Longyearbyen; Tuesday, 27 May, 2014

After an early breakfast it was outside to wait for the pick-up to go on a boat ride around some of the nearby Fjords and possibly to the abandoned Russian mining settlement of Pyramiden.

After being collected by coach and dropped off at our ship we were told the bad news that we wouldn’t be able to visit Pyramiden as the sea-ice was still too thick for the ship to be able to break through, and whilst this was a bit of a disappointment, as we were on an ice-breaker it did mean that we were going to be able to see exactly what it’s like to sail through ice.

Most of the day was spent on the ship sailing around the various fjords, including the bizarre situation of having a delicious on-ship barbecue whilst ice breaking through a frozen sea.

About 9 hours after leaving Longyearbyen we arrived back and headed back to the hotel for dinner and to pack.