Spitzbergen West Coast

First day of cruising within sight of glaciers and out of permitted range of any satellite Internet. Instant withdrawals. The surroundings will need to compensate.

We landed at the 14th July glacier once the security perimeter was established. I’ve never been to a place where people were on the menu before. It is both unnerving and reassuring to have several people with guns watching over you against the threat of becoming a polar bear snack after a long, hungry summer for them.

There were signs of life and death all around. The chewed on skull and antlers of a reindeer. A couple of Arctic foxes roaming the hillside under the cliffs where the Guillemots were finishing their nesting season. Some reindeer up on the hill nibbling on whatever they could find.

All in a landscape of steeply curving glacial valleys, with a steadily retreating glaciar at the end trying to continue its work and journey to the sea.

No polar bears.

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