Heading west across the Arctic
An amalgam of a couple of trips across the Arctic, cruising around Svalbard, visiting Iceland and western Greenland.
First sight of Svalbard: snowy, fjords and mountains
Longyearbyen: largest town in Svalbard
Longyearbyen was a coal mining town and the remains are everywhere
This is not a dump on Signehamna but the remains of a German weather station, and so a historic WW2 site
Some locals are more friendly than others
Walrus hanging out on a beach near Torellneset, Nordaustlandet
A polar bear investigating the ship
A young humpback feeding off the bow, using the ship as part of its bubble net
The Austfonna ice cap is Europe's third-largest glacier by area and volume
Zodiacs provide a platform for observing the wildlife
A walrus family taking an interest in some visitors
Some purple saxifrage flowers near an emergency hut on Frankenhalvøya
A river of melt water creating a magnificent waterfall on the Negribreen glacier
Thousands of sea birds, including this fulmar, were attracted to the churning water created by the waterfall
Drekkingarhylur (the Drowning Pool) in Þingvellir National Park in Iceland
Gullfoss, the Golden Falls
The coastline of Heimaey in Vestmannaeyjar was enlarged by the eruption of Eldfell in 1973
The waterfall Nýifoss or “New waterfall” feeds melt water from the glacier Langjökull to the lake Hagavatna
Langjökull, the second largest glacier in Iceland
Imagine Peace Tower - memorial to John Lennon on Viðey Island in Kollafjörður Bay near Reykjavík
A couple of puffins on Grímsey
Inside Miðgarðakirkja on Grímsey, which was built from driftwood in 1867
After flying low over the Ilulissat Icefjord you eventually find the source of all the ice, the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier
Fog can be hazardous to shipping when there are icebergs in Ilulissat's harbour
The glacier Eqi, at the northern end of Disko Bay, is one of the most active glaciers in Greenland
Lots of beautiful, but dangerous, icebergs in Disko Bay
A stop for lunch at Ataa Summer Camp, Arveprinsens Ejland
A touch of colour
Ilulissat Ice Fjord
Greenland can be green
Sugar Loaf near the airport at Kangerlussuaq
Visiting the Greenland Ice Sheet at Isunnguata
Monitoring station at Isunnguata Sermia
Nuuk is very hilly, very rocky and very foggy. Perhaps a strange place for the capital of Greenland.
The 500 year old Qilakitsoq mummies in the National Museum of Greenland