was sicherer Hafen bedeutet, wo wir die Nacht verbracht haben. Die See war ruhig und man hatte einen wundervollen Blick ueber die ganzen Schnee bedeckten Berge. Irgendwann am spaeten Abend, kurz bevor wir Trygghamna erreichten, began meine Schicht an Deck und ich habe das Schiff in den Hafen ( wenn man das so nennen konnte) gefahren und eingeparkt. Alle haben mich gelobt. Und da sag noch mal einer “Frauen und einparken!”

Ich hab mich aber nicht wirklich wohl beim lenken des Schiffs gefuehlt, weil ich die ganze Zeit auf einen Eisberg zuhalten musste und dachte, dass wir bald das gleiche Schicksal teilen wie die Titanic! Es ist dann aber Gott sei Dank doch alles gut gegangen. Die Nacht war auch ganz ertraeglich. Die Betten sind zwar ein bisschen klein, genauso wie alles andere hier auf dem Schiff, aber das kann man aushalten!

The first 3 days in Svalbard have been incredible. When we arrived from Oslo I was really tired because we didn’t get much sleep the night before but when we got to Longyearbyen I woke up immediately. We had a tour of the town of Longyearbyen and went to the museum to find more about Svalbard. We went to the youth centre to meet the youth of Longyearbyen and they were great! Some were Norwegian and some were from other places but they apparently don’t give stuff about climate change. This is weird because if sea levels rose by just a little bit then the whole town would be underwater. When we got back from there we all went ff in little groups. The people I was with went for a wander to the frozen river coming off the glacier. The hotel we stayed in was called Base Camp, it was really swish and we four boys shared a room big enough for six. We went to the school that the pupils visit and it’s better than ours! There’s only about 200 people going to it at the most and they have a huge sports hall and a swimming pool! The boat is… cozy. The cabin I’m in is a small room with a bunk bed and a sink, there is about 50 squared centimeters of floor space to put two bags and a guitar on. It is very cramped. Today we went onshore in Svalbard; we got a Zodiac (dingy) onto the shore and walked along the beach and part of the way up a mountain. When we got back onto the boat we started sailing again, the boat had been going on a diesel engine the day before because there was no wind. It was fun hoisting up the sails and tying up all the ropes and as soon as we got inside to eat lunch we noticed that there was a polar bear outside. The polar bear was walking along the shore towards where we were just 10 minutes earlier. If we had stayed there we could have seen it a bit too close. We were on the boat so we followed it down the coast trying to get a good photo. It was a bit far away but the pros got some good ones. We saw a puffin as well. I also went on watch were I put up the sails again and had some time to relax.

Hello all,

It’s been a few days since I last blogged so this may be a long one.

On Wednesday we flew from London Heathrow to Stockholm which was exciting because it was my first ever flight. Then, on Thursday morning (very early on Thursday morning) we flew from Stockholm to Oslo then Oslo to Longyearbyen.

In Longyearbyen we had a short tour of the mining town before going to the museum. There were many opportunities for taking photos of the surrounding scenery although I didn’t have long because we were going to the Norwegian youth club. There I met Andreas and Daniel- two Norwegian (Svalbardian) boys who both had an extremely good understanding of English. We ate pizza and played pool and talked about their life in the arctic

On Thursday we went to the school to do a workshop with the local children. Firstly however, we sat through a long presentation by Daniel about life in Svalbardian and also the annual reindeer hunt that the school children participate in. We then ate soup and bread made by the children. Afterwards, we did  a movement piece with the children about climate change. We then had an hour to walk around Longyearbyen. Later we boarded the Noorderlicht (which was a lot smaller than I was led to believe). I was on first watch  for three hours with Hayley and Doriana. We sailed to Trigghamna (Norwegian for “safe harbor”).

Today, we went onshore for a little walk. Amongst other things, we saw a dead reindeer, a dead arctic fox and bits of dead whale. It was very interesting and exciting to be walking amongst such a different environment to what I’m used to. About 20 minutes after we came back we saw a polar bear walking onshore. It was really cool seeing this big and powerful animal walking where we had just been.

Anyhooo, that’s it for now. Bye.

P.S.

Please note that the mobile phones don’t work up here so I may not contact anyone until the end of the voyages

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Climate change though the eyes of Akash, onshore at Trygghamna.

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Franzi on shore in Trygghamna.

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Going ashore at Trygghamna.

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Suba ashore at Trygghamna, in front of the Noorderlicht.

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Anchored deep within the bay of Trygghamna, hugging the western shoreline about 200-300m offshore. Jozef, the student from the north of England and I were the first on deck. Incredibly peaceful, with clear skies and the waters around us reflecting the mountains with almost black mirror clarity.

Jozef spotted an adult reindeer on the shoreline. Though he is hard to see against the barren backdrop, he remains adjacent to the ships mooring. Others are now starting to get up and take photos of our first big sighting.

After breakfast we are going on shore for a walk around part of the bay with our guide Christian. We need to jump into an inflatable Zodiac to get from the Noordelicht to the shore, which will only carry 8 of us at a time. Christian will carry a gun, in the unlikely event of us meeting a hungry Polar Bear.

Around lunchtime we journey north to Ny-Alesund, a 20 hr journey along the West coast of Spitsbergen. A 3 hour watch has been organised to keep an eye out for wild life and any dangers. Everyone gets to do at least one night shift.

Good Morning, this Morning We Saw A Short, Fat, Raindeer, It Was Only One; I Didn’t Feel Like Shooting It, Because It Looked To Small.

We Just Came From A Long Walk, It Wasn’t Too Bad. We Saw a Old Dead Fox, And A Dead Reindeer, It Looked Young, And We Saw Lots Of Birds Too, But They Were Far. When We Got Back, We Ended Up Seeing A Nanuq, Everybody Went Crazy!, But It Was Really Far And It Seemed Like It Was Following The Way We Walked..

Theres This Guy Who Can Inuktuuq, He Said He Lived in Greenland For Whatever Many Years,, So Now I Don’t Feel So Left Out, Because Before We Got On The Ship Everybody Else Had Someone To Talk To In Their Own Language, But now I’m

Good?f0

11:32pm
I Have A Look Out Shift At 2 In The Morning Till 4, Just A 2 Hour Shift, But, Yay! I get To Stay Up With The People Back Home. Remember I’m, 7 hours A Head.. The Rest Of Today, We Hardly Did Anything, But We Did Put The Sails Up, It Was Fun, And Hard Work, And It Help Us Stay Warm, Duh. The Temp, I Like Plus 1, So It’s Not Cloudy At All.. Most Of The Peeps Say their Dying…lmao, In Plus ONE!. I Don’t Really Know What To Talk About Now.. Good Day Mates.:D

4:04am
Just Finished My Shift, I Kept Falling Asleep. There Was This Nauyajuaq That Kept Going Around The Ship, It Looked Like It Wanted to Attempt A Landing, but When It Got Close Enough, It Would Just Turn Around And Kept Coming Back, It Even Got Creepy..
Going To Bed. So Long Suckers.

B

After about five hours from Longyearbyen on the 120ft schooner the Noordelicht we arrived tonight at the bay of Trygghamna. The water was still and peaceful throughout the journey.

After days on preparing, training and being shadowed by cameras in London and the long haul first to Stockholm, then Oslo, then Tromso, it felt wonderful to finally be on the Noorderlicht. The sense of relief once we started to moved through the waters and away from Longyearbyen was apparent by the quiet that passed over us all as we watched (and photographed) the mountains to the North and South, separated by the dark, still Arctic waters.

The Noordelicht is an amazing vessel with a crew steeped in as much history as the ship itself. Built in 1912, the original steel hull remains in tact, principally because it is thicker than the average schooner to allow her safe passage through the ice sheets she regularly navigated in her earlier days. The interior is wood throughout and though the cabins are small, they are comfortable. The cook, Anna, has a 3 m2 galley in which to muster up meals for the 19 of us from Cape Farewell and the crew of 5. The food I had this evening was easily the tastiest I’d had since leaving home in Frome; homemade soup, salmon and cheese and grapes to finish.

After about 2 hours on board, Doriana (one of the students from Canada) went along the bowsprit. With breathtaking confidence she travelled almost the full length of the 60 ft bowsprit without batting an eyelid. Not to be outdone I also gave it go. With nothing more than a flexible net underfoot I managed about 15 ft before turning back to the safety of the ships deck. Maybe tomorrow I’ll attempt to go a little further.

Before leaving Longyearbyen we visited the Cape Farewell school.

It has gone almost completed dark tonight. Last night a little light remained throughout…..I know because I kept waking up to look out of the hotel window at Longyearbyen.