Blomstrandhamna - Summer 2008

July 30^th to August 3^rd

• From Ny-Ålesund we cross Kongsfjorden and sail around Blomstrandhalvøya into Nordvågen, on the inner side of Blomstrandhamna, where we pitch our second camp. Blomstrandhalvøya, the Blomstrand *peninsula*, turned out to actually be an island when the glacier retreated in the early 1990s.
• On this side of the isle there is a bird sanctuary, Blomstrandhamna Fuglereservat - on the other side there is Ny-London.
• View over Blomstrandhalvøya towards two of the Tre Kroner, Svea and Nora.
• Svea and Nora.
• The rare Ivory Gull on a visit to the camp.
• Each night we hold Polar Bear watch turns - each of us watches an hour each night for approaching bears. These are the required tools: a signal pen with amunition to scare away a bear, and binoculars. In case of sighting a bear, it is our duty to wake the guides, who are the only ones with rifles in the group.
• One night, just before ending my watch turn, we get the visit of a Polar Fox.
• It is a curious animal, and gets very close.
• "Where you kissing it?" asked Alicja when she saw this close a shot.
• Curious.
• And yet more curious.
• On the way up towards Olssønfjellet (a 924m high, 7km long ridge) some beautiful folded rock layers are exposed.
• Spiralling sand- and limestone…
• The view from the top across a scenario of Devonian sandstone mountains.
• More red sandstone.
• The beach at our camp site: view south,
• …east towards Blomstrandbreen,
• …and north.
• Blomstrandbreen offers constantly shifting light effects.
• Blomstrandbreen.
• The weather on Svalbard is extremely local, due to very low clouds - not only is the weather very different depending on the latitude, but it can greatly vary from one fjord to the next. So this was our eclipse, at about 97% at this point…
• It is only half an hour later that the clouds started clearing, and gave us enough view of a still partially obscured sun. We later learned that in Krossfjorden, the next fjord north of ours, the skies were completely clear and the eclipse was clearly visible…
• On Blomstrandbreen itself.
• Crevasse.
• Glacier panorama with clearing sky.
• On the glacier.
• On the glacier.
• Finally a clear sky - view towards Skreifjellet (1025m).
• View over Blomstrandhalvøya towards Ny-Ålesund.
• Zoom in… this is a breathtakingly beautiful view…
• Patterns in the ice.
• An ice castle was left behind by the retreating glacier.
• A river on the glacier.
• Back at the camp, a couple of Glaucous Gulls engaged in a rather interesting ballet.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Low - no, *very* low clouds, touching sea level… Notice that the weather on the glacier, just a bit higher up, is clear.
• Low clouds over (or rather, under…) Blomstrandhalvøya.
• Blomstrandbreen.
• Arctic Tern.
• Arctic Tern. This bird breeds in the Arctic, and winters in Antartica. It covers some 20,000km twice each year - and sees two summers per year and more daylight than any other creature on the planet. It is a long-lived bird, and not unlikely to reach twenty years of life. That means the bird covers some 800,000km during its life - same distance as going to the moon and back…
• A squadron of Common Eider flying by.
• Caught once again.
• Arctic Tern.
• Blomstrandhalvøya's bird cliffs.
• Clouds can be as low as at sea level - and the fog is then very dense, removing any recognizable contours of the landscape. Sea and sky become one. Two lone black guillemots…
• …and a ghostly squadron of Northern Fulmars flying extremely low.
• A Common Eider family, with two of the chicks diving for food…
• Light on Blomstrandbreen.
• Light.
• Oh dear, this light…
• On a perlustration along the coast we find some Polar Bear footprints - Karolina's boot gives you a sense of the scale.
• Ragna Hytta on Vestneset.
• The secret of some intensely green spots: geese ;)
• Beautiful terrain around Ragna Hytta with Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala) and Moss Campion (Silene acaulis).
• At a short distance there is a small emergency shelter.
• A whale's bone (probably from the skull) helps shaping a river's direction.
• Whale's bone.
• Lone rock.
• Sandstone and limestone.
• Layered.
• And smoothened by the sea.
• There is a small meltwater waterfall, and Karolina is the only one taking advantage and thinking about higiene… You can use her facial expression as a meter for the water temperature… Incidentally, I went swimming amidst the ice floes, here at the Blomstrand camp - but of course I didn't take a picture of myself, then… (and honestly, it was more of a plunge than anything else - you don't stay for too long in water at 2/3°C…
• Some more remnants of the whale.
• Spinal bones.
• One more.
• Yellow Saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides)
• After a long walk along all of Konsfjordhallet we reach the cabin short of Kapp Guissez, but unfortunately we decide to turn back just there, without ever reaching the cape.
• Nature and human traces have found a beautiful, delicate equilibrium here…
• …and leave traces both from the sea…
• …and the land.
• Time for a well-deserved rest…
• …while I crawl around…
• …and take pictures…
• …of everything.
• Russian sign on the way back along the coast - what does it say?
• Trap.
• View across Kongsfjorden.
• We also manage to get near an elegant, beautiful Red-Throated Diver with chick.
• The rare Long-Tailed Skua pays us a visit at the camp…
• …engages in a little ballet…
• …and shows no fear of close humans.
• Ice.
• A young Ringed Seal learning to climb ice floes.
• Another curious seal swimming in the still waters of our last, foggy day.
• Foggy close shot of a male Svalbard Rock Ptarmigan, a subspecies of rock ptarmigan Lagopus muta, but larger and heavier.
• Ice floes and low clouds - this is the last view of Blomstrand…
• A few Barnacle Geese, while we wait for the boat to pick us up.

On to Ny-London | Back to Svalbard - Summer 2008