Position : Worsleyhamna - 79°41 N / 13°34 E
After spending a few hours among the relics in Virgohamna, a hike on the heights, we return to Libertaire by dinghy. For this, we row along the islet of AEoeya and are surprised to discover Mama bear and her cub playing in the snow! We stay for half an hour watching them with joy. They don't seem at all worried by our presence at 100 meters...
Then we raise the anchor towards Sallyhamna. The route takes us at the foot of the Svitjodbreen glacier, and Libertaire slaloms among growlers of various sizes. The ice here is less worrying than the inaccuracy of the charts in these rarely visited regions. We navigate with our eyes glued to the depth sounder, especially when the depths are shallow...
Arriving at Sallyhamna, we anchor in front of the trapper's hut, which has become a "refuge" managed by the Sysselman (the governor). After a good meal, a last glance outside, and there, surprise, a bear sleeping in a moss bed on the shore a few hundred meters from us! He is calm, and you can feel that he is truly the king here!
The next morning we leave for a long hike along the coast. The bear is no longer there, but seeing us scrutinize the landscape with binoculars at the slightest white spot, jumping at the slightest noise, you can feel that here, we are in his territory!
On Friday we leave for Hamiltonbukta, 12 short miles, again under engine due to lack of wind. It's a sort of lagoon between several islands at the foot of a glacier. The entrance is not easy, and we had to search for sufficient depths to enter the southern pass, recommended by the guide. While the exit through the eastern pass is done at depths of 12 meters.
We are surrounded by 3 glaciers, 2 of which flow into the sea and provide us with their growlers! The panorama is sublime, especially since on Saturday afternoon the sun starts to shine. We then go hiking along the coast with a pleasant ascent of a snowy gully.
During dinner, we are surprised to see a French sailboat, Marie, anchoring next to us. Decidedly, the French are well represented in Spitsbergen this year.
This morning we set sail seeing a light east wind that seemed promising, although the files indicated calm. They were right, and after 10 miles under sail, we had to rely on Nanni to reach Worlseyhamna. Between two showers, we crossed paths with a Belgian sailboat. A friendly VHF conversation taught us that they attempted the Hinloppenstrettet passage without success due to a breakdown, but nevertheless, the ice conditions seemed favorable.
En arrivant dans le Woodfjorden nous avons eu la joie de croiser 2 baleines! Ces latitudes sont vraiment magiques.