As regular readers know, I spent ten days on an incredible cruise around the arctic archipelago of Svalbard, latitude 77-80º north, in late March. I was there for a week-long photography workshop with Muench Workshops, aboard the MS Virgo, and captured over 12,000 raw images in ten days! It has taken me many months to winnow this collection down to just a precious few that I want to share with you. My earlier posts included photo/video galleries with an overview of the trip, the town of Longyearbyen, walking on ‘fast ice’, and landing on the windswept Moffen Island at 80º north during a snow squall. Today I’m going to highlight some of the wildlife we encountered, and share three new photo/video galleries.
Land animals
For many people, the number one reason to visit Svalbard is to see polar bears, which are prevalent throughout the archipelago. We were fortunate to see a polar bear on the first day (thanks to Anders!), albeit on the shore at a great distance across a vast area of fast ice. (“Fast ice” is sea ice that has formed close to shore, and “holds fast” to the shore so it is stable.) Svalbard has strict rules for ships exploring its fjords and islands: one cannot break fast ice, because it is critical habitat for bear and seals and others; and one cannot approach polar bears closer than 500m. When the polar bear lay down for a nap, we left to explore other shores. When we returned the next day, we anchored to the fast ice in hopes he might still be around. Indeed he was, and he walked out onto the ice where we could get a better view. The gallery includes a few photos and a five-minute video with some highlights of this encounter.
Although we searched diligently for more bears, throughout the trip, we never found another. We did spot other bear signs in that same fjord (see the gallery).
Honestly, I think I was even more excited by our encounter with two arctic fox. I spent my first night in Longyearbyen with a local guide searching for these fox, which have pure-white fur in the winter and are thus hard to spot against a snowy background. We saw none. But our group went back on our last night in Svalbard, to the same location, and were treated to a spectacular view of a fox attempting to move into the territory of another fox, leading to a high-speed chase and a dramatic tussle of two foxes tumbling down a steep slope. The gallery includes photos and an exciting video.
The gallery includes more shots of the arctic fox and polar bear, and several reindeer seen on the outskirts of Longyearbyen.
Sea creatures
Over the course of the trip we encountered walrus many times. For our first sighting, a walrus startled me while I peered over the railing, emerging suddenly from deep below. She had a pup, and they bobbed and dodged around the boat, as curious about us as we were about them. We later saw other walrus, or walrus pairs, napping on tiny ice floes. We were able to circle these with the ship, to photograph from many angles, while the walrus seemed to care little.
Most exciting to the expedition crew, was our encounter with a pod of orcas (killer whales). They had never seen orcas in Svalbard before, and we had the opportunity to spend half an hour with several adults and their babies. The orcas glistened in the late afternoon sunlight. Wow!
The gallery includes orca, bearded seal, harbor seal, ring seal, and many more walrus (and walrus pups!). I especially like the video of the peek-a-boo walrus!
Bird life
We didn’t see many birds – it was too early for most of the migratory birds to have returned – but we did see gulls, guillemots, fulmars, and flocks of little auks. The photo gallery includes just five new shots, including some chosen from hundreds of my attempts at “BIF” (birds in flight) as the fulmars swooped past the boat.
Coming soon: landscape photos!
David Kotz 
