Exploring by Sea: Zodiac Adventures

Excursions in Svalbard will range by season. Since our trip was early spring, we knew we would be in for many zodiac rides around ice formations, shore landings where possible, and even a landing on Ice itself! Zodiac rides were most prevalent for us due to the high amount of pack ice that still existed in the coves and bays.

Every day started with a tentative outline of the day by our expedition team. This schedule would be posed throughout the ship so that guests always knew what time we needed to be ready to gear up in our layers, boots and sunglasses, and appear at the loading platform to embark the zodiacs. With 20 zodiacs on board and multiple loading platforms, the Ultramarine crew had us disembarking with almost no wait time for every single excursion.

Our zodiac excursions were  filled with opportunities to sidle up to cliffsides covered in nesting kittiwakes and guillemots, often squabbling over nesting spaces within the ledges or sniping each others nesting materials. Occasional Puffin sightings and barnacle geese appearances made these excursions even more special.

Animal sightings are prime from water level and the zodiacs allowed us to have non-invasive experiences with the animals in their wild habitats. Some of my absolute favorite moments were gliding up near the lounging bearded seals and walrus, rotund as packed sausages, dotting the ice that we were cruising through. Often a walrus' guttural grunting preceded us spotting them, and was often followed by a floppy wave of a flipper. The bearded seals were more alert and attentive to our presence, often on high alarm due to being the target of most polar bear activity. Spring is prime hunting season, so the seals are definitely on alert at all time.  

My favorite zodiac excursion was while visiting the face of Kongsbreen Glacier, we had the opportunity to land on some fast ice and plant our feet on the ice itself. Everyone took turns planting our victory flag and photographing the moment, before embarking back on their zodiac to make way for the next group. We had to take extreme caution to ensure no more than one zodiac load of people were on the ice at any time. Standing on 30cm of ice, knowing that is all that stands between you and the frigid Arctic Ocean is exhilarating and heightened even more so while surrounded by imposing glaciers and stark sunlight in the early evening.