Round Spitsbergen
On the 7th of August we anchored in Murchinssonfjorden and immediately saw a magnificent polar bear on the edge of the shore. We arrived in the morning and found that the winds had died down. We didn’t want to spend any more time than we had to in Murchinssonfjorden, as our plan was to go round Spitsbergen and we realised we had to do this quickly while there were gaps in the ice. We stopped in the fjord for the day and scraped the bottom of Chiquitita from algae and shells because we’d noticed the boat was beginning to move more slowly, and we also took the chance to rest for a few hours.
Using the satellite phone we were able to maintain contact with Joakim’s father who gave us forecasts for the ice conditions, and Schneider who gave us the weather forecasts and updated the blog. In the evening we made our way into Hinlopenstretet, a sound which is notorious for the winds which drive between mountains and glaciers. We passed through the sound at the right time, it was very calm and the ice was drifting with the currents on the still waters. We had no problem zig-zagging our way through the ice floes, but we were being pushed towards the west side, although there was enough water there.
The following morning we reached Freemansundet, which was ice-free for the first time this year. There are two routes in to Storfjorden: Heleysundet and Freemansundet. Heleysundet was ice-free shortly before Freemansundet but has tidal currents of up to 12 knots, so was never an option for us, since our maximum speed is 6 knots. But now Freemansundet was partially open and we waited so we could go in to Storfjorden on the tide. While we were waiting we took the opportunity to do some sightseeing, and sailed past Alkefjellet which is home to thousands of Svalbard guillemots. They nest on vertical cliffs with a sheer drop down into the sea. It was a magnificent sight to see the swarms of birds in the sky, like mosquitoes on a summer evening.
When the time was right we chugged through Freemansundet, everything went well and there wasn’t much ice. We’d had reports from Anders to say that the drifting ice had been blown in to Storfjorden with the southerly winds and formed a triangle. This meant we would have to set a north-westerly course when we left Freemansundet and then change to south-west in the middle of the fjord and follow land all the way down to Sydkap to round the ice and make our way through Storfjorden.
When we came out of the sound we were met by a wall of ice. Krister climbed up the mast and it didn’t look any better in any direction. We thought that the ice had perhaps drifted further north and blocked our route. But none of us wanted to turn back so we made our way up to the ice and started pushing our way through, using both wooden poles and the boat’s own weight. The ice grew denser and in the middle of everything the engine began to emit a warning signal that told us it was overheating! Joakim went up on deck with a wooden pole to push away ice floes which were drifting at over 1 knot, while Krister and Aaron started going through the engine to try to find the problem as quickly as possible. They couldn’t find anything wrong and after 30 minutes when we started the engine for the 5th time it sprayed out cooling water again and everything was as it should be. We decided a small lump of ice must have got stuck in one of the pipes and blocked the cooling water and then melted. So now all we had to do was continue our journey in the very densely packed ice. It all felt rather hopeless and we began to think that going into Storfjorden and the thick drift ice had been such a good idea.
Chiquitita and her crew struggled on towards the north-west using wooden poles and with guidance from the mast above. Suddenly Krister started shouting from the top of the mast and Joakim, who was on the foredeck, tried to make out what he was saying. “Open water” were the words coming from Krister’s mouth. Down on the deck Joakim celebrated with a little dance and ran over to Aaron, who was steering Chiquitita, and who was overjoyed. We were all overjoyed. Now all we had to do was make our way through the final stretch of ice, after which the water was open. We were able to sail on to the western side of the fjord and then continue southwards following land. The only problem we had now was the heavy fog which was with us all the way through Storfjorden, so we couldn’t see any of the beautiful scenery surrounding us. We had to focus on navigating using radar; from time to time we could see on the radar that an iceberg was approaching and then one would suddenly appear just a few metres in front of the boat.
When we finally reached Sydkapp we had completed a circuit around Spitsbergen! All that remained now was the long journey back to Longyearbyen where we would stock up on diesel and food and then wait for the right weather conditions so we could sail back to the Norwegian coast.
cleaning the boat
calm water 
Bearded seal
Svalbardgrisslor 
Pushing ice 
Foggy 
That’s ice in the fog