Friday 29 August 2025 – What the taxi came to pick us up for was actually the principal reason we have come to this most northerly place – an expedition cruise in the Arctic Sea. Everything you’ve read so far has been a prelude to this (and a most enjoyable one it’s been, too); but today sees the start of eight days aboard R/V Kinfish.

She is a small vessel, originally a search and rescue ship and then used for research, now repurposed for expedition cruises. There are just six cabins for 12 guests, so it will be a small but (we hope) perfectly-formed group of people moseying around the Svalbard archipelago, and possibly the Arctic pack ice, in search of scenery, wildlife and (for many of the passengers) video content.

Like our Antarctic trip, this is an expedition cruise, involving scrambling about on Arctic Tundra and Zodiacs. Proper rubber boots were mandated, so we kept a 3pm appointment at a shed near the hotel

to pick up some appropriate footwear. We boarded just before 4pm, and went through the usual things that are a preamble to the week. Departure;

meeting the crew, who number 10, and the other guests;

being shown around and briefed about the ship

and about the possibilities of the week ahead.

We have an interesting group; there are two couples from Italy – Doina and Denis, who have spent time on a Kinfish expedition before and are labelled “specialist leaders” for their video and photographic expertise, and Agnese and Carlo, who are friends of theirs; a UK couple, Gill and Russell, who have also been on Kinfish before; Rolf, the Swedish father of the boat’s owner, Robin, and his wife Agneta; Annie, Robin’s sister and her boyfriend, Rex; and a young Norwegian couple, Ane and Haavard, who are experienced sailors but who are, like us, new to Arctic expeditions. They are all younger than us. Just wanted you to know this.

Unsurprisingly, given the photo- and videographer quotient of the group, there has been evidence so far of some reasonably sophisticated gear being used; I get the impression that these guys may well help enhance the photographic possibilities of the voyage.

Briefings over, it was time to congregate for dinner.  We had mentioned to (another) Anni, our stewardess, that we didn’t drink wine any more and she obligingly provided G&T based on a local gin.

Dinner was prepared by Roger, the (Swedish) chef and fairly swiftly dispensed with, because the plan was to head to the north-west of Spitsbergen island, a place called Smeerenburg, the site of early whaling in Svalbard. The passage was likely, we were told, to be a little bumpy, hence wanting to get dinner eaten in relative calm before heading into open water – after bolting the chairs to the deck in case it got really rough.

This is the view from our porthole, to give you an idea of what this open water meant.

And so passed the first few hours of our expedition. The expedition leader, Kuba*, has warned us (as Pippa did when we were in the Antarctic) that we have to be flexible and patient as plans change to take into account weather and other conditions.  All other things being equal, we will arrive oop narth tomorrow morning at about 8.30 and attempt a landing after breakfast starting at about 10am.  Let’s see how that develops, shall we?

 

* Kuba’s name is Jakob. He is German but was born in Poland. The name Jacob is spelt Jakub in Poland, and the diminutive is Kuba.