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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.
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.
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Our first night on board the Noorderlicht
We’re about to sail off to Ny Alesund, the Noorderlicht is in the harbour and we’re just packing up at Base Camp, I just bought some really brilliant boots, rubber moulded soles, waterproof and really really warm! !!! Everyone says they’re “awesome”!!
We have been at the Longyearbyen Skole all morning, the students showed us around the site, they have a gym and a pool and some very well equipped classrooms, they are taught in years and have one base room for each year, and the teachers teach lots of different subjects, they have specialist rooms for tech and art ! It was a very well designed ålace, very clean and the students were very proud of their environment. We did some climate change workshops with them and I think they learned some very different ways of expressing themselves compared to what they are used to!
I cannot believe how much we have done so far, and I am sooooo excited about getting on the ship. Hope everyone back home isn’t missing me too much!!
See you soon,
Jess x
Just about minus 1 outside but felt cold after the ‘comfort’ of air-conditioned planes and airports that have been home for 36 hours.
Svalbard was hidden below low cloud as we flew in, From above the clouds looked like snow, and as we descended through it I was surprised to see the mountain slopes a rich red-brown, the remains of the summer’s grasses.
The huge mountains all around the settlement of Longyearbyen look as if dusted lightly with icing sugar, with the ice fractured rocks jutting through revealing their sedimentary layers.
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I’ve made friends with Rocky the young Alaskan Husky who has his kennel outside the basecamp hotel. He’s the strong silent type, bred solely for sledge pulling and his attractive grey and white fur is not show, but solely for keeping the dog warm. He has incredible sky blue eyes.
We are all suffering from ‘too many pockets syndrome’, we have to carry around so many things we can never remember which pocket we put them in. Children all loving it, and friendships are developing.
Dan Harvey the artist mentor, is growing a beard, I am sending day 1 picture and will keep you posted.
Duncan
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So a very long journey up here via Stockholm, Oslo, Tromso then here to Longyearbyen. Arrived with snow falling, although not much has settled (leaving the textured rock surfaces drawn and enhanced with white dust).
There is something about returning here- so far away from the life style we live back down South and yet now very familiar to me.
The age of this land, the rock formations. You can read through it’s history, the strata laid down over millenniums, exposed, eroded and cracked into dust by the cold and ice.
It’s a raw reality that belittles everything else and puts this world back into perspective. Lonyearbyen is like a Wild West frontier town, one of the changes though is that now they are beginning to place advertising flags down the main street, lets hope this is kept to a minimum, and in fact shouldn’t be allowed at all !
Have tried today to pick up a Polar Bear bone from the Sysselmannen’s Environmental Adviser – it was put aside for us 2 years ago. Seems that I now need a CITES agreement to import it back to the UK for a piece of work Heather and I are working on. Hope Heather can get this for me by my return here next week!
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After several flights…a quick sleep in Stockholm…and too many sandwiches, we finally arrived in Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard. It is absolutely gorgeous here…the weather is cool and the town is surrounded by HUGE mountains covered in snow. It was snowing when we arrived!!! What a feeling. To be this close to the North Pole. We cannot wait to begin our voyage tomorrow and start our art and science projects to experience this wonderful, yet fragile environment.
the voyagers are feeling good..and the crew is raring to go: next stop…Ny Alesund!!!
keep checking the blog for more updates!
Hey guys,
We have finally arrived in Svalbard, currently in Longyearben, will be setting sail for Ny Alesund tomorrow, it’s not as cold as I thought it would be, it’s only zero degrees celcius, but apparently it’s going to get down to minus 10 at some point soon. Had a very long journey to get here but saw some amazing sights on the way, saw the sunrise at 5 this morning in Stockholm!
Longyearben is quite a mixture of beauty and barreness depending on where you look, the mountains and the glacier are wondrous but the coal mining really scars the landscape, however it is what the economy here is based around – though tourism now contributes a lot to that!!
We are setting sail on the Nooderlicht (Northern Light) tomorrow afternoon and will be sailing via aplace called Trygghamma!! Sounds v interesting! Hope everyone at Kidbrooke’s having fun and not missing me at all! I have already learned so much and have so many stories and pictures to share with you. T4 have been filming us and so have BBC London so look out for Hayley and I on a tv/internet news site near you!
Will write soon! Hopefully will be able to post pics soon!
ØÆŤ are just some of the Norwegian symbols on this computer!!
Lotsa love and hugs,
Jess xxxx
New materials now available with ideas for ways your school can take part and be involved during the Youth Expedition. Click to view lesson ideas written by Jessica Burdett, Head of Art at Kidbrooke High School, who will be on-board the Noorderlicht during the voyage. Also find lesson plans by science teacher Keith Brindle, from Frome Community College, adapted from the OCR Scheme of Work, for the first GCSE Chemistry Module C1: Air Quality.
Get lesson ideas and resources »
