Beluga Boats

On a recent visit in Fleur de Lyshamna in Van Keulenfjorden in Spitsbergen we visited the site of what once was a Beluga fishery adventure. These fisheries were ecologically insustainable and luckily it ended before the population of this magnificent High Arctic whale were were depleted. Today you can experience Beluga in the fjords of Spitsbergen. They come swimming in groups along the shores. If you're lucky they twist their head (unique feature for the species) and takes a look at you.

1949

The year my father was born. Tromsø had about 10000 inhabitants. A 60 years old iron gate.

A Roald Amundsen day in Tromsø

Today, we had typical Tromsø winter weather. Snow dumped down in mild temperatures. This makes most people wet and miserable (unless you are a skier, or a long gone legendary polar explorer in bronze).

Polar Bear Stuff

Tromsø is the un-disputed polar bear capital of Norway. No, they are not roaming the streets like in the old days, when trappers brought with them live cubs from Svalbard. Some of the trappers handled them like dogs, walked them in a leach and tied them up outside bars and shops. Anyhow, today, it's the capital of stuffed polar bears, and I have a goal of documenting as many as possible of them. This is the first, from the hall of Norwegian Polar Institute.