Fjortende Julibukta, Krossfjorden and Camp Zoe

We had an earlier start today, with the ship's wakeup call at 7.00, although we were already up, having set an alarm for 6.45. We were now in Fjortende Julibukta (14th July Bay), the weather was fabulous and the views from our balcony demanded to be photographed!

According to the daily programme:

Fjortende Julibukta is named after the French national day. Steep mountains overlooking the bay provide an ideal habitat for thousands of kittiwakes, their calling creating an incessant hum in the background. Breeding Brünnich’s guillemots line the cliffs rising out from the water. The guano-enriched tundra at the base of the kittiwake colony provides rich vegetation for reindeer and geese.

It may seem odd that a bay in Norwegian Svalbard is named after a holiday celebrated in France. We learned that it was named by Prince Albert I of Monaco during his oceanographic expeditions to Svalbard between 1898 and 1907.

We had breakfast with Sue and Rob, and checking the programme saw that we would be in the first group to go out in the zodiacs. There were enough zodiacs for us all to be out at the same time, but we set off in stages to avoid crowding the ready room.

Zodiac cruise in Fjortende Julibukta

We had a fantastic outing with our guide Bertie. We toured the bay, mainly at the base of sea cliffs where various birds were nesting. The main species there were Atlantic puffins, Brünnich's guillemots (also known as thick-billed murres) and kittiwakes, but we also saw a common eider and chick in the water, quite a few glaucous gulls (including a few young ones) and common guillemots. At one point a harbour seal swam past, and we saw three reindeer high up on the scree, but most of the time we were watching and photographing the birds. Of course the puffins stole the show!

Towards the end of our time on the water Bertie steered us towards the glacier. It looked beautiful in the sunshine, as did the bergy bits in the surrounding water. We saw it calved once and heard the boom. Some kittiwakes had settled on an iceberg so we spent some time photographing them.

All too soon however it was time to return to the ship. Once we’d taken off boots, waterproofs and parkas we went up to the lounge to get a coffee and sort through all the photos.

Tinayrebreen

At lunch we sat with Nicola who had been our zodiac guide yesterday, and chatted with her about her home on Vancouver Island. Just as we finished our meal Ryan announced on the PA that we'd entered another fjord, Krossfjorden, and navigated to the end where there were great views of a glacier, Tinayrebreen, and waterfalls. We hurried up to the observation deck with our cameras of course and I managed to get some shots of the falls and the glacier ice. We'd not brought jackets out with us but the sun was so warm, we didn't miss them!

Camp Zoe

After lunch we had our first shore excursion. These are graded according to difficulty and also preferred exploration style. We chose the slower paced Contemplative group which proved perfect for my walking style and our shared wish to get plenty of photos. Keen hikers could opt to be in the Chargers group, and there were also Medium Fast and Medium options.

We landed close to a hut known as Camp Zoe which was once used by a British gold prospector, Ernest Mansfield, who named it for his daughter. After a polar bear safety briefing our group climbed a ridge, stopping to look at some plants in the tundra including polar willow (all of half a centimetre tall!) and drooping saxifrage.

Part way up we stopped and our guide Ian talked about the landscape of this part of Svalbard and the history of the island. Once a 'terra nullius' belonging to no country, it was granted to Norway after WW1 as none of the major powers wanted their rivals to get it.

We carried on up the ridge, spotting an eider duck with three ducklings in the water below. We then descended to the hut where Ian told us more about Ernest Mansfield and we had a chance for some photos inside. The weather was really warm and I realised I should have worn a thinner jumper as I got quite hot on our walk - not something I expected to say on this trip!

Briefings and glaciers

Once back on the ship we freshened up. We went to get a drink and relax for a while before the daily briefing. This took place as usual in the lounge. We had an interesting talk about puffins from the ornithologist Nigel and a rather duller one about glaciers from guide Mike. Ian also told us more about the prospector Ernest Mansfield, who was the leader of the Northern Exploration Company Ltd. He founded the town of Ny-London with a plan to extract marble, but it was later discovered that Svalbard marble fractured and crumbled when it reached warmer climates. In various other parts of the archipelago he prospected for asbestos, for gold, for coal, for iron. He was something of a dreamer, as perhaps all prospectors need to be, but never a great success.

We saw some fantastic photos and video footage of a couple of puffins fighting in the water, shot by onboard photographer Kris. I have his permission to include here any of the photos he shared with us after the trip.

Ryan told us a bit about the plans for tomorrow, then mentioned that we might want to take a look outside before dinner as we'd entered another area of the fjord, Lillehookfjorden, with beautiful glacier views in front of the ship. So we took our cameras up to the observation deck and were there for some time taking photos of the stunning scene. There was also a bearded seal on one of the small icebergs in the bay.

Eventually we tore ourselves away and went to dinner, this time getting a table on our own. My cheese souffle was disappointing, being barely lukewarm, but I enjoyed my grilled salmon and carrot cake dessert.

We decided not to go to that evening's talk, Nigel on the birds of Svalbard, and instead went back to our cabin where I took a few more photos from the balcony before relaxing for a while ahead of an earlier night.

Apologies for the flood of photos but this is only about a tenth of the number I took that day!