Your independent arrival to Longyearbyen is followed by embarkation the ice-strengthened vessel “Polaris” and… our Arctic expedition starts with an independent exploration of the ship – shouldn’t we know more of our floating home for the next 2 weeks?...
In the evening it’s time to meet our Expedition staff members and crew officers; the presentation of the staff is followed by instructions on zodiac activities – welcome to a Real Expedition.

If the weather is on our side today we’ll try landing on Kvitoya Island. It is almost completely ice-covered (White Island) and belongs to the Northeast Svalbard Nature Reserve. On the ice-free parts there are moss beds which can be very colorful. Arctic terns and some other birds breed here. Polar bears and walrus are frequent visitors in this area.
In the evening we are leaving the archipelago and heading for Victoria Island.

Today the outstanding Arctic show will be performed for you. We expect to watch Total Solar Eclipse this morning not far from Victoria Island. Our masterly Captain will try to catch the best point for the ship to observe this majestic natural phenomenon. This is the unique event which will probably divide our voyage (and may be not only the voyage) into “before” and “after”.

Well we have much of interesting in the latter part of our expedition. If we have favourable weather conditions we’ll explore Victoria Island with its large population of walruses. Naturalists are not the only creatures attracted here by these Arctic animals - polar bears visit the area frequently to have their “walrus dinner”. We hope to meet them both here while cruising near on our zodiacs.

We expect to reach Franz Josef Land archipelago this morning. A landing is planned on Bell Island to visit the house built by Lee Smith expedition in 1881.

Let’s go on learning history of Arctic discoveries during our landing at Cape Flora on Nordbrook Island, discovered by Lee Smith expedition in 1880. They had to winter on this island after the steam yacht "Aira" had been crushed by ice and sunk near the coast. Jackson expedition (1894-1897) dwelled here longer than any other one and made a major contribution to the exploration of the archipelago. In 1897 a memorable meeting of Jackson and Nansen took place on the island. Several memorial steles were erected on the island to commemorate the daring Arctic explorers. A huge sea birds colony finds home on the cliffs towering over the southern side of Cape Flora.

Our next possible stop is Hall Island, Cape Tegetthoff. The island sights are very impressive: huge cliffs resembling dorsal fins of gigantic sharks submerge into the depths. The remains of the wooden structures built by the Wellman expedition (1898-1899) add colors to the vivid panorama.

We are at Alger Island. Our goal today is to land at the wintering place of the American Arctic expedition headed by A. Baldwin. If weather permits we will lower our zodiacs to sail among drifting icebergs. Polar bears are frequent visitors here; probably we’ll succeed in catching some… with our camera lenses.

Today we plan a landing at Cape Heller on Wilczek Land Island. In 1899 two sailors, members of the Welle expedition wintered there, waiting for the core of the group that was trying to conquer the North Pole. As everywhere on Franz Josef Land, we are very likely to witness Polar bears and sea mammals.

We are at Stolichky and Appolonov Islands. Our expedition activities here are highly dependant on weather and ice conditions. If we are lucky to have favourable conditions we plan a zodiac trip near the islands. The main attraction of the islands is walrus rookeries. Our zodiac drivers will do their best to get to the rookeries as close as possible.

A magnificent Champ Island in placed in the very center of the archipelago like a diamond in a precious tiara. The landscape of Champ is majestic: the cliffs and ice-capped mountains are the highest on the archipelago. Here we’ll see the unique nature creations: the stones of ideal spherical shape (up to 3 m of diameter).

It’s a remarkable day for birds lovers; we go on observing bird life in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island. The famous Rubini Rock, a huge cliff in the bay, is the shelter for thousands of sea birds. We will try to approach the cliff as close as possible to watch kittiwakes and other Arctic birds. There is an abandoned polar station on the shore of Tikhaya Bay. If weather is favourable we will go ashore to visit the station.

We are on our way back to Longyearbyen. There will be enough time to share your impressions with your companions and our experienced lecturers.

If the weather and ice conditions are favourable we plan a landing in the region of Sjuoyane Islands. We plan to visit the island of Rossoya, the northernmost point of Norway.

In the morning we arrive to Longyearbyen, disembark the ship and go to the local airport for the flight to Oslo.