Expedition Svalbard Circumnavigation And North-East Greenland

The wonders of the Arctic don't just come to you – you have to go out and discover them. This also applies to north-eastern Greenland and Spitsbergen. Voyages through ice worlds, cruising off stark rocky coastlines, Zodiac landings and hikes: actively uncover the secrets of these regions in a small group of explorers on the HANSEATIC nature. At the best time of year, you will see a habitat of extremes with magnificent landscapes. Where the course takes you is decided daily on site – depending on the weather and the best possible experience. This flexibility is only possible with a small expedition ship and a crew experienced in polar regions. The observation lounge, nature walk and glass balconies become your box seats for unique natural spectacles. The rarely visited east coast of Greenland fascinates with its remoteness, mighty mountains and an almost endless fjord world. On your flexible expedition course, you will get up close to nature with the Zodiacs – with a good chance of spotting whales, for example. Embark on a geological journey through the millennia in Scoresbysund, the largest fjord system in the world. A place of superlatives awaits you. One of Greenland's smallest communities, Ittoqqortoormiit, whose approximately 350 inhabitants live in complete isolation, acts as an Arctic haven of peace. A small museum takes you back in time and brings the history of the Inuit to life.

Sprawling Reykjavík, the nation's nerve center and government seat, is home to half the island's population. On a bay overlooked by proud Mt. Esja (pronounced eh-shyuh), with its ever-changing hues, Reykjavík presents a colorful sight, its concrete houses painted in light colors and topped by vibrant red, blue, and green roofs. In contrast to the almost treeless countryside, Reykjavík has many tall, native birches, rowans, and willows, as well as imported aspen, pines, and spruces.Reykjavík's name comes from the Icelandic words for smoke, reykur, and bay, vík. In AD 874, Norseman Ingólfur Arnarson saw Iceland rising out of the misty sea and came ashore at a bay eerily shrouded with plumes of steam from nearby hot springs. Today most of the houses in Reykjavík are heated by near-boiling water from the hot springs. Natural heating avoids air pollution; there's no smoke around. You may notice, however, that the hot water brings a slight sulfur smell to the bathroom.Prices are easily on a par with other major European cities. A practical option is to purchase a Reykjavík City Card at the Tourist Information Center or at the Reykjavík Youth Hostel. This card permits unlimited bus usage and admission to any of the city's seven pools, the Family Park and Zoo, and city museums. The cards are valid for one (ISK 3,300), two (ISK 4,400), or three days (ISK 4,900), and they pay for themselves after three or four uses a day. Even lacking the City Card, paying admission (ISK 500, or ISK 250 for seniors and people with disabilities) to one of the city art museums (Hafnarhús, Kjarvalsstaðir, or Ásmundarsafn) gets you free same-day admission to the other two.

In Iceland, your expedition begins with an insight into the life of the Icelandic people. Patreksfjördur is a quiet and tranquil place, where your experts will accompany you through the small town and its surroundings.

The wonders of the Arctic don't just come to you – you have to go out and discover them. This also applies to north-east Greenland and Spitsbergen. Voyages through ice worlds, cruising off stark rocky coastlines, Zodiac landings and hikes: actively uncover the secrets of these regions in a small group of explorers on the HANSEATIC nature. At the best time of year, you will see a habitat of extremes with magnificent landscapes. Where the course takes you is decided daily on site – depending on the weather and the best possible experience. This flexibility is only possible with a small expedition ship and a crew experienced in polar regions. The observation lounge, nature walk and glass balconies become your box seats for unique natural spectacles. The rarely visited east coast of Greenland fascinates with its remoteness, mighty mountains and an almost endless fjord world. On your flexible expedition course, you will get up close to nature with the Zodiacs – with a good chance of spotting whales, for example. Embark on a geological journey through the millennia in Scoresbysund, the largest fjord system in the world. A place of superlatives awaits you. One of Greenland's smallest communities, Ittoqqortoormiit, whose approximately 350 inhabitants live in complete isolation, acts as an Arctic haven of peace. A small museum takes you back in time and brings the history of the Inuit to life.

A remote island world, covered in ice for most of the year, with mountains reaching high into the sky, untouched by humans: North-East Greenland is considered the beautiful unknown. That's why there are still pages left blank in the explorers' history book – for you! The HANSEATIC nature is on a flexible course to the deep fjords of Northeast Greenland National Park – the world's largest of its kind and home to musk oxen, polar bears, arctic foxes and snow hares. You will hardly encounter any people here, but you will find exciting history. King Oskar Fjord, whose peaks rise high above the shore, is just as overwhelming as the triangular island of Ella Isalnd with its almost 1,200-metre-high mountain flank. In the labyrinth of the Kaiser Franz Josef Fjord, a small ship like the HANSEATIC nature is in its element: steep rock faces alternate with glacier tongues from which small and large icebergs drift into the sea. On hikes with your experts, you will repeatedly find interesting traces of humans and animals, as on the lonely Clavering Island, named after the polar explorer Douglas Clavering. Sabine Island is located in the Greenland Sea, just a few kilometres east of the Wollaston Forland peninsula, and was discovered by Europeans in August 1823. Here you can find pre-Inuit fire pits and remains of dwellings attributed to the Thule culture.

After adventures in north-eastern Greenland, the next destination for the HANSEATIC nature is clear: circumnavigating Spitsbergen. Perhaps the ‘King of the Arctic’ will make an appearance? Polar bears are best observed from the deck of the ship or from a respectful distance from the Zodiac. With a little luck, you may spot reindeer, polar foxes or walruses when you go ashore. The backdrop to your fascinating walks ranges from mighty glaciers to vast rocky and tundra landscapes. Captivated by the bizarre nature, let your amazement become your new passion on this expedition. There are many secluded places along the way. In Ny Alesund, the pioneering spirit of today meets that of the past – in 1926, it was the launch site for Roald Amundsen and Umberto Nobile's airship voyage to the North Pole. When you look out from the Zodiac at the mighty 11-kilometre-long glacier edge of the Liliehøøk Glacier, one of Spitsbergen's largest glaciers, you will feel the silent power of the Arctic – because it leaves no one untouched. No less spectacular is the Smeerenburgfjord with its fantastic glacier backdrop. Pointed mountains frame the Liefdefjord. At its end rises the mighty Monaco Glacier. Marveling at the shimmering blue calving edge from the deck is simply overwhelming. An almost mystical atmosphere surrounds you as you sail through the Hinlopen Strait, when its brownish to black beaches and rocks are covered in fog and ice. Particularly noteworthy observations can be made on Nordaustlandet, the walruses' own territory. These heavy colossi often use the beach here as a resting place. The journey through Freemansund, a waterway only about 5 km wide, is accompanied by the colours and light of the Arctic. Can reindeer be observed in the blossoming nature of Barentsøya? Finally, in Hornsund, the view of the Samarinbreen glacier edge, framed by imposing mountains, creates one of many lasting memories. If you succeed in circumnavigating Spitsbergen, you will have added an outstanding pioneering achievement to your CV.

A flexible itinerary allows us to take advantage of favorable ice and weather conditions to travel through the northern stretches of Svalbard to points visited by famous polar explorers such as Andrée, Amundsen and Nobile. Destinations might include the narrow waterways and striking mountains of Krossfjord and Raudfjord. The ship may visit the historic settings of Ny Alesund, Ny London or Amsterdamoya. And of course, we hope to see distinctly Arctic wildlife from walrus hauled out in noisy groups on remote shorelines, to reindeer grazing alpine slopes, and from ptarmigan in their camouflaged hiding places, to mighty polar bears striding the shores in search of their next meal.

Longyearbyen is the biggest settlement in Svalbard. Seat of the Norwegian administration, it also has the best services and infrastructure in the archipelago. Located deep in the Adventfjord, a sidearm of the Isfjorden (Icefjord), Longyearbyen’s airport can be used all-year round, but its harbor is blocked by ice in winter. Most shops, hotels, restaurants and a hospital are within easy walking distance of the port. One of the most prominent buildings in town is the UNIS center, where several Norwegian universities have joined forces to operate and offer the northernmost higher education to both Norwegian and international students. Adjacent to UNIS, and well worth a visit, is the Svalbard Museum, covering the natural history and exploitation of Svalbard. Remnants of the former mining activity can be seen all around Longyearbyen and even in town.