Some of us had used this last day exploring the cosy town of Longyearbyen. With its many shops and coffee places it’s a friendly and welcoming little village. However at 16:00 we were expected at the main pier for our shuttle to our beautiful and gracious ship the M/V Plancius.

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The afternoon brought us to Ny-Ålesund, originally established in 1917 as a mining settlement, which has since transformed into the world's northernmost permanent settlement and a vital, international Arctic research centre.

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The Monacobreen, named after Duke Albert I of Monaco, stretches over 5 km across and extends 43 km inland. As we cruised in the Zodiacs along the glacier’s jagged front, marked by narrow and wide vertical cracks, we spotted groups of resting kittiwakes and Arctic terns, along with the large and striking fulmar—beautiful, photogenic birds.

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The afternoon destination Phippsoya is the largest of the Sjuoyane (seven islands), situated in the very north of Svalbard, and as a result of its location, there are often polar bears to be seen here. The aim of our visit was to see some walrus hauled out on the beach.

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As the ship kept course through the ice despite the sea fog suddenly a silhouette on the ice appeared. It turned out to be a whale carcass and there was a bear on top of it! Our third bear already and it wasn’t even lunch time. The captain carefully navigated the ship closer and with the fog lifting we had an excellent view of this once in a lifetime encounter.

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The second destination was the famous cliffs of Alkefjellet, which stretch for several kilometres and are home to hundreds of thousands of Brünnich’s guillemots. Even without the birds, the dramatic cliffs would be well worth a visit—but the guillemots are undoubtedly the main attraction, never failing to impress those lucky enough to witness this natural wonder.

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With the fog still lingering, we opted for a Zodiac cruise at Negribreen glacier, providing, close-up views of this majestic tidewater glacier that dominates the Olav V Land landscape. We navigated carefully through a labyrinth of icebergs, marvelling at their sculptural forms. A group of Belugas (white whales) was encountered, their ghostly white forms gliding through the icy waters, reminding us of the vibrant marine life thriving below the dramatic glacial landscape.

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Our destination was a place called Gåshamna, but we were soon distracted by a young humpback whale feeding right in front of the ship.It was curious and came so close that we could see the entire body, including the striking white flippers, beneath the water. It was foraging in very shallow waters, which meant the fluke was lifted many times, giving a clear view of its underside— a key feature for identifying individual whales.

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Our afternoon landing at Skansbukta was on the northern shore of Isfjforden, at the entrance to Billefjorden. We had the freedom to walk around within a safe perimeter set up by the guides. A lone walrus was lounging on the beach and around the corner puffins were taking off from their nesting sites. We ended this final landing with hot chocolate, a celebratory shot — and for the brave, a dip in the Arctic Ocean.

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