Svalbard 2015 – Day 7: Palander bay

After the previous night spent at the beach shooting the walruses, I slept well into the 7th day of the trip. In fact I didn’t wake up until Audun knocked on the door of my cabin and asked if I planned on joining the rest for lunch 🙂

During lunch I learn that we’ve made it into Palanderfjorden, and just after we’ve finished eating we enter the zodiacs and go for a cruise on the perfectly still sea.

Zodiac cruise in Palanderfjorden

Palanderfjorden panorama

It’s hard to believe you’re in arctic seas with reflections like this

During the cruise, we come across a number of bearded seals who are enjoying the warm sunshine. Some of them let us glide by just a few meters away.

Bearded seal in Palanderfjorden

Bearded seal on ice

While others get a bit skeptical when we get too close, and dive into the safety of the sea.

Bearded seal about to dive

We also come across several birds, including kittiwakes, black guillemots and glaucous gulls.

Black guillemot

Kittiwake on snow covered iceberg

Glaucous gull on top of iceberg shaped like an old man

As we leave the bay in the afternoon, we pass more of the impressive lanscape of Nordaustlandet.

Returning to Origo

Iceberg reflecting in Palanderfjorden

Origo cutting to a perfectly reflecting sea surface

Leaving Palanderfjorden

Securing chairs after coffee and biscuits on deck

Leaving Palander bay, we turn towards the birdcliffs again, hoping the weather holds and the light will be better than the first time we stopped by. As with the walrus, I reserve a separate post for the late night spent shooting in the bird cliffs.

Travel route for July 20th