Spirit of Adventure

The pick of our Arctic voyages, this 14-night voyage will offer any wildlife enthusiast the very best the High Arctic has to offer. A photographers’ paradise, the Svalbard archipelago is home to over 4000 polar bears.

Sailing as far north as 80 degrees, high above the Arctic Circle to the edge of the pack ice that is the barrier to the North Pole, we’ll circumnavigate the major islands of the Svalbard archipelago and be on the constant lookout for polar bear, walrus, ringed seals and beluga whales.

Excursions to both the shore and in amongst the ice will maximise access to destinations of the greatest beauty, so your amazing experience can be captured and enjoyed forever!

To find out more about our Svalbard in Depth journey visit our website.

The Svalbard in Depth voyage now has an exciting new site that both history buffs and wildlife lovers alike will enjoy. For wildlife lovers, Kvitoya is home to walruses (with sightings of up to 400), polar bears and Arctic terns on this mainly ice-covered island.

The island is probably most famously known as the place where Swedish explorer Andrée and his two companions died in 1897. Their expedition attempted to fly over the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon, but crashed on the pack ice about 300 kilometres north of Kvitoya. The group then reached the island on foot and settled on the only ice-free part of the island, now called Andréeneset. It has long been a great mystery of the Arctic, until their remains were discovered in 1930. A monument now stands on the island to commemorate the three companions. To find out more about our Svalbard in Depth journey visit our website.

Ever wondered how the landscape and wildlife of the Scandinavian and Canadian High Arctic differ? Blake Maybank, Peregrine naturalist, found these two destinations are a world apart…

During the 2007 Arctic summer I worked my first cruises with Peregrine. Originally scheduled to sail the Canadian Arctic, I was asked instead to go to Svalbard, a part of the Arctic with which I was unfamiliar. I had previously lived in Canada’s north, including the town of Churchill, the self-styled ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World’, but despite my experience with Arctic plants and animals, I found Svalbard to be a world apart.

Each offer Arctic environments, yet they lie on either side of the Arctic Circle, separated by 20 degrees of latitude.  The community of Longyearbyen lies at 78EN, Churchill just 58EN, yet Churchill experiences colder winters.  Svalbard is mountainous, with glaciers and icebergs, surrounded by ocean waters that warm the climate; the land around Churchill is low-lying, and the adjacent waters of the Hudson Bay cool things down.  Both lie in the zone of permafrost, but Churchill’s warmer summers (despite the lack of 24-hour daylight) allow a much greater diversity of plants, as well as birds and land mammals.  Svalbard has more marine life (seals, walrus, and whales) due to richer waters, and its cliffs support vast seabird colonies.

And, of course, there are the polar bears.  Nothing else draws visitors to both destinations better than the chance to view these kings of the Arctic.  I had enjoyed many bear encounters in Churchill, where they migrate along the coast in autumn to await pack-ice formation, but I was equally impressed by the Svalbard bear show, when skilled seamanship by our captain allowed our vessel to drift slowly towards unconcerned bears on pack-ice, allowing all the passengers unparalleled photographic opportunities, while in complete safety and comfort.

We were privileged, as indeed are all Arctic visitors.  And the ‘difference in degrees’ I noted between Svalbard and Churchill reinforced my belief that no one Arctic trip will suffice; you owe it to yourself to venture wherever Arctic exploration opportunities await.

Peregrine’s Arctic trips journey to a world of dramatically beautiful landscapes and frighteningly fragile wildlife. It is our utmost concern to preserve this unique environment in all its glory for long into the future.

Unfortunately, in many places on the Svalbard archipelago in the Scandinavian Arctic, many forms of rubbish, including plastic, lost fishing nets and other refuse – largely from the Barents Sea fishing fleet – accumulates along the shore line. With this in mind, for the past Arctic season Peregrine volunteered to participate in the Clean Up Svalbard project, in conjunction with the Governor and people of Svalbard. On each voyage to the archipelago, Peregrine clients were offered the opportunity to spend a few hours donning rubber gloves and picking up litter along the beaches. This rubbish was then taken to a central depot and taken away by the Svalbard authorities on a regular basis.

This is just a small part of our conservation efforts in the polar regions, which include donations to polar bear research, and an initial $100,000 donation to kick start the Macquarie Island rabbit eradication program.