Tromsø: Matze, Richard and Uli are travelling back to Germany today. Pablo from Chile, Eberhard and Henry will come on board instead. After the obligatory visits to the polar museum and provisioning, we continue our journey south on 12 August at 9 a.m. - into the fjord world of the Lofoten Islands.
This impressive archipelago off the coast of Norway never fails to enchant us with its dramatic mountain landscapes, deeply carved fjords and picturesque fishing villages. The play of light is particularly fascinating, bathing the islands in magical colours both in summer, under the midnight sun, and in winter, under the northern lights.
We enjoy the calm and extremely sunny weather, although at over 20°C it is noticeably too warm for this time of year at these latitudes. After stops in Lødingen and Været and a detour into the magnificent world of the Trollfjord, we reach Bodø on 15 August. Marie will disembark here before we continue our journey south. The weather forecast is confirmed; an extensive Icelandic low is now dominating the weather. For us, this means that the wakes will now be wetter and more uncomfortable than in previous days, and it will be stormy.
Bear Island bids us farewell with an impressive light show of blue, green and grey. It's Wednesday afternoon and we drop anchor heading south. You can tell from the birdlife that the distance to land is increasing. At first we spot the puffins breeding on the coast, until we are only accompanied by the fulmars. The highlight is a large group of fin whales that repeatedly appear around the ship. These marine mammals, up to 22 metres long, are the second largest living animals after the blue whale.
After 2 days heading south, we have land in sight again: we make a short stop in Torsvåg, the northernmost mainland harbour on our route to Tromsø. In the evening we have fish before falling into our bunks, full and motionless. Tomorrow we continue directly to Tromsø.
We are experiencing the last days of the polar summer up here. Since we crossed about 71° north, the sun has been above the horizon for 24 hours. Now the night is already 3 hours long again.
Bear Island is a nature reserve that can only be entered with official authorisation. We have obtained the relevant paperwork from the Svalbard Sysselmesteren (area administrator) and set sail by dinghy from the Dagmar Aaen to the fragments of a concrete pier in the north of the island.
The only houses on Bear Island stand on a hill. A total of 11 buildings, all painted in Swedish red. There are also four antenna masts the height of a skyscraper, set up in a square. Norway operates a weather station here at 74 degrees 30 minutes north.
Eight people live in the wasteland, each for six months. A well-paid job. Just two weeks' training in Tromsö is enough to cope with the tasks at the station, Amalia S. Nyheim, a 25-year-old student, tells us. It's not about scientific work, but about collecting weather data. Twice a day, a helium balloon is launched, which measures temperature and air pressure up to an altitude of 3000 ft and sends the results to the station. A daily weather report is compiled from the data and broadcast to the shipping industry by radio at 12.05 am and 00.05 am. There is nothing else to do. We cannot judge whether the military is also active in the background.
One member of the eight-strong team is responsible for maintaining the technical equipment. There are two tractors and two generators, one of which is constantly running. There is a 3000 tonne diesel tank in a hall. There is enough fuel to heat the station and supply it with electricity for 18 months. There is hardly any heating at the moment, explains Roger Ravlo-Losvik, because the weather is exceptionally good and the sun shines 24 hours a day. July was a completely different story, as there was a month of fog typical of the polar regions with correspondingly cold temperatures. Roger is also here for six months. The 47-year-old comes from Oslo, normally works for the military and is happy about the good extra income. The only change for the station crew are visitors like us. Amalia shows us the small boutique where you can buy souvenirs of Bear Island. And then our visit is almost over, because there's dinner at the station at 5.00 pm on the dot and nobody wants to miss it.
As a parting shot, we learn that the last polar bear on Bear Island was sighted in 2022. It probably arrived on a massive ice floe drifting southwards from the winter sea ice belt of Svalbard. The island never actually lived up to its name. The Dutch navigator Willem Barents, who discovered the island in the 16th century, is responsible for the name. After a hunter from his crew killed a polar bear, Barents promptly named the island Bear Island. After an interesting day, a delicious dinner awaits us, as we had some wise fishing luck and caught two large cod.
The next day we weigh anchor and leave the northernmost point of our voyage heading south. We drop anchor off Kapp Duner and send an expedition team out to explore for the last time. Marie, Uli, Richard and Thomas cross over with the dinghy and explore the western part of the island. In the afternoon, we weigh anchor for the last time and set sail for the return journey.
In wonderful sunshine, we experience a real natural spectacle: suddenly we see one blow after another around the ship. A blow is when a whale exhales and takes a deep breath. We recognise the gigantic animals by their typical dorsal fins: they are fin whales, which can grow up to 22 metres long. The cameras click every second.
The return journey has now begun for us. Our next destination is now in the south - Norway.
The fog lies grey, heavy and impenetrable over the oily calm sea. Only the swell makes the Dagmar Aaen roll gently back and forth. We have reached Bear Island. Our problem: we can't see the island, which was declared a nature reserve in 2002 at 74 degrees north. The fog has the island firmly in its grip. Only the cries of seabirds tell us that the shore can't be far away.
The journey from Hammerfest to the north took around 48 hours. First through an area with gusts of up to 30 knots and strong swell - exhausting but fast sailing. Then the south-easterly wind gradually abated and we had the opportunity to continue collecting data for scientific purposes. The depth sounder was used once again. Drift buoys from the French weather authority France Meteo were successfully deployed at 73 and 74 degrees latitude.
We almost had a rendezvous with the German research vessel Polarstern. Its captain sent us an invitation on board the well-known ship late at night. He suggested a position at 73 degrees 30 minutes north as the location for the meeting at sea. But by the time the message reached us, we were already quite a bit further north. Turning round would have been too time-consuming for both sides. Tough luck.
So now it's Bear Island: with radar support, we make a blind round through Sörhamna, an anchorage bay in the south-east. Every now and then the fog lifts and we can see the jagged, rocky shore - it would not have been possible to land there anyway. We have better luck a little further north. The Damar Aaen anchors off Kvalrossbugta. With great care, the dinghy takes to the water in the choppy sea. Wrapped up in dry suits and equipped with a compass, radio, mobile echo sounder and AIS transmitter, Ole, Thomas and Matze set off on an exploratory tour. They land on a sandy beach without any problems.
An impressive place. Fragments of wooden structures, a huge boiler and a rusty winch are relics of a whaling station from the early 20th century. A few nautical miles to the north, the Dagmar Aaen drops anchor again. The Norwegians call the bay off the former settlement of Tunheim, where coal was mined from 1916 to 1925, Siloodden. While the crew explore the area with the remains of the former coal loading station, Arved calls the weather station in the north of the island, which is closed to tourists.
We have official authorisation from the responsible Sysselmann - the area administrator of Svalbard (Spitsbergen) - to stay here. The crew from the weather station are the only people who live on Bear Island. And they are delighted to hear from us. "You are more than welcome" they tell us by radio. So it remains exciting...
The weather is incredible. The last few days the thermometer on land has risen to 31° in the shade. And it's absolutely calm. We constantly have to water the deck, otherwise it dries out. Life on board only takes place on deck. Even at 10 pm in the evening it's still 25°. We feel like we're in the Mediterranean. The fantastic scenery of the Lofoten Islands, which merge into the Vesteralen Islands to the north, is a bonus.
We make a brief stop in Nyksund, a former fishing village that slowly deteriorated into a ghost town after it was abandoned. It has now been revitalised by tourism and some artists who have settled there. The Dagmar Aaen does not fit into the small harbour due to its draught, so we send the dinghy ashore. We then continue along the west coast to carry out measurements with the CTD depth probe. The exposed west coast is fully exposed to storms and swell and can only be navigated in good weather. If we were to sail westwards from here, the first land we would encounter would be Greenland.
We are curious to see what the analysis of the measurement data will show. We head back to the mainland via Andenes into the sheltered inner fairway. The weather remains consistently fine.
Our next destination is Tromsö, "The Gateway to the Arctic" as it is known.