Animals,  Coast & seascapes,  Svalbard

Arctic diary seven: Kvitøya Island

September 27, 2025 / 47 Comments

The Walrus and the Carpenter     

Were walking close at hand;

They wept like anything to see     

Such quantities of sand:

If this were only cleared away,’     

They said, it would be grand!’

Lewis Carroll

A more low-key day today, after the excitement of yesterday’s polar bear encounter. But there were no dull days on this trip and today’s highlight was ticking off another of my Arctic wish-list animals, walruses. But I’m getting ahead of myself …

The ship travelled south-east during the night to the small island of Kvitoya, the easternmost one in the Svalbard archipelago. Although I’d seen sunshine when I got up in the night, by the time we got up properly at 7.00 it was very foggy.

Kraemerpynten

The island of Kvitøya (‘white island’) is to the east of Nordaustlandet, in the most remote part of Svalbard. The 700 sq. km island is 99% ice covered, with few and small areas that are ice-free. Kræmerpynten is one of them, located on Kvitøya’s northeast corner, making it the most easterly point in the archipelago of Svalbard. The point is named for Waldemar Kræmer, a Norwegian ice-pilot and winter trapper.

From the Ocean Explorer’s daily programme

We thought the planned zodiac ride around Kraemerpynten would be cancelled due to the poor visibility and rather strong wind. But Ryan determined it was safe to go ahead if the boats stayed together in a convoy.

Zodiacs in a foggy convoy

Our driver was Jiayi and she took good care of us. Getting into the boat was a little harder than usual as it bobbed around against the ship, but once in it was a fun ride. There were great views of the ice cap that covers almost all of this island as well as some beautiful icebergs.

  • The ice cap
  • The ice cap
  • Edge of the ice cap
  • Icebergs

At first it remained foggy though I was convinced I could see the sun starting to break through. Our first wildlife sighting was some guillemots and soon after that Arctic terns started flying over and around us.

Arctic tern

And yes, quite soon the sun did appear, gleaming on the ice cap.

Zodiacs and the ice cap
Another Arctic tern

Jiayi spotted a small group of walruses on the beach and slowed the boat so we could take photos. It was hard in the conditions as our boat was continually moving up and down, but I managed a few.

Walruses on the beach (and another arctic tern)

Further along we came to a small islet covered with walruses! Jiayi estimated around 35 at first, and later thought it might be nearer 50. Again it was hard to get photos but I took lots to increase my chances of some decent sharp ones, which paid off.

  • Walrus haul-out with the ice cap behind
  • Walrus haul-out on a rocky islet
  • Walrus haul-out on a rocky islet
Walrus in the sea

We went a little further along the coast then turned back towards the ship. We were now travelling into the wind and there was a lot of rather icy spray, which Chris and I took the brunt of as we were sitting at the front. Jiayi had warned us so I’d tucked my camera away but I was only wearing my thin glove liners, to make photography easier, and my hands quickly got both wet and cold! Still I rather enjoyed the ride, despite the regular soakings!

Zodiac with me and Chris far right (taken by the ship’s photographer Kris, @kristopherandres)

Afternoon on board ship

While we relaxed, sorted photos and ate lunch the Ocean Explorer was on the move again. Unfortunately by the time we got around to the other side of the island where a second zodiac cruise was planned, the fog had closed in further and the wind become too strong for those small boats. So instead Ryan and our captain agreed it would be better to continue in the direction of tomorrow’s hoped-for sites in order to be able to go more slowly in these conditions and arrive in good time.

To compensate for not being able to leave the ship this afternoon two presentations were arranged. The first was a talk about polar ice which we skipped as we’d already learned a lot on that topic. But the second, given by historian Ian, was a fascinating account of attempts to reach the North Pole, not all of them successful!

There was also the usual pre-dinner briefing where Ema told us more about the walruses and I discovered there had been babies in the haul-out we had seen; obvious when I looked more closely at my photos. And of course there was a chance to enjoy some of the images Kris had captured.

View of Kvitøya, @kristopherandres
Walrus, @kristopherandres

In the evening there was a very different talk. Our bird expert Brian told us all about his experiences on the hippy overland trail to India and Kathmandu in the late 1970s. A fun way to round off the day!

I visited Svalbard in August 2025; this is an account of our adventures on Sunday, August 10th

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