adventures in *

I received an email from Quark Expeditions yesterday morning around 11, they’re offering the kayaking option ($500 value) for free on their Arctic cruises this summer. That got me thinking, I remembered a friend that I met on the Antarctica cruise, booked a trip for Spitsbergen awhile ago. I emailed her to see which cruise company she’s going with.

She sent me a link to Gap Adventures, they were having an even better deal, 50% off. A long night of research and I’ve booked my trip this morning.

Spitsbergen is the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, it’s located about 600 miles south of the North Pole and at 78′N, is above the Arctic circle, so there’s 24 hour daylight during the summer. I’ll be going towards the end of July and returning on 8/8.

I’ll catch a flight from Las Vegas to Oslo and spend some time there before flying to Longyearbyen, in Spitsbergen, to board the ship. The itinerary calls for circumnavigating the island which will take about 8 days. Stopping to view a variety of wildlife – polar bears, puffin, whales, seals, walruses.. We’ll take Zodiac rafts to shore to visit old whaling stations, research bases, and get a closer look at the wildlife.

Since I’m arriving a week before the cruise, I’ve been looking into visiting Russia, I didn’t realize Norway borders it in the far north. The town of Kirkenes is 9 miles from the border. Still doing research on whether I’ll have enough time to go to Murmansk or atleast Nikel.

(photo from gapadventures.com)