Realm of the Polar Bear In Depth - Douglas Mawson

Arrive into Oslo (OSL) where you will be met on arrival and transferred to your hotel. Upon arrival, please visit the Expeditions hospitality desk to collect your luggage cabin tags. Enjoy free time at your leisure.

This morning, please ensure your cabin luggage is fitted with cabin tags clearly labelled with your name and cabin number. Enjoy breakfast at the hotel before transferring to the airport for your charter flight to Longyearbyen for embarkation. Any valuables or personal items should be kept on you throughout the day. Enjoy a guided tour of Longyearbyen. On the drive to Camp Barentz, located in the Advent Valley, your guide will give you an introduction to Longyearbyen's fascinating history. Once at Camp Barentz, enjoy a presentation in the large 'lavvo' - a traditional building common in northern Norway. You will also have the opportunity to meet the friendly huskies and perhaps pick up some souvenirs. A visit to the Svalbard Museum is included back in town before embarking the vessel in the late afternoon. After the tour, you will be transferred directly to the pier for embarkation in the late afternoon. Settle into your cabin before the important safety briefings. We will set sail in the early evening.

Svalbard offers Arctic wilderness at its best. The members of our experienced Expedition Team, who have made countless journeys to this area, will use their expertise to tailor our day-to-day itinerary, choosing the best options, based on the prevailing weather, sea-ice conditions and the possibility of encounters with wildlife.

Phenomenal fjords, magnificent mountains ranges, and a polar desert rich in fossils, set the stage for heroic tales of early exploration. See walrus hauled-out on sea ice or on beaches. On land, we stretch our legs on walks across tundra carpeted in brightly coloured wildflowers.

We visit towering cliffs noisy with nesting guillemots and puffins, and scree slopes that hold Svalbard's largest little auk colonies.

With 24-hour daylight, there's plenty of time to admire many of the tundra's 164 species of flowering plants, including purple saxifrage, exquisite yellow spider plants and Svalbard poppies.

If you have chosen an optional activity such as kayaking, you will have an opportunity to enjoy that activity when conditions allow. For those who are enthusiastic to participate in a polar plunge, as soon as conditions are suitable, you will hear the announcement to prepare for an exhilarating dip - a memory you will savour for years to come.

During shore excursions, we hope to spot eider ducs, Arctic fox and the elusive Svalbard ptarmigan. As we pass Barentsoya and Edgeoya islands, we cross polar bear migration routes and hopefully have a chance to spot polar bear.

This is true expedition cruising, where plans are dictated by ice conditions and our desire to explore. If pack ice allows, we round South Cape, returning to the world of open water and rugged coastal mountains and sail north toward Hornsund and Bellsund, deep fjords with remarkable glaciers and wildlife. Every expedition takes a unique course, based on wildlife sightings and the weather and ice conditions.

If ice stops us on the east side, we will adjust our itinerary, backtrack and delve deeper into the wonders of Spitsbergen's north and west coasts, including a visit to colonies where hundreds of thousands of little auk nest, darkening the sky as they commute to their fishing grounds.

During the early morning we cruise back into Longyearbyen. Bid farewell to your Expedition Team and enjoy some free time in Longyearbyen before transferring to the airport for your charter flight back to Oslo.