Seabourn 2021 - 2022

ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS 46 DAY 0 | OSLO Arrive in Norway’s picturesque capital and transfer to the Radisson Blu Oslo for an overnight stay. DAY 1 | LONGYEARBYEN Transfer to Oslo’s airport for your included flight to Longyearbyen , located on a small tributary of the large Isfjorden on the Island of Spitsbergen. The town’s extreme isolation and proximity to wildlife require unique laws. Embark Seabourn Venture to begin your Arctic adventure. DAYS 2-6 | THE SVALBARD EXPERIENCE The islands of Svalbard are visually stunning. With no forest cover, their geological bones loom bare under the sky. Snow-dusted peaks resembling layered stone wedding cakes soar above deeply carved fjords and sparkling bays. In summer, tundra vegetation thrives under the Midnight Sun. Migratory birds in their millions crowd the skies, to nest, breed and nurture their young on steep, striated cliffs, shingle beaches and tundra meadows. Elaborately antlered reindeer graze the slopes. Arctic foxes and predatory gulls haunt the nursery edges. Seals and walruses haul out to join the breeding season, and polar bears patrol the rocky shorelines and floating ice, while whales roll and breach and feed offshore. Testaments to past human endeavors include whalebones and weathered trypots from medieval whaling stations; the wind-sanded timbers of an expedition’s launching site; a hut where someone whiled away a long-ago, dark winter. Riding in Zodiacs ® and paddling kayaks, observing from the decks and trekking on the islands themselves, we will experience and explore this isolated, unspoiled and breathtakingly beautiful place, as it revels in the endless days of its short, exuberant summer. The precise daily itinerary will be planned by your Expedition Leader and Captain based on sea and ice conditions and wildlife concentrations. DAYS 7-8 | GREENLAND SEA After your days of energetic exploration, luxuriate in the many pleasures of Seabourn Venture during leisurely cruising in the Greenland Sea . Your Expedition Team members answer questions, recount tales and point out highlights on deck and in lounges, and also share fascinating presentations in the Discovery Center, in anticipation of your further adventures in Greenland. DAY 9 | JAN MAYEN ISLAND Isolated in the Arctic Ocean, seldom-visited Jan Mayen Island is volcanic in origin, consisting of two peaks. Its larger end, Beerenberg peak, is covered with an ice cap and multiple glaciers. Landing is by Zodiacs ® only and requires permission. There is a small scientific and military presence, but the island is an Important Bird Area reserve with huge breeding populations of northern fulmars, little auks, and both thick-billed and black guillemots. DAY 10 | DENMARK STRAIT Cruise the Denmark Strait , marking the geographic divide between the Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic. It forms a shallow barrier known as a ‘sill,’ impeding water movement and separating the two seas. At the south end of the strait, sea depths plummet to 11,500 feet (3,500m), creating the Denmark Strait Cataract, where water descends 7,500 feet (2,300m) to form the highest undersea waterfall in existence. DAY 11 | HEKLA HVAN & RØDE Ø Stone cairns from an 1891 expedition mark Hekla Havn in East Greenland’s Scoresby Sound. Remnants of its buildings are also left. Tall, stratified ridges encircle the fjord and striking patterns in the rocks enchant photographers, as do Inuit tent circles and standing stones. The Rødefjord is a wonderland of geological color, with cliffs of 300 million-year-old red sandstone standing against the blue Greenlandic sky. The fjord is filled with shining white icebergs, many of which are stranded. On Røde Island is a small sea cave navigable by Zodiacs ® , and a picturesque columnar basalt formation called the ‘pile of firewood.’ Conditions permitting, we may land on the island or explore the shores in kayaks. DAY 12 | BEAR ISLANDS & SYDKAP Waterways surrounding the low, glaciated Bear Islands are dotted with icebergs and ringed by distant snowcapped ranges. Warm currents attract walruses, seals, and beluga and bowhead whales. Glaciers planed the slopes to reveal twisted and rippled layers of differently colored rocks. Against Sydkap’s breathtaking backdrop of the Stauning Alps, colossal tabular icebergs parade across the fjord. On slopes carpeted in red and yellow autumn tundra, huge solitary boulders known as erratics balance precariously, deposited by melting glaciers. Stone house ruins, whale bones, and muskox skulls tell of settlement by prehistoric hunters from the early Thlish culture. DAY 13 | ITTOQQORTOORMIIT Small, isolated Ittoqqortoormiit is a cluster of buildings painted in bright colors, amid an imposing landscape at the entry to vast Scoresby Sound. True to traditional Greenlandic culture, skins of seals, muskoxen and polar bears hang on racks outside homes. Sled dogs idle in the yards, their wooden sledges propped against the house. Buy Greenlandic stamps in the post office to mail postcards from an unexpected postmark. Or visit the quaint church, its gabled interior painted in white and sky-blue. DAY 14 | VIGUR Iceland’s remote Westfjords peninsula is a wild land of tall, steep mountains cut by fjords and carpeted in summer with wildflowers. Vigur Island’s cliffs filled with nesting birds make it one of Iceland’s most renowned areas for birding. The people long ago built special stone walls that attract nesting. After the birds depart, people collect the precious down lining the nests to sell. Busy Arctic foxes patrol the edges of colonies in hope of a meal. DAY 15 | REYKJAVÍK Established by Vikings around 870 A.D., Reykjavík was the first permanent settlement in Iceland. In 1703 it consisted of a farm and a church and had 69 residents. Today the world’s northernmost national capital has evolved into a sophisticated city that is also one of the cleanest, greenest and safest on earth. Here you will disembark Seabourn Venture after your unforgettable Arctic expedition. SPECTACULAR SVALBARD & GREENLAND 15 DAYS | OSLO TO REYKJAVÍK | AUG 6, 2021 V148 | SEABOURN VENTURE SVALBARD Included charter flight