Description
There are few wilder, more magnificent and untouched places than the Arctic Islands of the North Atlantic! And our new ship the Ocean Albatros is more than suited for such a voyage.
Join us for an early summer’s cruise from Aberdeen to the lush green Shetland isles, the Faroe Islands small capital Tórshavn and the North Atlantic to the Arctic islands of Jan Mayen and Svalbard. We will travel north along with the migrating birds, and hopefully spot the polar bears hunting from the sea ice in the 24-hour daylight.
The cruise starts in Aberdeen on the Scottish East Coast. Here we embark Albatros Expedition’s vessel, the comfortable and newly built Ocean Albatros, which is our home for the next 10 days. Our first stop is the cozy capital village Lerwick on “main” Shetland, then we venture further north to Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands. After a day at sea spotting for seabirds and whales we reach the enigmatic and isolated island of Jan Mayen with its looming 2,200-meter high volcano of Beerenberg. We travel north with the spring and 24-hour daylight until we reach the snow-covered mountains of Svalbard. Sea ice will still cover many fjords, but with an ice class of 1A we are safe on board Ocean Albatros. From the panorama deck we hope to spot the iconic polar bear on the ice and feel the Arctic nature close to us as we cruise in our smaller Zodiac vessels. We venture further north into Kongsfjorden and Ny Ålesund, to Smeerenburg and hopefully as far as Yttre Norskøya in the far North west corner of Spitsbergen Island. Weather and ice conditions will often dictate the course, but each landing with Zodiac-boats will still be unique and adventurous.
After 10 fantastic days we will disembark in Longyearbyen for your homebound flight.