Silver Seas Arctic Adventure

  Longyearbyen, Norway We are the last group to leave the ship so hanging out in the observation lounge while we wait. We get an hour long tour of Longyearbyen then they will drop us at the airport to sit around again.  I am sure there will not be much to do there.  It should be interesting as it looks like we are a small plane, we think about 100 people, to fly to Oslo.   I had hoped we would have more time to look around there but….   Depending on how we feel when we get there we will head into the city to see the sights.  Our flight to London is at 11 so we don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn.  We are excited that we will see night time again.  24 hours of light is lovely but it does a number to your sleep cycles.

 JUNE 11 2025, WEDNESDAY  Last day on the ship Sorry no pics yet it is a busy day being the last one on the ship. A morning hike.   Birds, rocks and reindeer.  Bob helped save our guide who went thigh deep in the snow.  It is so soft you can disappear if you are not careful. Bought our polar plunge tshirts as the store will be closed later.  So we officially used up all of our onboard credit, well done us. Morning trivia and point redemption, what crap can we buy.  Bob chose a baseball hat and mug, yes Janice we had that many points.  In fact, each group after they bought what they wanted they passed back their unused points to the next person so they could get something nicer.  And people say there are not nice people in the world. Lunch and pack.  Lunch was Italian so I could actually eat at the buffet so that was nice. Afternoon zodiac ride, we were the last people on the last zodiac, so we got to just have 4 in our little black death...

 JUNE 10 2025, TUESDAY  Svalbard Northern Region - Norway - Lloyds hotel, morning trip. So first an update on yesterday, the scuttlebutt is that 3 people had to be recused from snow holes yesterday, so a lot of folk not understanding stay on the path. Today we chose not to do the 3 hour hike up a mountain, surprise and chose to be a beach walk.  We lucked out and saw a seal on a rock, waiting for his butler to bring him his caviar. Then our guide saw a family of reindeer on the cliff side.  Again I apologize for the pic had to do manual zoom as they were about 1 km away.  Still great to see in the wild. Then as we were getting on at shore I saw a lady with a white plastic bag going through the rocks on the beach, I asked her if sh was collected garbage, and bold as brass she says “I am collecting sea glass as that is not protected or old”. Cue Merc and Josh getting angry.  Within seconds a staff guy was there saying dump it and then I walked away.  She...

 JUNE 09 2025, MONDAY  Svalbard Northern Region  There are not many communities to visit in this part of the world, however we will be visiting some landing sites where there are historical remains of whaling and sealing communities in years gone by. We started in a whaling station to see the history but let's face it, it was cold so pics are from Bob and will come later.  By cold I mean cold, my fingers were frozen.  But it was surreal to stand in a place that was last inhabited in the 1600’s and think of what life would have been, yes they were killing whales but, they like us have no idea what effect what we do now will have in 400 years. Then back on ship for a quick nap as you know I like a nap, this was a morning one but it was needed.  lunch and then off again. Did I mention sticky toffee pudding.   Bob was kayaking so that is a whole story left to him but he had a great time.   I headed ashore.   So skipped ahead every Canad...

 JUNE 08 2025, SUNDAY  Svalbard Northern Region - Norway   We were above 80 degrees latitude today so very high north. I will start that polar plunge was cancelled as it was too cold and windy so not safe.  The plan was to plunge into the polar ice cap but as you will see it would have been very dangerous as the ice was to close together .  One expedition leader suggested a polar 5k run along the ice but that did not go far. The ship we are on, the Endeavour, has ice breaking technology so the captain wanted to show that off, so overnight we cruised to the ice edge.  At 8:30ish the announcement was made we were about to enter the ice cap so bundle up and head out.   We are Canadian so we followed the rules and headed out.  I must say it was breathtaking, but cold and beautiful scenery.  The pics can’t really show the vastness and cannot convey the sensation of the sound of the hull breaking through the ice. It was also so fun to watch all the...

 JUNE 07 2025, SATURDAY  Svalbard Southern Region - Norway  Weather in the south meant the ship headed north, with dreams of polar bears and ice fields in our heads. Our first stop was for a zodiac ride and then walk in the snow along the coastline, lots of birds, snow and rock.  But stunningly gorgeous.  Getting off the zodiacs meant stepping into the sea water and climbing up ice stairs.  Bob told me to follow his lead he was good with walking on icy surfaces.  I was fine but he slipped down a few inclines and then decided to step in virgin snow to get a pic and ended up with snow over his knees.  Good thing we were dressed properly. Back to the ship for lunch and as we were eating we all watched son porpoises playing in the wake of the ship, minutes later we went through our first patch of sea ice, sorry my phone was out of power so no pics. Back in our room starting to think about our afternoon event there was an  announcement that polar ...

 Sea Day This is a day at sea to get us to our next location.  In case you need a reminder of where we are.  It is -2c today so layers when we go to do our deck walk. We are travelling past snow covered mountains and ice sheets coming right to the sea edge.  Over beautiful and very vast. We have tour of the bridge today and then trivia.  There is a talk about an explorer that Bob might attend and maybe I will go to the towel folding lesson so I can make towel animals for Merc when she visits.  I got an instruction manual for anyone who would like to learn with me. Trivia today was a bit weird,   Lisa had been told my a few in her party that they were not coming to trivia, so she recruited some fresh blood.  But then everyone showed up so had 10 people, a no no at trivia.  So 4 of us broke off to form a rogue group.  Okay we did not win but we had fun and everyone got to be heard.  Although trivia is a bloodsport there is honour as w...

 So today it was very foggy and the seas were choppy.  So bad that they made an announcement saying unless you are fully confident in the zodiacs then they suggest that you take a miss on this outing. So Bob went and I stayed on board as the official photographer.  It was cold finally so no more tank tops on the balcony for me. Bob told me I could have done this but as you know I do not like the waves.  Bob is the one at the front left in the black toque. In the afternoon, we had moved position so they claimed it is calmer, so we both bundled up and headed out, it is just around 0c so needed some layers.   Sorry not pics as I have to hold on too tight to the safety rope and it was too cool after a while to have your hands out as the mist made you colder faster.  But we saw lots of puffins, bobbing along on the water or trying like mad to fly. ( they are cute but not great flyers).  Our guide who we have had before toured us around to see what could be ...

 JUNE 04 2025, WEDNESDAY  Skarsvag (Nordkapp) - Norway  To the Top of Europe: A North Cape Discovery  Today we are doing the lighter trip.  But the views should be amazing.  Clear blue skies today so we are blessed.  Tiny little town but we will have a wander around and see if we can spot the trolls. Did not spot Trolls but there was one store open in town, raise your hand if you can guess what they sold, in addition to delicious waffles.   Answer revealed later in the post. Today most of our trivia team is on the late excursion and might miss it today.   In the world of cruising this is a top level stress event. Bob and I might have to see if another team will adopt us for the day.  Or we will be the losers in the corner drinking.  Either way not a hard way to spend an afternoon at the most northern point of the mainland of Europe. Trivia update we ran into our team mates on the pier and they have asked for trivia to be delayed unt...

 JUNE 03 2025, TUESDAY  Today some folks get off the ship and others join us as we head even further north. Tromsø - Norway  Today the program was changed since the cable car to the top of a mountain was under renovation.  So we got on the bus in the rain and headed off to a botanical garden, I had low expectations but it was lovely. Then back on the bus and off to a look out, did i mention it was raining, but along the way we saw reindeer so that was good. Then back on the bus to the Polar museum, which was heavily hunting which was a problem for some in the group as it was so cruel. But that was not the problem for Bob and I.  Bob and I had most problems with a “pride” presentation about “queers” in the exploration past,   WOW is all we can say.  Hopefully it was a translation problem.    We move on to the Arctic cathedral, it was lovely, they had glass angels but no way they would make it home in one piece. Back to the ship for a quick lun...