Today is the first of two sea days to get to Svalbard Norway. We are officially above the Arctic circle, where the sun never sets. It is officially call the Land Of The Midnight Sun. We are fortunate today to have a very sunny day with temperatures around 40 degrees. This body of water is the Iceland Sea. We will be passing by an island tonight around 7 named Ile Jan Mayen, which is know for its high mountain peaks and is supposed to be very visible from our ship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Mayen
The second of our sea days to Svalbard. The cities actually name is Longyearbyen, the land of the cold shores. It has a rich history from long before the Vikings. This website does a great job of explaining it all
https://en.visitsvalbard.com/visitor-information/destinations/longyearbyen
This place is very beautiful to sail into and very windy and cold. It is part of the archipelago of Norway 400 miles south of the North Pole. The archipelago is made of hundreds of little islands. It has stunning mountain panoramas, beautiful fjords, massive glaciers, and rugged peaks covered in snow. There are many polar bear, arctic foxes, and reindeer that roam free. There are over 2400 residents from 53 countries living here year round. The first day here was cloudy, cold and rainy. By late afternoon it was raining pretty hard. Dave went on his tour of Svalbard on a bus and toured the local museum. Today after listening to folks talk decided against going out to the dog training facility. Folks said it was quite boring and not much interaction was allowed with the sled dogs. The huskies are the most popular breed here as they make great sled dogs. Mist folks live in apartments and aren’t allowed to have their dogs inside so they have kennels built around the area to keep them in. We saw dogs at the port in cages that took people around in a stagecoach type sled. Really question the need to be overnight as there isn’t much to do. It is much more windy and definitely colder. Dave took the shuttle and went into town to walk around a bit. People seem very content to be on board. The crew get time off here to go into the grocery store to replenish their “snack supply". Polar bear roam free here and if you go out away from the city you need a gun. We saw guides taking bicyclist out with guns in their backpacks. Apparently polar bears are the only bears that will attack humans no matter what.
We have had a couple of issues with our cabin. They have stepped up and fixed them. Now our door opens without an extreme amount of pressure and the USB ports work without juggling the cord up and down numerous time to get it to make a connection.. We are ready to move onto the next port.
Tonight we eat at the chefs table which has a great halibut meal tonight.
Glaciers as we left Svalbard
Huskie dog kennels - residents are not allowed to have their dogs in their homes.
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