KAYAKING THE ARCTIC HIGH LATITUDES: SUMMER 2008 VISITOR TO SVALBARD FILES THIS REPORT

Simon Calder, a journalist with the UK newspaper, The Independent, has just returned from Svalbard aboard a Quark ship, the Vavilov. Here's his report.

Kayaking the Arctic high latitudes

I'm privileged to work for Quark Expeditions on the Antarctic Peninsula each austral summer, our nothern winter.

For the first time this year, during our northern summer, I'm having the extreme good fortune to be a kayak guide for 2 10-day trips around the 800-mile coast of Svalbard, just 600 miles south of the geographical North Pole, off the northeast coast of Greenland and way up north of Iceland.

Each trip is totally different depending on wildlife encounters, the sometimes extreme weather conditions, the colorful mix of our naturalists and our varied passenger group dynamics. In short order we become 'friends and neighbors' aboard our cheerful little ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy.

Come with me as we explore this new territory in the kingdom of polar bears, walrus, ringed seals, kittiwakes, ivory gulls, arctic foxes, auks and guillemots.

NORDIC BLUE GLOVES