Svalbard micro cruising

If you need just one reason to choose a micro cruise to Svalbard, then the origin story of our polar exploration specialists Secret Atlas is it. Co-founders Andy Marsh and Michele D’Agostino were working as crew on a three-month expedition in the Arctic when a towering cruise ship docked beside their vessel.

“I clearly remember the moment,” says Michele. “About five of us were visiting a village with 300 people living there – and then came a cruise ship unloading hundreds of people in it. It felt wrong; unethical. And we thought: we’ve got to launch something that’s an alternative to this.”

And thus, Secret Atlas was born with the crystal-clear idea of bringing 12-guest expedition cruising to Svalbard.

There are many other reasons for choosing a micro cruise to explore Svalbard, of course: the ease of getting out and about, for starters. Disembarking from a large cruise ship resembles a military operation. A team of guides cordons off and polar bear-proofs the landing site, marking out paths with flags so that hikers don’t veer off-piste and crush the fragile vegetation. Polar willows – only an inch or two tall – are a favourite snack of Svalbard reindeer, and easily crushed by stray bootsteps.

“For us, it’s completely different,” says Michele. “You can go from the boat to hiking on the beach, looking for wildlife, in 15 minutes. We remove the frustrations of waiting and landing in a limited area.”

Most people arriving in Svalbard are here to see the wildlife – namely, the 3,000-plus resident polar bears.

“We had polar bear sightings on every trip last year,” says Andy. “One time, we came up to a fjord’s ice edge while watching a mother and her cub. At times, she was being chased by a male, so we got to see this behaviour in the wilderness. We didn’t just turn up and take a photo – we sat there for about four hours and really saw the dynamics playing out. And because we were a small group, everyone was happy sat in Zodiacs. It’s great to have the time to do that.”

“When you see a polar bear from the Zodiac in this way, they ignore you,” adds Andy. “They know you’re there, they might sniff the air, and then they continue on their way – which is incredible considering the danger they can pose to you on land. But they’re just not scared of you.”

Of course, this is the wild, so no sightings are guaranteed. Besides, Svalbard is about much more than polar bears.

Other wildlife includes herds of grazing reindeer, cacophonous walrus colonies, curious Arctic foxes and sunbathing seals. Whales feed in the fish- and krill-rich Arctic Ocean, including blue, humpback, fin, beluga and minke whales – the latter still hunted by Norway in defiance of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) ban on commercial whaling. There are cliffs milling with birds in the summer too. Most famously, Alkefjellet – a sheer cliff face taller than the Statue of Liberty – is packed with around 60,000 guillemots.

You also travel in the knowledge that both you and the wildlife are in safe hands. Wildlife guides on micro cruises are among the best in their field and follow the strict wildlife watching rules to the letter. They won’t approach polar bears (even if you ask them) and know exactly what to do if you come across one on land.

“We like to say that there is no itinerary when we go on an expedition because we are opportunistic in the way we explore,” says Michele. “Big ships have to run to a tight schedule, but for us, if there is an opportunity to see polar bears at 2am, we wake everyone and ask if they want to go down and take a look. No one has complained so far!”

“Svalbard is not a safari park,” adds Andy. “It’s different to South Georgia and Antarctica, where the beaches are covered in seals and penguins the whole time. You have to look for the wildlife here – but that’s part of the experience.”

Photographers are recurring visitors to Svalbard, thanks to its changeable landscapes. Each season invites a different vista and an ever-rotating cast of creatures.

“We start our photography trips in April when it’s frozen,” says Andy. “There’s lots of sea ice and the landscapes are completely snow-covered. Svalbard undergoes this transformation from the beginning of May and it’s like a completely different place. The snow goes by the summer and landscapes can be very barren, so it’s appealing in that way. Svalbard is also excellent for glaciers. They’re quite active in the summer so you get to see them calving from June onwards. In June and July, you can sometimes get as far as the pack ice, but it depends on how far it’s retreated that year. It’s a really awesome experience.”

For photographers, one of the big perks is the invisibility cloak that small ships provide – and the natural behaviours of the animal that prompts.

“You know the polar bear is there, so you switch off the engine at the edge of the ice, and you wait,” says Andy. “It can come quite close to you, but you’re not going up to it. It’s walking past you, and you’re observing that. There’s no way you’d get that in a big group – and if you’re a photographer, that’s amazing.”

Choose a tailor made micro cruise to get the whole ship to yourself. Itineraries – from the routes and landings to the preferred vessel – can be tweaked to your liking. You’ll even be matched with guides who share your passion, whether that’s for whale watching, polar exploration, climate science or geology.

Tailor made micro cruises in Svalbard are especially popular with multiple generations of a family or a larger group of friends. There’s no minimum age in terms of safety – it’s more about making sure that children know what to expect when it comes to sea crossings and wildlife watching. If everyone is interested in wildlife and nature, and happy living in cosy cabins, then it’s full speed ahead.