Is that your leg or a fire hydrant?

Three very eventful days have passed since Christine’s last blog entry. The biggest thing that happened was our arrival at Svalbard, home to the northernmost inhabited city in the world, Longyearbyen. All cruises have a capstone port of call, and Longyearbyen is the one.

Of course we had to get to Longyearbyen, and that required a stop in Honningsvag and a day at sea. Like every cruise has a capstone port of call, every cruise also has a throwaway port of call, and that was Honningsvag. The claim to fame for Honningsvag was that it is a short drive to Nordkapp, or North Cape, the geographically northernmost point in Europe. 

Well, we went to see the North Cape, mostly because it’s the only thing to do in Honningsvag and it was included on our cruise. I have just two words to describe the North Cape: Tourist Trap. And to add insult to injury, it is not the northernmost point in Europe, it’s the second northernmost…. 

Following that big let down was the second of our sea days cruising the Bering Sea, or as Christine and I like to call it, playing a game of who won’t get seasick first. With two meter swells and white caps galore, it was a challenging game indeed, but I think we survived.

And then, finally, Svalbard. It is very stark on this large archipelago, in the harsh climate no trees can grow, so the landscape is just arctic tundra. It is beautiful, but extremely unforgiving. But we were intent on maximizing our time, so we crisscrossed the island, spending the morning on a speed boat seeing a walrus colony and getting up close and personal with a glacier, even seeing an iceberg flip upside down in the water.

But the true highlight was this evening’s husky sledding on wheels. You heard that right - when no snow is available, they have huskies run sleds on wheeled sleds on the roads. It must be seen to be believed, and it was so much fun, although I cannot call myself a great musher…

The dogs were a great part of the fun, and there were so many loveable pups. Unfortunately a couple of the dogs mistook my leg for a fire hydrant. I got peed on not once, but twice. Fortunately for me it was the expedition outfitters pants and rubber boots that got peed on.

Otherwise it was a magnificent day in the extreme far north. One more day of adventuring before we make our two day trek to Iceland. Wish us luck falling asleep, since this far north, the sun does not even go anywhere near the horizon this time of year. Until the next post!

— Joe