Norwegian Experience Day 6: South Spitsbergen National Park & Hornsund

Small iceberg in Hornsund by Flickr user heatherlyone

Today Rob Kodalen and his wife Donna, our Norwegian Experience contest winners,  are making their way along the southern coast of Spitsbergen aboard the MS Fram, courtesy of Borton Overseas and Sons of Norway. Not following our blog posts about the big trip? Catch up here.

The highlight of today’s travels is a visit to Hornsund. This fjord faces the Greenland Sea, and is just under seven and a half miles wide and 18 and a half miles long. The landscape of Hornsund is alpine with some very special mountains like Bautaen, or in English, the Obelisk, which, seen from the right angle looks like a giant Viking sword.

Southern Spitsbergen is largely comprised of South Spitsbergen National Park, a national park and bird sanctuary established by Norway in 1973 in the southern corner of the island of Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. With an area of 2,046 square miles, the park has four separate bird sanctuaries located off the southern and western coasts: Sørkapp, Dunøyene, Isøyene, and Olsholmen. Eider ducks and barnacle geese breed at the park, and there are several seabird colonies. Large areas of the park are covered with glaciers and permanent snow and ice.

Be sure to check back to the blog tomorrow to find out where Rob and Donna will be next!