Arctic Adventure - Day 11

Little Auk territory

Breakfast done and a leaisurely farewell to the ship and crew.   Two buses took us from the ship half to the town and the rest of us to view the little auk colony just outside Longyearbyen - even though we are close to the town we still have to remain vigilant and stay within the perameters of the armed guides in case of polar bears.   The joke of the day was that as polar bears had already stopped us on three occasions, there would probably be one at the foot of the cliffs here too!

Waiting outside the nest

Luckily not, and after about 10 minutes in the bus we alighted for a 15 minute walk along the road and then straight up a scree slope.   The moss was thick and springy and the rocks were loose, but this is the favoured nesting site for little auk.  They nest in the gaps between the rocks.  Soon we were being watched by several hundred curious birds.  We ascended about a third of the way up the slope and then settled down to wait for the birds to come to us.   Unfortunately, as we were not all birdwatchers it was hard to get everyone to stay still and some insisted on standing up and moving about.   We did get great views and more fascinating were the lovely noises of these amazing birds flying low over our heads and burbling to each other as they waited outside their nest sites.   As they sat in front of us we could see their full crops ready to feed the young.

Little Auks fill the air

After about 2 hours we had to tear ourselves away and go back into town for some lunch - we chose to picnic outside in the town square.   I also purchased some salted liquorice - strange but oddly addictive.

The buses collected us at 1.00 pm to go to the airport and the flight back to Oslo via Tromso.   At Tromso we had to clear customs by getting all our lugggage, walking through to check-in, passing security and then back to our same seat on the same airplance - all very odd.

Eventually, back at the hotel at Oslo airport, John Jenny and I ate a last goodbye dinner at the hotel restaurant.   A lovely end to a great holiday.