Animals,  Postcards from the road,  Svalbard

A postcard from Svalbard: polar bear

August 9, 2025 / 97 Comments

Greetings from Svalbard

Hitting the polar bear jackpot!

Everyone who visits the Arctic hopes to see a polar bear and I was no exception. But I was realistic in my expectations. I knew that regulations recently introduced prohibit ships and zodiac boats from approaching closer than 300 metres. So when our ship, the Ocean Explorer, reached the edge of the sea ice today, well north of the Svalbard Archipelago by this late in the season, I hoped only to see a bear way out on the ice, if at all. Most of the passengers were out on deck as we made our way between the floating chunks of ice. The word went around that there were two bears out there, and when I managed to pick one out with binoculars, but too far for my camera to capture, I thought, well, at least I’ve seen one.

Then I overheard someone say that one bear was moving in our direction. I turned my camera on him amd managed some shots on full zoom. But he kept on coming, and soon full zoom was too much to fit him all in the frame. He came right up to the prow and explored first one side, then the other. Eventually though he headed back the way he had come, leaving everyone on board, including crew and expedition guides, grinning broadly.

I later learned that some of the guides had never seen a polar bear so close, while others hadn’t done for years. We certainly hit the jackpot with this encounter!

97 Comments

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