Svalbard

A baby seal, perhaps two months old. Seal mothers abandon their kids after three weeks of intense milk nursing.

Kayaks prepared for a passenger excursion

Some people require extra stimulation. Supposedly at least a dozen passengers swam in the fjord.

Two glaciers converged to create one glacier sliding into the fjord

This was our excursion group that hiked to the former German weather station

Close-up of the glacier face

Svalbard is administered by Norway

The Spitsbergen and an iceberg as viewed from a Zodiac raft

One of many many glaciers…

One of hundreds of Svalbard glaciers

Icebergs of a mix of sea ice and glacier ice that was a solid sheet only a few hours before.

This is the face of the glacier, breaking off due to being over the fjord below, still covered in ice

A Quark Expeditions cruise ship with sea ice in the foreground

One of our staff guards against potential rogue polar bears

In a day or two all this ice will have melted, as the North Pole ice cap diminishes at an alarming rate.

The lighter greenish water is inland melt. The blue water is ocean saltwater.

A typical Svalbard Fjord panorama

Claiming luggage in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.

Walruses sunning themselves at end of a point extending from the beach

Zodiac rafts and kayaks preparing for afternoon shore excursions

Hurtigruten Spitsbergen Expedition Ship

Sign at the Longyearbyen airport