Sailing on the west coast of Svalbard
15 - 19. July 2025
After stocking up supplies and packing the boat in Longyearbyen, five eager adventurers set sail (started the motor) aboard Aurora on Wednesday, July 16th. We sailed out of Isfjorden and turned north toward Kongsfjorden and Ny-Ålesund. The weather could (almost) not have been better: mostly sunshine and barely any wind (even though wind would have been nice since we were on a sailboat…)
Along the way we swam in the icy waters, hiked rocky mountains, played cards late into the night in the midnight sun, cooked delicious meals, and spotted belugas and a minke whale as we headed north
In Ny-Ålesund we climbed Scheteligfjellet, went to the museum, and sipped coffee in front of the tiny shop of the world’s northernmost settlement—a place where only 30 people live year-round
From there, we sailed deeper into Kongsfjorden, weaving between drifting ice and scattered islets until we reached Fjortende Julibukta, a small bay where, we had to push ice away in the night as it floated toward the boat Further inside Crossfjorden, we crossed 79°N and came to Signehmna, where we walked along the shore and had our northernmost swim of the journey
On our way south, we returned once more to Ny-Ålesund. This time we were welcomed into the local pub, and we met the so-called “veterans”—those who lived in the settlement before 1963, when the mine closed
On our way back to Longyearbyen we anchored by Prins Karls Forland where we spotted both seals and a colony of walruses. We took a brief stop close to Barentsburg whereafter we had our last night in Colesbukta where we had a large pod of belugas surrounding the boat.
At last, we returned to Longyearbyen arriving Monday July 28th, where we met the next crew and celebrated together with homemade pizza on board
Takk for turen!!
Amalie
