Svalbard 2015 – Day 2: Embarkment

Little auks along the Isfjorden coast

July 15th is day two of my trip and the day Origo starts its journey from Longyearbyen into the wild. At noon there was an information meeting at Wildphotos gallery in Longyearbyen for all the participants, giving us an opportunity to meet and get the latest information. Unfortunately the biggest bit of information was that Ole-Jørgen Liodden had gotten shoulder problems and was unable to lead the expedition. Since several of us had been on trips with him before, naturally that was a disappointment, but the new expedition team seemed like a competent duo.

The ship wouldn’t set sail until around five in the afternoon, so we still had some time to kill. Again I got to tag along with the couple I knew from before, and we headed out past the airport out along the Isfjorden coast.

On this stretch we came across a colony of little auks, and we tried to get closer to them. Not a bad decision since it turned out to be the best photo opportunity for these little birds on the entire trip 🙂

Little auks along the Isfjorden coast

On the way back we also met an impressive male svalbard reindeer. It was right next to the car, and we didn’t want to get out of the car not to scare it, so I just fired off a few frame-filling snaps.

Svalbard reindeer

In the afternoon we gathered at the docks and started loading the heaps of gear and other baggage onto MS Origo. Unsurprisingly for a dedicated photo trip, there was A LOT of gear 🙂
The first plan was to go across Isfjorden to the calmer Borebukta to look for the elusive Sabine gull and get a chance to practice embarking and disembarking the Zodiacs in controlled conditions.

Panorama view of Adventbukta with Longyearbyen just to the right of the middle and Longyearbyen airport in the far right of the frame

A kittiwake against the blue ice of a glacier in borebukta

Also known by the descriptive name parasitic jaeger, the arctic skua is an amazing food thief

Spotlight on iceberg

Under an overcast sky, the light suddenly broke through to put our ship in the spotlight

After visiting borebukta vi set course for Magdalenefjorden further north which meant trying to get some rest while Origo made its steady way north.