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| Track recorded by OpenCPN |
To escape the heatwave in central Europe my wife Ilse and I flew to Bergen, Norway and boarded Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol for an expedition cruise to Svalbard / Spitzbergen on Tuesday 14th, July 2026. The ship is 132m long with a draught of 5m to allow for narrow and shallow passages in many Norwegian fjords and sounds. It was renovated the month before and very comfortable with only half of the cabins occupied.
For our first stop we docked in Åndalsnes, took a stroll around the village, and enjoyed the Isfjorden. We continued to Træna, where we boarded a small fishing vessel to explore the shallow archipelago and visited the small islands Sanna, Husøya und Selvær.
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| Fishing Village Å |
Next day we visited Reine on the most western tip of the Lofoten and took a bus to the historic fishing village Å, the wooden Flakstad church,
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| Ramberg Beach |
and finally the snow white beach of Ramberg.
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| Tromsø from Fjellheisen |
Early next morning after mooring in the harbor of Tromsø we took a bus to the Fjellheisen cable car to experience the view from the Storsteinen mountain, and then visited famous Arctic Cathedral.
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| North Cape |
After crossing Tromsø Bridge on foot we visited the Polar Museet and finally boarded our ship. After bunkering provisions and diesel we reached the port of Honningsvåg to visit the famous North Cape next morning.
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| View from Midnatsol |
Sunday 19th evening we continued our journey northbound across the Barents Sea with south westerly wind up to 36kn, passed the west coast of Bjornøya - 'Bear Island' and finally docked in the small harbor of Longyearbyen in the Svalbard archipelago on Tuesday morning.
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| Kongsfjord Glacier |
We visited Svalbard Church, Museum, and Camp Barentz with a lot of sled dogs and looked at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
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| Coalmine Train at Ny-Ålesund |
Next morning we reached our most northern point in Kongsfjord, admired the sad remainders of the melting glaciers and moored at the small pier of Ny-Ålesund, which was a mining village for Russia and Great Britain based on the Spitsbergen/Svalbard treaty of 1920 and hosts today over a hundred researchers, representing 20 glaciology and climate institutes from more than 10 countries including China, Russia and Austria.
After 2 days crossing the Barents Sea southbound and watching some seabirds and wales we delivered some freight at Tromsø we moored at Torsken on Senja island and took a bus to visit Hamn, Bergsfjord, Steinfjord and famous Ersfjord Beach.
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| Trollfjord |
and then navigated into to narrow Trollfjorden spotting some white-tailed eagles and then continued to Svolvær, where we boarded MS Symra, a small wooden fishing boat from 1917, for a fishing trip where I was happy to catch a mackerel.
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| Bessaker Cutter Boat |
Next day we reached the small fishing village of Bessaker, again boarded a small traditional cutter boat built in 1961 and with winds up to 33kn explored some fishing grounds in the Skjervøy archipelago.
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| Hellesylt Falls |
At our last stop in Ålesund in heavy rain we visited Ålesund Kirke and some Art Nouveau buildings and then took a bus tour through Sunnmøre Alps visiting Fitjafatnet, Strandafjellet Skisenter, Geiranger Fjord Viewpoint, Hellesylt Falls, Stavbergsetra and finally Sæbø, where we boarded our ship by tender and continued north along the Hjørundfjord with some snow.
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| St. Mary's Church |
After 14 impressive days on board we finished our cruise back in Bergen, where we spent two comfortable nights at Home Hotel Havnekontoret, climbed down Mount Floyen, and visited St. Mary's Church, Bryggen, and Bergenhus Fortress. For a authentic dinner at Marg&Bein restaurant we met my niece Ina Nagler, who is currently a doctoral candidate at the Department of Earth Science of Bergen University and investigates the North Atlantic surface and overturning circulation of the Gulf Stream.
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| Map after Willem Barents, 1596 |
We logged 3270sm in 14 days.
You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.
