As usual I was up early to grey skies and whistling winds, making the various cables strung around the radio station 'sing' in protest. You only had to take one look at Harri's face to realise things were not right. He stood in reception looking out the window to the east, lifting the binoculars to his face to take a closer look. 'White caps', he murmured, 'Not good!'. I didn't say anything to Lorna but at breakfast Harri explained that it would not be possible to cross back to Longyearbyen at the moment, the seas would be too high and dangerous. 'We will wait' he advised. The walk was still on.
We dutifully met him at the front door at 10:00 am, but literally within a dozen steps he stopped and said he needed to make a phone call. Plan B was being formulated. We returned to the building and he explained that he wanted to take us straight away to Barentsburg where a larger boat would be able to transfer us back to Longyearbyen. The phone call took place. ' We wait' Harri said. We were doing a bit of this. The phone rang. A stream of intelligible Norwegian was spoken. Harri's face took on its pensive expression. 'We are not going to Barentsburg'. Apparently there were too few passengers that day for the ship to venture out. We were passengers!
So Plan C was formulated. We would go for a walk, lunch, wait, have an early dinner and make a run for it at about 7:00 pm when the weather would (hopefully) calm down. So we trudged out again, into the strong easterly wind. Harri planned a 5 km walk to the lake and back. I had a healthy respect for Harri's distances so set the GPS on my watch! All of the time he looked east at the seas, lifting his binoculars periodically. I don't know if I was imagining it but I could almost feel him shaking his head in frustration. The walk was fairly uneventful until we climbed up a small ridge to look down on the lake. Harri scanned the far shore then lifted his binoculars. 'A yellowy/white shape just above the peninsular. It moved!' He gave Lorna the binoculars. She wasn't sure. I looked. An indistinct white blur only just visible with the binoculars, lay just above the jutting shoreline. IT MOVED, or was it my imagination. I will never be able to say with any certainty but apparently we had seen our first (and only) wild polar bear. We were thoroughly convinced. After all it was Harri that confirmed the sighting. He was THE guide!
We returned to a lunch of duck confit and fruit sponge course. I started the task of putting this blog together and Lorna played patience. I had a long chat and impromptu camera lesson with Jonny. These people were so friendly and kind.
The wind remained at a constant speed but during the afternoon quartered so that it was coming from the south. Harri looked marginally more confident that we would be able to go tonight. I'd noticed that the dinner table had been set up for seven, rather than the normal three of Lorna, Harri and me. We were to have a final team dinner together. This time it was steak (they do like their red meat), followed by tarte tatine. Before you knew it, the time had come to venture out! We said our goodbyes to our new friends, they had made our stay an occasion and something we will look back on with fond (as well as some scary) memories.
Jonny was coming with us to drive a second boat needed back at base. The word was out, we need to zip up! This meant the survival suits had to be completely on with hood and the zip up so that only our eyes and nose were visible. A mask covered those.
It is difficult to put into words the next three hours. I've quickly put together a video and hope the link works. Suffice to say we survived, battered, bruised and in Lorna's case very tingly. We were soaked periodically by heaving seas. It was a three hour wet water ride!
A taxi picked us up dropping us off at the hotel where we bade farewell to Harri and Jonny. Real stars. We climbed the stairs wearily, bathed and went to bed. I was asleep by the time my head touched the pillow.
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| Across the Bay |
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| From the main door |
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| Isfjord Radio |
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| Looking back towards the Station |
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| 'I see a polar bear!' |
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| Intrepid explorers! |
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| Another Wonderful Meal |
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| Lorna, Me, Harri, Dara, Jonny, Inga, Anthony |
You've written a wonderful memento of your time at Isfjord Radio; some magic moments and some very scarey moments by the sound of it. You'll be able to dine out on all of them!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all the time and effort you've put in to sharing the photos and the blogging.
Jillian, it was everything you said, and more! I'm standing in our kitchen, normality reigns. Hard to believe it is less than 36 hours since we were crashing across Isfjorden, deluged by sea water. I still have sea legs!
DeleteI have only just caught up on your blog (after seeing it on Blip), what an adventure, something I guess you and your wife will never forget, in more ways than one! This is truly an amazing story. Thank so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMeg, a pleasure. I often create blogs for special occasions and trips. So much easier to remember them by. I was completely in awe of the place and the people. So very lucky to be treated the way we were.
DeleteWe spent a total of 18 months, over 5 years travelling in an RV in the US for periods of three months at a time. I also kept a blog as a way for the family and friends to keep tabs on us. The daily recording is a bit like Blipping!
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