We spent most of yesterday with minimizing our personal equipment for the Zodiac trip to Sørkapp and using the internet connection at the Polish station for work and private things.

Today we repacked food for five people for ten days (Kuba left us yesterday with M/S FARM). After what we know now we don’t expect the fieldwork to take more than a couple of days. However, Sørkapp is well known for terrible weather and wind conditions and we might well be stuck for a week or longer.

The personnel from the Polish station promised to help us with the transport of our equipment and by noon we left Hornsund with two Zodiacs for the 75–80 km drive along one of Svalbard’s most exposed coasts. What a surprise that the sea was calm, only with a slight swell from the west. Closer to Sørkapp waves got higher, but still far from being problematic.

About two and a half hours after we left Hornsund we arrived at Båthamna in Sommerfeldtbukta, unloaded our equipment and waved our two helpers goodbye. They went back to Hornsund since the weather forecast promised higher wind speeds in the late afternoon. Sørkapp is not only known for wind and weather, but also for polar bears. So the first thing was a trip in the closer surroundings to check the situation. Then we put up the camp while the bad weather arrived, prepared dinner, tasted Stig’s whisky and called the Polish station to hear if everything went alright.

Leaving Hornsund. Photo: Henning Lorenz

Henning Lorenz, Uppsala University