Because the arrival of our expedition ship was delayed by a day we had extra time to explore Longyearbyen before boarding. Our first morning was used exploring Isfjorden on small boats to give a taste of what the area has to offer. After a briefing and donning our flotation suits and lifejackets, we headed to the harbour to board our 2 boats. We had ideal boating conditions with a mirror-calm sea which was picturesque in the bright sun. Racing over the flat sea into the cold arctic air we were finally pleased to be wearing our warm suits which had been a bit stifling until then.

Our initial target was some cliffs with breeding seabirds which gave us opportunities to photograph Brünnich’s guillemot (Thick-billed murre), Atlantic puffin, Black guillemot, Northern fulmar, Barnacle goose and Brant (Brent goose). We saw a number of flocks of Little auks while racing over the water but were unable to photograph while on the move. The light was not ideal but we had the chance to make some reasonable images and the experience out on the water was spectacular.

There were enough fulmars passing to give a chance for pan blurs.

We moved across to another area which gave more opportunities on puffins on the water and flying.

Heading back in toward Longyearbyen we got a view of the airport and satellite station from the water and then saw a huddle of walrus on a beach which we would revisit later in the day with photos I will share in a subsequent post.

This excursion was my first opportunity to trial my plan of using the Nikon Z9 with 100-400mm and the Nikon Z8 with 24-200mm pairing in the Sea to Summit dry bag with the NYA-Evo XL insert for use from a Zodiac type vessel. It was convenient and provided perfect protection while allowing rapid deployment.