CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, JAN MAYEN & SVALBARD

SHIP OFFERING THIS ITINERARY

SEA SPIRIT

The Sea Spirit was built in Italy in 1991. She’s a very comfortable ice-strengthened, small (114 guests), all-suite expedition ship. The vessel was updated in late 2010 and had additional refurbishment in April 2017. All suites have private facilities and exterior views. Some of the suites feature private balconies for enjoying fantastic landscapes of Antarctica.

She has a fleet of ten rubber inflatable zodiac boats for landings, an experienced crew, and a set of retractable fin stabilizers for smooth sailing. This ship features an open bridge, 2 rear outdoor viewing areas, an outdoor viewing area at the front of the vessel, a bar, lounge, presentation room and dining area all lined with windows. There is also a gym on-board as well as a library and media centre.

Day 1 Embarkation Edinburgh, Scotland

Day 2 Port of Leith, Scotland

Enjoy the morning and early afternoon at leisure. Each corner of Edinburgh’s old streets opens beautiful unexpected vistas of green hills or a blue flash of the distant sea. In the afternoon, you will be transferred from the hotel to the ship in the nearby Port of Leith. Before dinner, there’s time to explore the Sea Spirit, your home-away-from home for the next days.

Day 3 Kirkwall, Orkneys

Day 4 Fair Isle, Shetland Islands

Fair Isle is a real paradise for birdwatchers. Huge numbers of birds inhabits the lush grasslands and spectacular cliffs. Over 345 species have been recorded here – more than anywhere else in Britain. During your walk across the island, you can hope to see northern fulmars, kittiwakes, northern gannets, puffins, and great and arctic skuas.

Day 5 Torshavn, Faroe Islands

National Geographic Traveler had designated Faroe Islands as “authentic, unspoiled and likely to remain so”. It seems that the Nature spares no colours in “painting” the islands. Deep-green hills, bright blue sea, colourful houses and boats, orange-red puffins’ beaks make the sceneries unforgettable, meanwhile traditional wooden dwellings with turf roofs look like they belong in a fairy tale.

The rugged Faroese are proud of their Viking heritage and their love of the sea. Today we will explore Tórshavn, the capital and largest city of Faroe Islands.

Tórshavn is a unique city, where history meets modernity, where picturesque old turfed houses and modern buildings stand side by side…

Day 6 At Sea

Presentations and workshops by our expert staff, as well as our range of onboard recreation facilities, ensure that this day at sea is not idly spent. Seabird viewing and whale sightings can be enjoyed from panoramic open decks as well as exterior stateroom windows and balconies.

Day 7 Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen hosts landscapes of breathtaking beauty and northernmost sub-aerial active volcano on the planet – the Beerenberg. The island is wild and uninhabited not including members of Norwegian weather station. The signboard at the entrance door says (translated from the Norwegian): “Theory is when you understand everything but nothing works. Practice is when everything works but nobody understands why. On this station, we combine theory and practice in a way that nothing works and nobody understands why”. Northern fulmars, Kittiwakes, and Brünich’s guillemots breeding on steep cliffs and slopes represent the bird life of Jan Mayen..

Day 8 At Sea

The lectures of invited speakers will prepare you for meeting the unique Arctic wildlife and awesome landscapes of Spitsbergen.

Days 9 – 12 Svalbard

This is a real expedition in a true High Arctic wilderness. As such, your route and exploration opportunities here are heavily dependent on the weather and sea ice conditions the ship encounters. Your experienced captain and expedition leader decide the itinerary and continually adjust plans as conditions and opportunities warrant. You can be sure that the best possible advantage will be taken of the circumstances presented to us by Nature in this wild and remote corner of the Arctic.

Polar bears and other quintessential Arctic wildlife can be spotted anytime, anywhere in and around Svalbard. Your expedition team exploits every opportunity to experience excellent wildlife viewing, to discover incredible scenery, and to walk in the footsteps of the historic polar expeditions that came before you.

The expedition team anticipate exploring the spectacular fjords, coasts, and islands in the western part of Svalbard. This area contains the archipelago’s most impressive scenery and some of the Arctic’s best wildlife viewing opportunities. Deep fjords and narrow channels are flanked by jagged snowy mountain peaks. Immense tidewater glaciers calve icebergs into turquoise waters. Fields of flowering tundra are home to grazing reindeer and playful Arctic fox. Bountiful inshore and offshore waters are home to walrus and a wide variety of whales. The whole area is alive with migratory birds, including numerous rare species, taking advantage of summer’s fecundity in 24-hour daylight.

To complete the Arctic experience you will also explore places rich with history. The area of exploration contains the historical remnants of whaling camps, coal mining operations, trappers’ cabins, staging areas for historic attempts to discover the North Pole, and even an abandoned polar research station. The days are filled with memorable excursions, sumptuous meals, presentations by experts, and enough stunning scenery and wildlife to fill your camera and overwhelm your emotions.

Day 13 Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen

After breakfast we say farewell in the town of Longyearbyen, the administrative capital of the Norwegian territory of Svalbard. We provide a transfer to the airport and a flight to Oslo.