Bear Island, Norway
I have long had a fascination with islands due to the isolation, fascinating outcrops of human civilization they host, and the thrilling journeys required to visit many of them. Thus, when Most Traveled People announced a boat trip to Norway’s Bear Island (Bjornoya) I immediately pounced on the opportunity. Bear Island is uninhabited except for a small weather station, but through history it has been inhabited by whalers and as a weather + strategic transit point in WWII.
Day 1:
To begin our journey to Bear Island, our team of 8 travellers and 2 crew members met at the docks in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. I already knew half of my fellow travellers from previous trips and events, so it was nice to catch up with familiar faces while also meeting new ones. Upon boarding, we were told that we would be sailing 24 hours a day, so we would work on a “4 hours on, 4 hours off” system whereby each 4 hours half of us would be on deck keeping watch (ensuring the sails are in the right placement and steering), before switching with the other group to sleep. During some of our “on” shifts we would also be responsible for preparing meals in teams of two.
My team had the first shift, so I got to experience pulling out of port, adjusting the sails, and carefully steering around obstacles and hazards. Learning to steer was a unique experience for me as it required an incredibly high amount of concentration at the beginning but then became intuitive, at which point if I continued to think consciously about it I would inevitably begin mis-steering. Quite funny how that works.
The first few hours were good, but as we got further out of the bay near Longyearbyen and into the wide passages out of the Svalbard archipelago the boat began to rock more heavily from the waves and wind. During my shifts I primarily sat outside in order to be able to help with the ropes and steering if necessary, but it became quite cold so I strapped on some more clothes. The dinner of chicken stew with rice was also very welcome as it was quite hot.
As the shifts changed over I laid down for a while so as not to get too sick from the motion. I wrote to a friend about how bad the shaking was before managing to get a bit of sleep before my midnight to 4am shift.
As midnight rolled around I bundled on more clothes and headed outside. The rocking had picked up quite a bit, so I spent much of the time looking over at the horizon. I must not have looked too good, as a few of my teammates asked if I was all right.
I’m a big believer in the connection between words and reality, so even though I was not feeling so well, I always gave a thumbs up and said I’m feeling perfect. However, at some point, reality did come knocking, and my words were only able to stave off nature’s call for so long. Over the next couple of hours, I purged the contents of my stomach four times. After the third time, the skipper, Giselle, gave me a motion sickness pill that she said might help but would likely make me tired. I was not about to turn that down, so I took it immediately.
Unfortunately, when Giselle came to the sitting area about 15 minutes later to check on me, I had to expel my stomach’s contents once more, and lo and behold, I saw the pill I had just taken once again. It seemed even the minuscule amount of water I had used to take it was simply too much for me to handle. So, with great difficulty, I swallowed one more pill, dry this time. Immediately, I climbed into my upper bunk and lay down on my left side. Of course, the upper bunk was unideal for such a situation, but luckily, I had taken a refuse bag from my recent flight, so I laid that down next to me.
Day 2:
I woke up many times throughout the night, especially as the waves became worse. However, soon enough, it was noon the following day. I had missed my 8am to noon shift; my teammates had let me rest. However, I was then faced with the issue of getting out of the bunk. Since I had not kept down any water since around 3pm the previous day my body was severely dehydrated, and even simple movements were tiresome. Plus, the motion required to get out of the bunk was quite a dramatic one, and I did not want to risk upsetting my stomach. It took about 30 minutes of mental preparation and gathering the strength, but I got out.
I drank just a tiny amount of water (and very slowly) so as not to risk anything, and slowly I managed to get a little more down.
After some hours I was also able to eat a boiled egg. Then, I decided to put on one of the anti-motion-sickness scopolamine patches that I had brought along.
After this dramatic episode, I got into the rhythm of being on deck and then taking my short rests. I thought that only sleeping 3.5 hours at a time would quickly become exhausting but the combination of excitement and frequent sleep made it manageable. One large factor that helped though was the Arctic summer. We celebrated the first sunset on the boat, and even then, we were never without light.
Thankfully, this was the only episode of true sickness on my part. I can laugh about it now, but it also seems that the way I expressed my sickness was quite loud, as some of my fellow sailors commented on this on the last day.
Day 3:
Soon enough, Bjornoya was in sight. Due to substantial swell (which is very common off the island), we anchored in a small bay towards the south of the island. Here, we cooked dinner and then hopped into the dinghy to make our landing.
Unfortunately, the only places where a landing could be made in this bay are two small beaches and which have cliffs behind them. This meant that whilst we were technically on Bjornoya, we could not really appreciate the island.
When it comes to such places, you have to take every opportunity you can to get to the region. Nothing is guaranteed, so even if it is unideal, we were overjoyed to simply touch land.
I was in the first dinghy off. Unfortunately, the landing on the beach was a bit rough so one of my fellow travellers fell down on the beach and got wet. So, the skipper made the decision to move us to the other beach, which had less powerful waves. Cool for me to be able to visit two beaches!
We maximised our time by going into the small cave on the beach, appreciating the many birds which have their nests on the cliff overlooking the beach, and getting a group photo to mark our achievement.
We then went back to the sailboat for some conversation and rest. Since we were at anchor, there would be no shifts. It also gave me the opportunity to break out the Starlink internet (since it was the first time I felt remotely well enough) and catch up on some work.
Part of my interest in doing this trip was as preparation for a serious expedition I plan to do by sea next year. On the boat, I was in exceptional company, as multiple people have been to the island I hope to visit, including Jeff Shea, who did the hike there that I am hoping to do. This evening provided a great opportunity to hear inspiring stories from travellers like Jeff and Charles Veley (the founder of MTP) to remote islands like Bouvet, Jarvis, and Swains.
Day 4:
In the morning, we made our way north towards the weather station. We had radioed to the station the day before, but the swells were too strong to make a landing feasible. Thankfully, today the conditions were calmer.
On the dock, one of the weather station scientists came over while he was taking a water sample. He explained that there are nine residents here, but most are currently on a hike to enjoy their day off.
Interestingly, when going out onto the island, the scientists need to carry a rifle, just like residents of Longyearbyen do outside the settlement. This is for protection from polar bears. However, despite the name Bear Island, there are no bears living here.
Every so often, a bear can be brought in by floating sea ice, but no bears have been known to be on the island since 2022.
On the path from the dock to the weather station, we passed some of the old coal mining equipment. There is also a Welcome to Bjornoya sign and another sign showing the distances to various places. Here, we are just over halfway between Longyearbyen and Tromso.
We also passed the oldest remaining building, built in 1822. There were also some aggressive arctic terns who dove very close to my head, presumably protecting their nearby nests.
Another friendly scientist came out to greet us and was very happy to talk about his life on the island. He is about half way through a six month stint on the island.
He showed us the great catch he just had fishing and was now hanging out to cure.
From the weather station I walked towards a crashed German WWII Junkers plane and the remains of a Norwegian mail plane which crashed here while making a postal drop.
Besides seeing the planes, this walk afforded me with great views of the island and a better perspective of its small lakes, mountains, and soft tundra ground.
Back at the weather station, we found the memorial to the crashed Norwegian mail plane. Here, there is also one of the sophisticated weather-measurement tools that the scientists utilise. Hot stone = sun. No stone = fog
I then headed a bit down towards the cliffs to see the many birds that nest there. It was incredible to see all of the puffins especially.
Then, we had a quick stop at the Bjornoya gift shop, which honestly is incredibly stocked for such a remote, seldom-visited island. I bought a nice wool sweater, which should serve me well on future cold-weather trips.
Soon enough, it was time to head back in our dinghy to the sailboat and set off towards Tromso.
As we headed south, we started getting some darker skies with a true sunset, and the waves began picking up again. This time, I even had to hang a strap along the side of my bunk so that I wouldn’t fall out. Whilst I certainly felt unwell, with the scopolamine patch I thankfully didn’t become overly sick.
Day 5:
Again, there was about a 24-hour period of just getting into the routine with the shifts, though with the motion, I ended up skipping a couple of meals.
After the shaking as we departed Bjornoya we were treated to very calm seas and much less howling wind.
It is difficult for me to explain the feeling of sitting outside with the sun setting and the moon rising, casting a strong light over the water (Yakamoz in Turkish). The water had a mirror-like effect. One of my travel mates, Luis Filipe Gaspar, graciously shared some cigars, which we enjoyed while looking out at the horizon. I also took the opportunity to do some writing: reflecting as well as planning for the future. To be surrounded only by water, with this unique light, provided an environment of euphoria that is almost impossible to replicate, and thus I wanted to savour every moment of it that I could.
There have been a few trips in my life that I consider turning points and times for reflection, and this was certainly one of them. Whilst, over time certain details from my travels can feel to blend together, the stories of journeys during which true pensive moments were lived and touching experiences remain strong in my mind. This moment recharged me so much that I remained awake essentially through the night, long after my shift had technically ended.
Day 6:
As I woke up, the very beginnings of the Norwegian mainland came into sight. We began navigating between the beautiful stretches of land, and after a few hours of sailing, we made it to the centre of Tromso.
We docked and headed to an excellent restaurant, where I enjoyed mussels and reindeer steak. A marvellous end to our adventure crossing the Barents Sea.
