In Search of The Polar Bear An Arctic Adventure
Written By Jean Myers Photography By Jean Myers
Having traveled to many places around the world , when a friend of mine proposed a trip to the Arctic , I couldn ’ t turn it down . You see , I am a travel addict , but not just any kind of travel . The more exotic , the more risky , the more off-the-beaten path , the more I like it . Armed with nothing more than excessive enthusiasm and a modest photographic ability I took off for the land mass closest to the North Pole called Spitsbergen . I boarded the 40 meters ( 130 feet ) long and 8.8 meters ( 29 feet ) wide ship , the M / S Stockholm with eleven other passengers and seven crew . This little beauty was built in 1953 and lovingly outfitted and cared for by Captain Per and his crew from ( you guessed it ) Sweden . My goal was to find and photograph polar bears and other wildlife with an occasional scenic shot or person thrown in for good measure .
Spitsbergen is an archipelago of islands , which is owned by Norway within the Arctic Circle , which is defined as everything in the northern hemisphere above 66 degrees latitude and includes the North Pole . It includes most of Greenland and the Northern parts of Russia , Europe , United States and Canada . Believe it or not , Iceland is not in the Arctic Circle ! The equivalent circle on the bottom part of the globe is the Antarctic Circle ( another journey and another story ) and includes the South Pole , however while the North Pole sits atop the polar ice cap , not on actual land , the South Pole sits over land ( the continent called Antarctica ). In theory , if you lived on the Arctic Circle for one year you would experience one polar day ( 24-hour sunlit day ) and one polar night ( 24-hour sunless night ).
Our trip began on the island called Svalbard in the Spitsbergen archipelago . Longyearbyen , the largest town in Spitsbergen is the world ’ s northernmost town and has 2,040 permanent residents . Average July temperatures are between 39 and 43 degrees F , while average January
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