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Jean McConochie | profile | all galleries >> Svaalbard, Bear Island & Norway: All the photos >> Bear Island tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Bergen | Coastal Norway | Bear Island | Svaalbard | Oslo | The Whole Trip

Bear Island

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Photo Editing by Dave Werner
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Photography by Jean McConochie
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These cliffs are home to (top to bottom) puffins, fulmars, guillemots, and kittiwakes. Fog obscures the cliffs on many days. A million pairs of seabirds nest here. Prime beach-front property (straight out of Mordor).
Guillemots, standing guard, are known as the penguins of the Arctic. Moss and scurvy grass are the predominant plants here. Old Arctic hands call this opening The Pearly Gates. Could heaven lie beyond? Could this be the entrance to Purgatory?
The comfort of a safe return to the ship. At the north end of Bear Island, nine people staff a Norwegian meteorological radio station. The harbor is too shallow for large ships. Twice yearly, deliveries come by shuttle from a Coast Guard ship. In the land of permafrost, cables stay on the surface. [true?]
Staff members live here on a six-month contract. A modern John Deere front loader and an antique steam locomotive grace the landing area. Rusted beaching winch from pre-WWII whaling days Whale bones, at the dump
Recent kill d0910.jpg d0916.jpg A profusion of Arctic plants
A pair of humpback whales welcomed us at the edge of the continental shelf. Humpback whale diving d0982.jpg Assorted guillemots (3 kinds!)

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