Trips

Fri., 7/7/23 - Smeerenburg

"Midnight Sun" - 12:30 am	12:30 am - Land in sight
This morning’s Zodiac tour was at Smeerenburg, located on Amsterdam Island (Amsterdamoya). Smeerenburg was an early 1600s Dutch whaling base often referred to as “Blubber Town.” The beach was very shallow and sandy but with large rocks in the water that the Zodiacs had to avoid. There are remains of whale oil ovens (blubber ovens) on the beach which are now circles of black rock. Lots of drift wood was on the beach peninsula along with about 15 lazy walruses. There is an historical placard and a navigation cairn. We walked on the beach and stayed off the tender tundra.
This seems to be about all walruses can do!	Lazy
Lazier	Looking for lunch
At least these three are looking for shellfish, presumably	Plaque showing original Smeerenburg layout
Blubber oven	Very creative - using a float for the front wheel
Our visit this morning was delayed because we had to wait for passengers from these ships to leave the site.	Seaweed attached to a rock - washed up onto the beach
Glacier across the bay from Smeerenburg	Detail of glacier
In the afternoon we had all of our disembarking briefings and the rest of the day was spent packing. We left our heavy “free” blue parkas on board. They will supposedly be donated as needed. Checked luggage had to be outside our cabin door by midnight.
Good-bye from our cabin stewards	Final trip summary from the Expedition Team
Sat., 7/8/23 - Longyearbyen to Oslo The MS World Traveller arrived back in Longyearbyen around 7 am. Disembarkation began around 9. We left the ship around 9:45 and boarded a bus for a tour of the town. The tour included a stop to get off and walk up to the world famous Svalbard Global Seed Vault - entrance strictly controlled! It was interesting to see the exterior, even if we couldn't go in. From there we drove out to look at The Sign - the one prohibiting anyone from going further than that point from the town boundaries. At the location of the sign there were lots of geese and their babies, and the town dog kennel.
Working port	Coal, the main export
Old but still working, crane	The Longyearbyen Airport
	Administration building on the left, Seed Vault entrance on the right
Svalbard Global Seed Vault	This is lighted when it is dark outside
Practice piece for the fire department	After these two stops, we were dropped at the Radisson Hotel and we had two hours to wander in town - excessive. Eventually, we had lunch at the Radisson.
Barnacle Geese	Barnacle Geese and babies
This sign says "the entire of Svalbard" and it means that you cannot go beyond the sign (the town's limits) without being fully armed - polar bears are very dangerous.	Dog kennels for housing the many sled dogs owned by a sled dog company
Not sure what this really means but it was an interesting sign	Miners' Memorial statue
Turtle or dinosaur for children to climb on	Stuffed - at the Radisson where we had lunch
Reindeer outside the hotel	At 1:30 we were bussed to the airport for our 3:45 flight to Oslo. The flight was delayed (naturally) and then we were told there wouldn't be a working bathroom available on the over four hour flight to Oslo. That was not well received! It turns out that the incoming flight was very full and they filled up the plane's holding tanks. These tanks cannot be emptied in Svalbard - it is against international regulations for the environment. In the end, only three people were desperate for the facilities and they were accommodated. You can assume there was a rush for facilities in Oslo! It was after 9 by the time we got to the hotel. We got up at 2 am to bus back to the airport for our 6:30 am flight to Frankfurt.
From the plane shortly after takeoff from Svalbard	Beautiful, huge glacier with nice moraines
Approaching Oslo	Approaching Oslo
Sun., 7/9/23 - Oslo to Frankfurt to Philadelphia Today, our flights were relatively on time and we had lots of layover time at the airports. We arrived in Philadelphia at 4 PM (or 11 PM Norway time) and checked into the La Quinta Hotel near the airport. Dinner was at a Denny’s 100 yards from the hotel. During the meal, it began to absolutely pour rain but we had our rain jackets so we didn’t get too wet walking back to the hotel. Mon., 7/10/23 - Philadelphia to Tucson Another early departure - 7:11 am - to Denver where we had plenty of time to make connection for the flight to Tucson. As usual, the descent into Tucson was rather bumpy - hot air over the desert and no rain while we were away. The car was at the airport's covered parking lot, it started right up, and we were home by 2 PM. Daylight for a change! On the whole, it was an interesting trip. Photos and words really can't truly portray the beauty and the majesty and the vastness of this far northern land.	Center pivot irrigation circles in western Colorado