Bucket List Biggie – St. Jonsfjord

A great place to explore by Zodiac

The week had flown by and we were embarking upon our last expedition. Tomorrow, we would be getting off the ship in Longyearbyen and heading to Tromsø, Norway.

Map: G Adventures

Our destination was St. Jonsfjord, just across the water from Poolepynten, where we had spent the morning observing Walruses.

St. Jonsfjord is a 13-mile-long fjord that is ringed by no less than 10 glaciers. 

Unlike the flat, sandy Prins Karl Forland where Pollepynten sits, St. Jonsfjord is surrounded by mountain ridges and peaks. 

Nice variety for being so close together.

There is gold in St. Jonsfjord, which might be mined “once technology makes the operation commercially viable.” Let’s hope it doesn’t.

This trip was strictly Zodiac, with cruising along glaciers and among the icebergs. To see us motoring into the bay, click here.

It was sunny and the vistas were spectacular ...

Long view

Svalbard reindeer grazing on the shore ...

Svalbard reindeer against a striated background

Blue water …

Two glacial views against the beautiful sea

Glaciers, far away ...

Glacier face

... and up close ...

Ice, ice, ice

Mountains sloping down to the sea …

Dramatic elevation changes

Black-legged Kittiwakes wheeling over the roof of the glacier …

Top of the glacier

Turquoise Icebergs …

This one has both opaque and clear ice

Floating chunks of ice, big …

Clear, blue ice

... and small ...

Smurf ice

And, finally, yes, finally, a Seal! 

We saw a Bearded Seal swimming among the brash and tried to position the Zodiac to get a better look.

Bearded Seal swimming in the icy water

Just when we thought we were going to lose it, it turned around and hauled itself up onto a floating piece of ice.

Contemplating getting on the floe

It didn’t seem to mind when we moved closer and I was able to get some really nice photos. 

Hauled out

Then, we moved even closer and I got even better photos.

A beautiful animal, even with its injuries

I noticed that the Seal was injured; it had two bleeding puncture wounds in its belly. Tom, the mammal expert, said that it was most likely from an encounter with a Polar Bear, but it could have been from a scuffle with another Seal.

Bearded Seal

Bearded Seal

The Bearded Seal, also called the Square Flipper Seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and close to the Arctic Ocean. While described as “medium-sized,” Bearded Deals are the largest Seal in the north. They have been found to weigh more than 650 lbs. and reach lengths greater than 8 feet. Unlike many other animals, the females are slightly larger than males.

Whiskers are its hallmark

The seal's most characteristic feature is conspicuous and abundant whiskers. When dry, the whiskers curl very elegantly, looking like a well-tended mustache. 

While whiskered, our Seal wasn’t nearly as mustachioed as others I have seen pictured.

With 25-40 percent body fat, Bearded Seals (along with Ringed Seals, which we never saw), are a major food source for Polar Bears. 

Orcas also prey on Bearded Seals, sometimes overturning ice floes to reach them, and, sometimes, Walruses will prey on pups.

In arctic and sub-arctic regions, they live in the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea from Bristol Bay on the Alaskan coast to the Sea of Okhotsk on the Russian coast, up to but not including the northern coast of Japan. 

Resting on a floe

Bearded Seals are benthic feeders, meaning that they eat a variety of small prey found along the ocean floor, including clams, squid and fish. They use their whiskers as feelers in the soft bottom sediments. 

Adults favor shallow coastal areas, usually diving no deeper than 980 ft. 

Pups up to one year old, however, will venture much deeper, diving as deep as 1,480 ft. I guess they are just a bit more adventurous.

Bearded Seals give birth in the spring, delivering their pups on small drifting ice floes in shallow waters. Weighing, 65-90 lbs., new pups enter the water only hours after they are born, and quickly become proficient divers. Mothers care for the pups for three-four weeks, during which time the pups consume an average of two gallons of milk and grow at an average of seven lbs. per day. By the time they are weaned, the pups have grown to about 220 lbs.

Bearded seals are believed to live up to 31 years.

Bearded Seal

Fossils indicate that, during the Pleistocene epoch, Bearded Seals ranged as far south as South Carolina.

We actually saw another Seal or two from a distance as the ship was leaving the area, but they were very far away. 

This one had longer whiskers

So, St. Jonsfjord delivered the goods: beautiful scenery and a new animal.

Departure

That night, we cruised back to Longyearbyen arriving before midnight. A fairly large contingent of out shipmates had a 2:45 a.m. flight out of Longyearbyen. So they departed around midnight.

I was sad to see the trip end, but I did feel that we got a really good overview of Svalbard with lots of variety and a fair amount of animals. 

Everywhere we went; Map: G Adventures

Would I have liked more? 

Yes, yes, yes! 

Did G Adventures deliver on its promises?

Yes, yes, yes! 

I liked the ship size, the Zodiac trips (now, I love small planes AND Zodiacs!), the extremely knowledgeable expedition team and the way the expeditions were managed. 

And, I loved Svalbard!

A beautiful place

Since it was an expedition, dependent upon weather and ice conditions, it would be interesting to go again some time and see how different the trip would be. Maybe I'll do that!

We left the ship at 8:00 a.m. and had several hours in Longyearbyen before catching out flight to Tromsø. But, I already covered Longyearbyen in a previous blog (here).

Trip date: June 15-July 4, 2019