Kongsfjorden: Ny-Ålesund

Monday, 11 July (Part II)

Following our morning hike on Fjortende Julibreen (post here), we returned to the ship truly famished.  While we enjoyed a nice meal in The Restaurant, Silver Explorer made the short voyage from Krossfjorden to Kongsfjorden (King’s Fjord; once known as King’s Bay).  Discovered by the English explorer Jonas Poole in 1610, the fjord was named Deere Sound back in the time.  Approximately 100 years later, it was mis-named Koninks Bay, an error that led to the current name of the fjord.

Our destination for the afternoon was Ny-Ålesund (New Alesund), a coal mining town-turned-research settlement that can trace its history to 1916.  One of only four permanent settlements on Spitsbergen, today’s Ny-Ålesund is comprised of international research stations, three of which are permanently manned.  Scientists from Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, UK, France, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and China swell the permanent population of 30-35 residents to 120 in the summer season.  The stations do work in atmospheric, earth, and life sciences, to include a whole bunch of “ologies” ranging from biology, glaciology, meteorology, climatology, and ecology.  Oceanographic research is a prime focus as well. (For more info about the research projects, click here.)

From the pier we catch a glimpse of the old coal sorting facility (far right).

We were on the first zodiac for this all-passengers ashore landing.  On the pier, we were given a couple of simple rules to follow: stay on the roads; don’t venture into areas cordoned off to protect nesting Arctic terns and other wildlife; be considerate of the researchers — they are here to work not as a curiosity for visitors; if requested to do so, remove footwear when entering buildings.

And so, off we went on a leisurely stroll — ALL BY OURSELVES.  Not that expedition members were not around.  Indeed they were stationed around town to answer questions and provide historical tidbits as necessary.

Kara greets us at the Post Office where we stop to get our passports stamped.
(We were allowed to collect our passports from the purser’s desk for this landing.)

No postcards from the world’s northernmost post office; just some passport stamps.

Our self-guided tour took us from one end of town to the other, with frequent stops to check out the colorful buildings that added cheer to an otherwise gray day — especially when the sun graced us briefly.  We stepped into a gift shop to buy a couple of Ny-Ålesund patches to sew on our parkas as a reminder of this voyage; browsed the displays at the museums; running the gauntlet of nesting terns, went to the kennel to see the sled dogs; and spent time at the dirigible mast discussing polar exploration history with Peter Damisch, ship’s historian.  I’m going to leave the latter and the museum to another post, and just focus on our stroll in this blog entry.

Built in Berlin, Germany  in 1909, the locomotive was brought here in 1917.
It was used until 1959 to transport coal from the mines to the harbor.

I’m charmed by these yellow buildings, which turn out to be the Netherlands research station.

The Chinese "Yellow River Station" is housed in what used to be the
Ungkarsheimen 2  (Bachelor house); it was built in 1958.

Before I go on with my photo essay of Ny-Ålesund, I’ll share with you the symbolism of the guardian lions at the entrance to the Chinese station.  Thanks go to fellow-passengers Dr Lynne and Dr Alan for telling us about the Shishi Lions, which literally translate to stone lions.  Always presented in pairs as a representation of yin and yang, the two lions look identical, but aren’t.  One’s a male and one’s a female.  The male has its paw on a ball; representative of ruling the world.  The female has its paw on a cub; representative of the cycle of life.  (In the collage above, the top left images are of the female; the bottom left images are of the male.  More information here.)

Polar bear danger is very real and we are reminded to be on alert.

Scenes from around town.
Top Left: bikes are a popular way of getting around town.
bottom left: The nordpol hotellet (North Pole Hotel) was built as barracks in 1920.
top right: from the looks of him, this troll has had a little too much liquid cheer. 
bottom center: water lines are encased in insulated, above-ground wood troughs.
bottom right: Ny-Ålesund in winter (photo of a photo).

Just a little bit of sunshine changes the colors.

A section of the By Og Gruvemuseum (City and Mining Museum) has displays on some of the research being conducted by the various international stations in Ny-Ålesund.

One last glimpse of the scenery …

… One last glimpse of Common Eiders out for an afternoon swim …

… One last photo op before heading to the pier.

We certainly made the most of our afternoon in Ny-Ålesund.  First off the ship, we were literally the last two passengers to return to the Silver Explorer.  Even the barrel holding our life vests was back on the ship before we were.  Not that we were left wanting; two vests were hanging on the railing for us to put on when we arrived at the zodiac where the expedition team was gathered for the last boat to the ship.

Tapas in the Panorama Lounge was followed by the daily recap and briefing.  Kara took the opportunity to talk to us about the seals we’ve seen on zodiac cruises.  Understandably, our glimpses of these mammals have been brief; living in the realm of polar bears, who can blame them for being skittish!  Uli then regaled us with his first-hand experience living in Ny-Ålesund and diving under the ice after the bay freezes over in the winter.

Juan’s topic was moraines and how they are formed by glaciers carving up the land.  He also enlightened us about the “pink water” we saw in the bay at Ny-Ålesund — it’s actually murky melt water from Kongsbreen (King’s Glacier) that is rich in reddish rock silt.  As it is fresh water, it floats on top of the denser sea water, making the pinkish tint visible.

Melt water tints the bay a brownish pink.

We wrapped up with Robin outlining plans for tomorrow.  If all goes well, we’ll be doing two hikes before we wrap up our voyage with a late arrival in Longyearbyen around 10:00p tomorrow night.  Looking forward to the first part of our day; not to the latter part :-(

Though fun, dinner was a relatively quiet affair — perhaps because we were all worn out from our day’s activities; perhaps because we were all sad to have the end of our adventure at hand.  I enjoyed a warm cup of bouillon, followed by cavatelli in a cream sauce and a main course of wild mushroom risotto.  Mui was pleased with his fish carpaccio, followed by salad and a seafood stew.  Dessert was ice cream for both of us — strawberry for me; chocolate for Mui.  And of course, the dark chocolate and marzipan balls also found their way to our table.

Time to get some rest … have to be prepared for two hikes tomorrow.