July 17, 2006 - Boat travel to Isfjord Radio Options

[Maggie_Kane]

Today we left Longyearbyen onboard the Stockholm and traveled to out field site at Isfjord Radio on Kapp Linne. This involved moving all the gear we have already moved plus about 10 more big boxes stored over the winter at UNIS. That made for a super huge pile on the boat! The Stockholm is a beautiful ship and we had a great time being transported out to Kapp Linne. In case you haven’t thought about it, the word kapp means Cape, like our Cape Cod. A kapp is a spit of land that sticks out a ways into the ocean, so Kapp Linne is really exposed to the sea at the very entrance to the long valley called Isfjord (Longyearbyen is located way inland on that same valley).

The Stockholm at Port


The ride to Isfjord was really great. We stayed out on deck as much as we could, and enjoyed the birds who flew right along with us, curious as to what were up to. The water was quite smooth and it was a really pretty trip.

Riding on the Stolkholm


In order to get the gear off the Stolkholm and onto Kapp Linne, we had to transfer it onto a small rubber boat with a motor called a Zodiac. Two strong guys from the boat helped us with it, and they got the boat in the water with a pully system. Getting the heavy boxes of equipment down the steep steps was a challenge, but the ride over was a blast!

Getting Gear onto the Zodiac


Riding into Kapp Linne


Isfjord Radio is an old radio station built in the early 50’s that connected Svalbard to Norway. It evolved over the years and is now not the main communication connection to Nowray as they use a submerged cable. Isfjord Radio is still fully equipped incase they need it, though, and is also used as a lodging for scientific research teams like ours and small groups of tourist on weekends.

Isfjord Radio - home!


The station is really beautiful, with lovely rooms and a beautiful dining area. More of the station another day. It has been a long one!