Overview

If there is one place on Earth that represents the high Arctic in microcosm, it’s the Svalbard Archipelago. Wildlife is abundant here, featuring a large population of polar bears, as well as arctic foxes, walrus colonies, reindeer, blue whales, dolphins, seals, and numerous bird species. The landscape is characterized by rugged snow-capped mountain ranges, stunning fjords, vast glaciers, and icebergs, and towering cliffs that host busy seabird colonies. The beautiful serenity of the Arctic pack ice begins at the Archipelago’s northern end, where polar bears roam the ocean in search of seals. In the ice with the sun arcing low along the horizon, it becomes abundantly clear that you are truly on top of the world.

Designed for photographers by photographers, this extra-long itinerary provides quality time to photograph unrushed in the best locations, while most other Svalbard trips follow week-long tick-list itineraries with much less time in the prime spots. We will take you to the places we have fallen in love with on several prior voyages, making the most of this great spectacle of Arctic wildlife, ice, landscape, and light. Leaders Frans Lanting, Christine Eckstrom, and Justin Black are longtime friends with a superb collaborative chemistry, and they will provide generous and effective expert photographic instruction to the small group of just twelve guests throughout the voyage.

Our private-charter expedition vessel, S/V Noorderlicht, is an ice-strengthened Svalbard specialist. She makes a superb platform for photography, with her spacious main deck low over the water, creating excellent vantage points, particularly if we are approached by polar bears on the ice, or walruses in the water. She also happens to be, in our opinion, the most visually striking vessel operating in Svalbard, making her a great model to incorporate into landscape scenes for scale and color accent (Noorderlicht is the red vessel in background of at least one of the trip gallery images). Well-suited to expedition cruising among small islands, she can get into locations that larger ships cannot access. Her two Zodiacs facilitate landings and wildlife photography opportunities in otherwise inaccessible areas.

As masters of the vessel, your leaders will coordinate with the highly qualified captain and crew to do everything possible to maximize photographic opportunities and to ensure the best possible journey. We will enjoy extra elbow room onboard Noorderlicht, in the Zodiacs, and ashore as our group will be limited to 12 guests plus the three leaders though the ship has accommodation for up to 20 passengers. Our small group and this vessel maximize our enjoyment and appreciation of the high Arctic’s immense serenity and vastness, a far more pleasant experience compared to waiting in line to go ashore or visit the buffet on a vessel with over one hundred other passengers.  Noorderlicht’s cabins are small, but they all have comfortable upper and lower berths, a cupboard, a washbasin with hot and cold water, and excellent ventilation. Shared showers (4) and toilet facilities (5) are conveniently located near cabins. Meals aboard Noorderlicht are served family-style, with fresh ingredients and healthy options available (catering well for vegetarians). We are assembling an excellent wine list for the trip as well!

Our itinerary begins in Oslo, Norway, with pick-up at the airport and transfer to The Thief, a modern, waterfront Scandinavian boutique hotel that is one of Oslo’s very best. In the afternoon, we will hold an introductory reception and orientation meeting, followed by dinner at one of Oslo’s fine restaurants. The next morning, we fly as a group to the small harbor of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, where our ship awaits us. That afternoon, we embark and set off for our adventure together!

We hope you will join us for this intimate 15-night private-charter expedition (within a 17-night all-inclusive itinerary) aboard the two-masted schooner S/V Noorderlicht, photographing the wildlife, landscape, and pack ice of this gem of the High Arctic.