Day Seven

Today was our last day in Svalbard, and we ended definitely ended it with a bang.

In the morning, we were out in the Andoyane Islands, an area filled with several mountain ridges, red stones, and large glacier fronts. However, the minute we stepped out onto the beautiful beachfront, we noticed loads and loads of plastic on the ground, which really disturbed us.

So right away, we started picking up all the plastic on the beach until we could not hold it in our arms any longer. We asked for large white trash bags to put all the trash in. And by the end of it, we had collected nine whole bags of trash weighing about 125 pounds and there was still a lot more.

It was extremely shocking to see that much plastic washed up on the shore not only for us but also for everyone on the ship. But at least we had done our job and picked it up.

After picking up trash all morning, we were pooped. We had lunch and then we were off again for a zodiac cruise to explore Monacobreen, which was absolutely breathtaking.

Monacobreen is a large glacier named after Prince Albert I of Monaco. However, due to climate change the glacier has retreated drastically in past years but still remains a 5 kilometer glacier front.

It was a life changing experience to be cruising around in a sea filled with ice chunks while watching the huge glacier. Every so often, you would hear a thunderous booming sound which signified the carving of the glacier. Watching that was nothing but surreal.

Didn’t I tell you we ended the day with a bang?

Soon we cruised our way back to the ship, listened to a couple of lectures, had dinner, and watched a movie.