As we very much dislike the temperatures in Abu Dhabi in summer, we plan our holidays in the summer months to escape the heat, at least for a short time. And what better way to escape the heat then going to the Arctic? And with Jude now fully qualified as a travel advisor, we decided to book directly with a company that runs a small expedition ship to the north. They had an itinerary that appealed to us, starting in Iceland, and then cruise via Greenland to Svalbard.

Greg picked us up from the airport in Reykjavik and we drove straight to his home for a cuppa and a great catch-up. Back in 2025 Jude spent a week in Oman with divers from the Dar es Salaam Yacht Club, and Greg and Jukka were there too, so we had a lot to catch up on. Luckily we also had the next day together, when we all went to Tingvellir NP. Jukka was working there, and we managed to briefly catch up with him as we were queuing to go snorkeling in the Silfra Fissure. We popped a dry-suit on, our very first time, which meant we were quite toasty in the 2-degree water. It’s just your face that gets cold. It was stunning and we were super happy we finally managed to experience swimming between two tectonic plates in crystal-clear glacial waters. Something we hadn’t managed to do last time we were in Iceland.

Jon, Jude, Greg and Jukka at the Silfra Fissure, Iceland

Jude (left) and Jon (right) snorkeling in the Silfra Fissure, Iceland

We also tasted whiskey ice-cream, straight from the cow, popped in to see the geyser again, and visited a very pretty waterfall most people ignore. We topped off the day with a smash burger in an old school building before Greg dropped us off at the pre-cruise hotel.

Greg, Jon and Jude at the stunning Bruarfoss, Iceland

The next morning we said goodbye to Greg, and then enjoyed lunch and a good catch up with Guy and Cheryl in the botanical garden café who were also in Reykyavik as they would be joining us on the cruise. After a walk around town we got ready to hop on the bus to our expedition ship – the Sea Spirit. Once on board, we were taken to our stately cabin before standing on deck for our departure under a bright blue sky. After the usual compulsory briefings and welcome, we had a nice dinner before hopping into the hot tub before anyone else would think about it, and then went to bed with our door wide open to enjoy the cool and fresh air.

catching up with Guy and Cheryl in Reykyavik, Iceland

about to board the Sea Spirit in Reykyavik, Iceland

our very stately room on the Sea Spirit

we were the first to hop into the jacuzzi after leaving Reykyavik

The next day Jude spent on deck, at the front as the rear deck was for smokers and there seemed to be a lot of them on board. When she spotted orcas in the distance, she tried to find a crew member, but couldn’t so she ran downstairs to alert Jon who was still having breakfast with Cheryl. Somehow the message got to Sergey (the expedition leader) and when we emerged back on deck 4, he was there too. By this time they were already behind the ship, but luckily still visible. The captain then turned the ship around to get closer to the orcas. It was quite a large family and we enjoyed spending some time with them.

Jude spots a pod of orcas during the crossing from Iceland to Greenland

In the afternoon it was Guy and Jude who were on deck again when Guy spotted the first whale. Jude ran inside again, and the ship again changed course to spend time with the 3 species of whale (sei, fin and humpback), 2 species of dolphin (white-beaked and harbour porpoise) which were all hunting and breaching, and loads of birds. It was an incredible spectacle.

many whales, dolphins and birds join in the feeding frenzy on the crossing from Iceland to Greenland

Both sightings are apparently very rare in the Arctic, so we felt extremely lucky. It definitely set the tone for the rest of the trip. On our first zodiac excursion Sergey decided to take us through a glacial ice mélange, the soup of smaller and larger chunks of ice in front of a glacier. This one was particularly dense and it took us a long time to get to the waterfall where we spotted our first two polar bears – another rare occasion as they are usually only seen on Svalbard. We were loving it.

a frontal look at the stunning glacier in Scoresby Sund, Greenland

getting stuck with the zodiac in the glacial melange in front of the Scoresby Sund glacier

the glacier in Scoresby Sund where we spotted 2 polar bears – can you find one?

one of the polar bears we spotted in Fuglefjorden, Svalbard

a polar bear in Billefjord, Svalbard

Two more individual polar bears were spotted on Svalbard, as well as some seals and a few whales occasionally. We also spotted a few more whales in Greenland. Apparently it is not very often you see whales around the eastern side of Greenland. Unfortunately we also saw a few humpback whales in the Scoresby Fjord. Unfortunately, because as soon as the locals from a small village called Ittoqqortoormiit realised there were humpback whales in the area, they came racing out with their tiny, powerful motorboats and started hunting them with powerful rifles. Not the kind of local action we wanted to see! And whilst most on board agreed with the idea of keeping traditional ways of living alive, none agreed with the modern approach. In the old days (which is what they claim they want to preserve), hunting a whale was done with hand harpoons from kayaks. Now they simply hunt anything and everything with powerful rifles, super-fast speedboats, snow-mobiles, etc – whales, polar bears, birds, walrus, musk ox, and even narwhals…. And when quotas are reached for the village, they simply leave food out to attract the animals and then kill it under the guise of ‘threatening village life’. Disgusting.

4 small boats race out to hunt the humpback whale

you can just see the blow in front of their boats, they literally arrived within minutes

Birdlife was ok in the Arctic, there certainly are a lot less birds compared to Antarctica. Not just the variety, but also the numbers. But Jude still managed to spot five new birds in the high north of our planet. Pretty good considering there were only 3 birders on the entire ship (Jude, Guy and Cate).

a long-tailed jaeger in Greenland – one of Jude’s new birds

Jude also spotted the first herd of muskox on a small peninsula in the Alpefjord (Greenland), the ship anchored and we all got a little closer on foot to the impressively shaggy beasts. On another excursion to a small beach (on Svalbard) we spotted a huddle of walruses. They are huge, super cool and quite curious. A few of them left the huddle, popped into the water and approached us as we were standing on the beach. Three of them came close and we could see the snot coming out of his nose when he gave us a gentle warning as he thought we were too close. It was an absolute privilege to see these amazing animals in their own environment, just chillin’ on the beach and frolicking in the shallow waters.

a cute, shaggy muskox in Blomsterbugten, Greenland

walrus at Smeerenburg in Svalbard

We loved the scenery during our cruise, especially around Greenland where we enjoyed perfect weather with blue skies so we could see the spectacular snow-capped mountain peaks. But we especially loved the stunning glaciers with their dramatic fronts, and all the different sizes and colours of icebergs, growlers and bergy bits. We admired them, listened to them groan and crackle, felt the smooth and cupped ice, and watched the calving of many small and large chunks. It is a show we could watch for hours and hours.

icebergs everywhere in Scoresby Sund, Greenland

a frontal look at the stunning glacier in Scoresby Sund, Greenland

Jon in front of the Scoresby Sund glacier, Greenland

another view of the Jon in front of the Scoresby Sund glacier, Greenland

Jude taking pictures from the zodiac in front of the Scoresby Sund glacier, Greenland

more icebergs in Renbugten, Greenland

polar bear prints on the beach, and a short glacier walk in Greenland

a stunning iceberg arch in Blomsterbugten

Jude on our balcony in Scoresby Sund, Greenland

Jon on our balcony in Scoresby Sund, Greenland

The seas were a little rough between Greenland and Svalbard which meant Jude spent some time in our cabin, looking out for birds there. And towards the end Jon came down with a cold that seemed to be traveling through the guests unfortunately, so he also spent some time in our cabin. Luckily we weren’t feeling off at the same time, so we could keep the supply of cuppas and food going.

In Svalbard Jude spotted a lone Arctic fox trotting along the shoreline, but unfortunately this time the ship didn’t stop. And then we were lucky somebody spotted one on the beach just as the ship was pulling away from Ny-Alesund. As we were enjoying this sighting, Jon all of a sudden realised there wasn’t one, but there were two foxes. So cool, and very lucky again.

unfortunately we only spotted them as we were pulling away with the ship, two arctic foxes at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard

We also saw plenty of all-white Arctic hares on our hikes. In Greenland they don’t have a brown summer coat, as the summer is too short. They are fairly easy to spot because of this, and as they almost have no predators in Greenland, we were able to get pretty close to them. So cute.

a perfectly white arctic hare in Greenland where the fur doesn’t go brown for summer as the season is too short

Of course an Arctic cruise wouldn’t be the same without a polar plunge. Jude’s white fluffy hat came out again, and we joined 36 others who braved the cold and jumped in. As we were pretty much the last to hit the water, we decided to go again as we really enjoyed it. And as we climbed out the second time, we could jump in again straight away. By this time no-one was waiting anymore. It was super refreshing and exhilarating. It certainly makes you feel alive, and after the three polar plunges, we hopped into the hot tub, a perfect ending to another amazing day.

one of our three polar plunges at Fuglefjorden, Svalbard

Because Guy has the same camera as us, and had brought a second body, Jon could use his camera with our travel lens, allowing him to take as many landscape photos as he wanted whilst Jude focused on the wildlife and close-ups. This did however increase the number of photos we took and sorting through them was a big job (let’s just say there was a bit more than 10,000 photos….). So maybe we will hold off a bit longer before we buy a second camera….

Other highlights of the trip were spending time with Guy and Cheryl, meeting Cate, Connie, Vicky and Margo, Bena and Jeff, the bbq lunch in the sunshine on the back deck, enjoying a drink with blocks of glacial ice thousands of years old, sitting in the hot tub in the middle of the night whilst cruising through the fjords in Greenland (it is light enough all night to enjoy the scenery), spotting the occasional seal, and the reindeer we spotted on Svalbard. We never realised these cuties have such short legs.

dinner with Guy and Cheryl, Cate and Connie, and Margot and Vicky

reindeer with the glacier of Ny-Alesund in the background, Svalbard

reindeer at Skansbukta in Svalbard, look at the short legs and very fat tummy ready for winter

a cute seal swimming in the harbour at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard

Longyearbyen was an interesting little town. We enjoyed walking around within the perimeters of the small town. Unfortunately, any proper hiking needs to be done with compulsory flare guns, and it is also highly recommended to carry a big game rifle. Instead we slept in, visited cafes, looked for rock ptarmigans, and visited the Global Seed Vault. A place where nearly 1,5 million seeds are stored of more than 6,500 species of crops. The idea is to safeguard the world’s food supply. You don’t see much of it (just the entrance door to the former mine), but it is still a pretty cool place to visit. Longyearbyen is no longer a mining town and it is trying to revive itself as a tourist town. We thought it had a long way to go before we would feel happy to encourage people to go there, but at the beginning or end of a cruise we certainly recommend making sure you spend a day or 2 there.

the global seed vault in Longyearbyen, Svalbard

on average, every person in Longyearbyen has two snow mobiles

rock ptarmigan in Longyearbyen, Svalbard

Here are a few more bird photos for those who are interested and the route of our cruise on a map (each morning we would stop and start the tracker which creates a green dot). This is not all the different birds we saw, just a few of them. Jude’s new birds on this trip were: little auks, sabine’s gulls, long-tailed jaeger, great skua, and plenty of ivory gulls.

route of our cruise from Iceland to Greenland and Svalbard

a little auk in Scoresby Sund, Greenland – one of Jude’s new birds

black-legged kittiwake in Scoresby Sund, Greenland

sabine’s gull in Scoresby Sund, Greenland – one of Jude’s new birds

ivory gull in Scoresby Sund, Greenland – one of Jude’s new birds

great skua in Billefjord, Svalbard – one of Jude’s new birds

a sooty shearwater on the crossing from iceland to Greenland

an immature northern gannet

a northern fulmar in the beautiful evening light