Summer Arctic @ Svalbard: The Birds Paradise!

Hi All,

After our great trip to the Antarctica last year, we booked this Arctic trip for this year immediate naturally.

We asked what is the different between the Arctic and Antarctica from the staffs on our last cruising ship who did both, most of them said the Antarctica has more wildlife and tranquility.

The 1st statement is not entirely correct: the Arctic around Svalbard this summer, we didn't see many whales or seals during this trip; but LOTS more birds, and Arctic definitely is a birds paradise.

The 2nd statement maybe correct, as we didn't have ANY blue sky during any of our Zodiac cruises / landing, I can't really show any 'tranquility' scene as last trip. As our ship cruising toward Longyearbyen last days, I looked at the half foggy covering mountains and birds taking off from mirror-like peaceful Arctic ocean, I fell like living in a paradise...

We're going to Iceland tomorrow, I just start this Arctic trip report anyway. Hope you enjoy it.

Before this trip we bough the Sony a7r and sold our 5D2. My wife and me carry a 5D3, Sony a7r and Canon PowerShot S110; 3 lenses only - 85L II, 28-300L and Zeiss 1,4/35 (Only using wih Sony a7r):

Almost all shoots from 5D3 have GPS coordination, which I find most useful for traveling.

Day One: Oslo to Longyearbyen, boarding the cruising ship
Oslo is a beautiful city; but Longyearbyen didn't impressed us much during our short transfer between its airport and our ship.

85L II:
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/od7X​xZ
Longyearbyen, Svalbard by x_tan, on Flickr

28-300L @ 300mm:
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nVCf​kq
Longyearbyen, Svalbard by x_tan, on Flickr

The beauty of Longyearbyen is all outside this mining town itself, I'll show you later.

Day Two: Cruising toward Nordre Isfjorden National Park & Forlandet National Park

As I open my cabin window in the morning, noticed so many birds along the seashore (28-300L @ 300):
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/odfM​3e
Birds @ Nordre Isfjorden National Park, Arctic by x_tan, on Flickr

28-300L @ 300:
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/odbQ​eu
Glacier @ Nordre Isfjorden National Park, Arctic by x_tan, on Flickr

Then we came out to 'hunt' for the polar bear! 28-300L @ 50mm
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nVMU​Cr
Zodiac Cruising @ Nordre Isfjorden National Park, Arctic by x_tan, on Flickr

Didn't take very long, we spot a mother bear with two pups (28-300L @ 300mm):
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/of3p​8H
Polar Bears @ Nordre Isfjorden National Park, Arctic by x_tan, on Flickr
As you can see, we need 800mm at least to get 'large' shot.

Back to our ship for lunch, cruising to next landing destination (28-300L @ 300mm):
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/ocQ1​Mz
Forlandet National Park, Arctic by x_tan, on Flickr

Next post will be from Iceland.

Afternoon we had Zodiac landing on Forlandet National Park for walrus watching:

28-300L @ 300mm:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oe9Z​1L
Walrus @ Forlandet National Park, Arctic by x_tan, on Flickr

The Arctic is much greener than the Antarctica, wildflower is everywhere this time of the year (28-300L @ 300mm):
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oe5E​zN
Arctic Wildflower (Purple Saxifrage) @ Svalbard by x_tan, on Flickr

Whale bone (from the old whaling day) and walrus' bone (28-300L @ 40mm)
IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oeTR​Xo
Forlandet National Park, Arctic by x_tan, on Flickr