The Living Journey

Overnight we sailed out to even more remote parts of the Shetland Islands. We started our day with an expedition briefing and cocktail where we were introduced to the Expedition Team. After lunch, we went for a Zodiac cruise along the rugged shoreline of Papa Stour Island.

Where to begin? After more than six weeks in Norway, we have a real sense of it. The word “clarity” comes to mind. It is so tranquil that it is possible to gain perspective beyond our everyday cares. The air is remarkable –

This morning brings our last day of the Svalbard Expedition 2018 aboard The World. It is always bittersweet as things draw to a close, but glad to have one last day in the incredible arctic sunshine to explore yet another area in the Svalbard archipelago.

Raudfjorden (The Red Fjord), Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard
 
After two days looking for wildlife in the Arctic Pack Ice north of Svalbard (setting a record for the furthest north the Ship has ever sailed — reaching Latitude 82º 41’ North and Longitude 022º 57.91’ East),

Arctic pack ice, north of Svalbard, at Latitude 82º 37’ with the forward section of deck 7 of our Ship (packed with viewers on the lookout for polar bears) visible at the bottom of the photograph
 
From Lilliehöökfjorden on the northwest side of Spitsbergen Island,

The Svalbard Expedition was well described by one of our Expedition Leaders as “epic in scale – exquisite in detail.” This huge area north of Norway proper and amazingly near to Greenland is vast and nearly completely untouched, with mountains,

We took a Zodiac from the Ship to the Signehamna landing on the shore of Krossfjorden
 
Sailing north on the western side of Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard, our next stop was at the Signehamna landing site on Krossfjorden. With an Arctic historian who was part of our expedition team,

Tromso in northern Norway is the stepping off point for many Arctic adventures, including The World’s 2013 Expedition to the White Sea and Franz Josef Land, and is again the stepping off point for The World’s 2018 Svalbard Expedition.

A panorama of the deep blue UNESCO-protected Geirangerfjord and the surrounding majestic, snow-covered mountain peaks, wild waterfalls and lush, green vegetation, Geiranger, Norway; photographed at 1,500 meters (nearly 4,900 feet) elevation at the Dalsnibba utsiktspunkt (Dalsnibba outlook), south-south-east of the fjord
 

Each of these mesmerizing places has literally layers of history, sometimes dating back several thousand years. There is often visual evidence, in the form of ruins built upon ruins. Also, there is cultural evidence — dialects developed several civilizations earlier,

We arrived in Malta on Saturday morning, docking in Valletta. Malta has an interesting history, given its strategic location. The first settlements date back to over 5000 BC, and over the course of its history has been ruled by the Phoenicians,