Tuesday 3 September 2013

A Glacier day!

This day we spent in Hornsund, a fjord system which is very famous for its majestic peaks and spectacular deep fjords. The Hornsund belongs to the “South-Spitsbergen National Park. Historical remains out of 400 years polar history can be found all over in this region.

Around 9:00 we started our morning landing next to the “Hvalfangerbreen”. Guests who participated in a special glacier walk went to the landing site first. After a short introduction about the correct way to walk on the glacier, everybody got his spikes for the hiking shoes to feel safe and comfortable during the walk on the ice.


The second group of the day has been the kayakers. They got their introduction on board already. Dressed in comfortable kayak suites they stepped into their boats at the landing site and started together with two kayak guides their spectacular event along the glacier front. Shortly after the kayakers all passengers went out for an impressive morning next to the glacier. We had a very special light and for a while all of us, hikers, kayakers, the “beach people” and even MV FRAM have been connected under a very intense rainbow.




During lunchtime MV FRAM was cruising in front of the magnificent glacial landscape of Brepollen before we reached our second destination of the day – Gåshamna in Hornsund. Our hikers left the ship first and shortly after them we started our general landing. Here in Gåshamna we could find historical remains from the early whaling time, from the very famous Swedish-Russian Arc of Meridian expedition at the end of the 19th century and of course patterns of different periods of Russian and Norwegian trappers.


Back on board we enjoyed a Pilipino Buffet and in the evening we have been entertained in the Observation Lounge by our Pilipino Crew with their famous MV FRAM Crew show. We can only say thank you for this engagement. The crew is always so busy but nevertheless they took their time to entertain us in such a wonderful way.