ITINERARY: 

Day 1 – Travel to Longyearbyen, Norway – June 12th and board the MV Ortelius
Please arrange flights to arrive in Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard, Norway, the world’s northernmost city. Note that most flights go through Osla and it is advisable to book flights as soon as we confirm, as flights to Longyearbyen become very busy. Our cruise will embark in the evening on the ship the “Ortelius” which is small and personal and only takes a maximum of 108 passengers, perfect for this wildlife focussed trip. If you can arrive early into Longyearbyen there will be an opportunity to stroll around this former mining town, whose parish church and Polar Museum are well worth visiting. While in the surrounding area among the flowering tundra it might be possible to see Rock Ptarmigan or delightful nesting Snow Buntings, while closer to the shore there could be Purple Sandpipers, Dunlin, beautiful Long-tailed Ducks, Common Eiders and possibly the stunning King Eider. Glaucous Gulls are often around and we can search amongst them for something more unusual. Small pools hold both Red and Red-necked Phalaropes in their beautiful breeding colours, and Arctic Fox which are resident in and around town. In the early evening we will board the ship and settle into our cabins, before having a briefing and then setting sail for the next 7 nights. All Nights at sea – All meals.  

Days 2 – 7  Spitsbergen – All nights aboard the M/V Ortelius – June 13th – 18th
The following is a guide as to the places we will be trying to visit but it must be noted that weather condition may see the captain alter the route. This probably won’t happen but if it does we must respect the decision of the captain and crew. Our first day at sea will see us sail toward Raudfjord on the north coast of West Spitsbergen, where a beautiful fjord is dominated by spectacular glaciers and is the favoured habitat of both Ringed and Bearded Seal. We are also in prime habitat for the magnificent and highly endangered Polar Bear, a marine mammal that is sadly in decline due to global warming and rising sea temperature which are seeing the ice cap slowly diminishing. Now is the time to take a cruise to witness this incredible creature, before it becomes too late. We will all be on high alert as we search the spectacular scenery with hopes of seeing this enigmatic and rare creature alongside other exciting wildlife. There are several surprisingly rich seabird colony’s in this area and we could easily come across Thick-billed Murres (Brunnich’s Guillemots), Black-legged Kittiwakes, Atlantic Puffins, Pomarine and Arctic Skuas (Jaegers), and with luck our first encounter with the dove-like Ivory Gull. In the evening we will sail by the island of Moffen where there is often a big herd of Walrus to be found. Continuing on we will sail through Beverleysundet then continue to push east to reach the area of Nordaustlandet. Eventually we will reach our northernmost point at Phippsøya, in the Seven Islands north of Nordaustlandet. Here we will be at 81 degrees north, just 540 miles from the geographic North Pole. Once again we are in prime Polar Bear habitat and we will keep a look out for these as well as a host of birds that may even include a flyby Ross’s Gull, although I wouldn’t hold my breath for this one! Both Ringed and Bearded Seals should be present and we could encounter Long-tailed and Pomarine Jaeger, King Eider, maybe a Sabine’s Gull and hopefully more chances for the ghostly Ivory Gull. While at sea we will be constantly searching for whales and expectations are that we can normally find the largest mammal on earth, the mighty Blue Whale as well as its smaller cousins, the Fin Whale and Minke Whale, while a real bonus would be the sighting of a Beluga or the rare Bowhead Whale, a species that is becoming more frequent in these waters. Organised landings could have us find Arctic Fox and Svalbard Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) which is a small subspecies of Reindeer found on the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. Back at sea we sometimes spot the smart looking Yellow-billed Loon, along with Arctic Terns and groups of Brent and Pink-footed Geese flying by.  Eventually we will visit the northern tip of Prins Karls Forland near Fuglehuken, now a National Park. Seabirds nest on the cliffs, and along the coast we can see Harbour Seal, the only population found in Spitsbergen. At Sarstangen there is a place see more Walrus hauled out on the sand or swimming around and feeding together. As we retracing our route westwards, through and along the pack ice, we will still keep looking for Polar Bears and the elusive Bowhead Whale. About 40 nautical miles west of Spitsbergen we will then sail along the edge of the continental shelf, where huge Fin Whales forage in summer in the upwellings along the Spitsbergen banks, while further on near the mouth of the Kongsfjord we have good chances to see the smaller Minke Whales.  Throughout our voyage we have opportunities to land and see a wealth of exciting wildlife. Red Phalaropes in tundra pools, Barnacle, Pale-bellied Brent and Pink-footed Geese, tiny Little Auks, Black Guillemots, Rock Ptarmigan and Arctic Fox are all possible. Many Arctic flowers could be in bloom including Svalbard Poppy, Mountain Avens and carpets of Purple Saxifrage and all this set against a backdrop of ice-covered mountain tops. Each evening we will run through our checklist of wildlife seen and discuss identification of any particular species seen or hoped to see. (All meals included) 

Day 8 – Our Wildlife Cruise ends in Longyearbyen – June 19th 
Today will see us back in Longyearbyen where we will disembark in time for your transfer to the airport and the flight home, normally via Oslo. 
Breakfast.