Birds,  Coast & seascapes,  Monday walks,  Svalbard

Arctic diary ten: Camp Millar and Midterhuken

October 21, 2025 / 51 Comments

Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

David McCullough Jr., quoted in the Ocean Explorer daily programme

We didn’t climb any mountains today, though the ‘chargers’ among our expedition cruise companions did scale some slopes. But we did enjoy a final walk on Spitsbergen and, as on every day of this trip, some special wildlife sightings.

Our last full day on board started well, with a sighting of a large pod of beluga whales off the port bow just as we were getting ready for breakfast. As our cabin was on the starboard side of course we grabbed our parkas and cameras and headed out to see them. They were some distance off, but the sheer numbers were impressive.

Beluga whales, Bellsund
Beluga whales, Bellsund

After breakfast we had a landing at Camp Millar at Varsolbukta on the north side of Bellsund. I’m hoping Jo will enjoy this last Monday Walk on Spitsbergen.

VÃ¥rsolbukta, Bellsund

VÃ¥rsolbukta is located on the northern shore of Bellsund, at the entrance to Van Mijenfjord. The landscape is dominated by rugged mountains and beautiful scenery. Our landing will be at Camp Millar, a site where the Northern Exploration Company of England searched for gold deposits in 1910. Like many ventures in this area, they were unsuccessful. Two well-preserved huts remain from this time. The rocky slopes above the richly vegetated strandflat are home to thousands of little auks. We hope to explore the shoreline and enjoy the stunning views of the area.

From the Ocean Explorer daily programme
Our group of contemplatives by a hut at Camp Millar @kristopherandres

As previously, we joined the contemplative group, preferring the slower pace and the time to take photos. We had Karl as our leader today who was excellent, telling us something of the history of this site as well as the wildlife.

View from our landing area
Panorama from the beach [two images stitched together]
Spot the ‘chargers’ partway up the mountain!

From the beach we climbed a short slope to an area of tundra. Everything was so green and it was soft to walk on with all the lichens. There were also some pretty flowers here and there, including mouse-ear chickweed and marsh saxifrage.

  • Mouse-ear chickweed
  • Marsh saxifrage
  • Lichen
  • Fungi
  • Reindeer

The ground was covered in reindeer droppings, though we only saw one of them during the morning. We also had a brief distant sighting of an Arctic fox, too brief for photos. Kris, however, did better so I’m including one of his fantastic shots.

Arctic fox, Varsolbukta @kristopherandres
Camp Millar history

Our walk took us to each of the huts in turn, with Karl expanding on the history here. One of the key players involved with the prospecting was an Englishman called Ernest Mansfield, who was quite a character. A former soldier, later professional prospector, he was one of the founders of the Northern Exploration Company. They only found a little gold but did mine marble in some quantities. However it was never a successful commercial enterprise as the marble was found to crumble when exported to warmer climates.

The huts and old mining equipment

There were a lot of bones dotted around. Some were reindeer, some birds.

Antlers and dead glaucous gull

There were also some whale bones, probably left from the days when this was a major whaling site for the English and later the Dutch. We walked up to one of the huts where we saw the biggest whale bone, a huge vertebra.

Whale bones

Continuing up the slope Karl was hoping we’d get a better fox sighting but we were unlucky with that. However we did see a pair of skuas attacking a kittiwake (which got away) and an ivory gull. But the swirling mist made wildlife photography a challenge so for the most part I concentrated on the landscapes.

Mountains in the mist

Eventually Karl said it was time to return so we made our way back to the beach and then to the ship.

Midterhuken

Shortly after lunch Ryan announced that he was squeezing in a last (unscheduled) zodiac ride. This took us to an area on the opposite side of Bellsund called Midterhuken, with rocky cliffs partly covered in lichen and bright green streaks of scurvy grass. This gets its name from the fact that sailors, prospectors and explorers used to eat it to prevent scurvy, in the absence of access to fresh vegetables. We could clearly see the twisted rock strata showing how this land has been shaped over time. In places waterfalls tumbled down the slopes, the spill from glaciers high above us and out of sight.

Zodiac cruising by Midterhuken
  • Midterhuken
  • Folded strata, Midterhuken
  • Scurvy grass, Midterhuken
  • Waterfall, Midterhuken

We got our best sighting of an Arctic fox here, though the drizzle confused my camera’s focusing and my shots were a bit disappointing.

Arctic fox

We then rode in both directions along the shore. The first direction didn’t really show us a lot apart from a few distant eider ducks. But going in the other direction brought us to cliffs with common guillemots nesting, also lots of kittiwakes.

Midterhuken nesting sight

There were more kittiwakes on rocks a short distance offshore and we spotted a couple of puffins near here too.

Kittiwakes

Kittiwakes

Lone puffin

But all too soon it was time to return to the ship.

Last evening on board

Our last evening on board the Ocean Explorer was quite a festive affair. We started with the captain’s farewell drinks in the lounge, with brief speeches from him and some other key crew members.

The next event was an auction in aid of the Seabirds Watch charity. Karl made a very amusing auctioneer. Lots included a bottle of water from one of the glaciers we had visited, sea salt from one of the fjord, but also some unique souvenirs such as the ship’s flag and an illustrated map of the voyage. Some people spent big, with the map, for example, going for $800 and the flag for over $1000! 

But the highlight of the evening came after dinner, with a slideshow of Kris’s photos and videos. They really captured the spirit of the trip and many of its greatest moments! I’ve used a few of them, with his permission of course, in this Arctic diary series.

Ryan (in red) and the expedition team

Ryan then gave a speech thanking the expedition team and Bertie gave a short one thanking Ryan. Chris and I went over to thank Ryan personally and had a few words with Kris too before heading to bed to sleep with the gently rocking waves for one last time.

As this is the last of my Arctic diary series, I’ll finish with some of the records of the voyage sent to us by Quark Expeditions after our return home. I’m not receiving any payment from them when I say that I thoroughly recommend the company if you’re considering any similar trip!

Ship’s log
Wildlife list
Route map, Svalbard Explorer with Quark

I visited Svalbard in August 2025

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