Late season voyages to Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic offer ideal light conditions for novice and expert photographers to capture images of the unusual icy landscapes and wildlife.
Specialist polar tour operator Swoop is offering two 10-day, small-ship expeditions to the Svalbard archipelago in September 2020.
Both trips are for just 12 guests each and both are accompanied by special photographic guides.
September is the last month in the Svalbard season, when the period of 24-hour sunlight has passed, leaving visitors with fewer daylight hours but a greater contrast in the light conditions provided by the sunrises and sunsets.
The outline itinerary for Svalbard, which has to be flexible according to ice and weather conditions, aims to include :
•the northernmost international scientific research village of Ny Alesund
•Bird Mountain, where thousands of nesting birds can be seen, and
•Bourbonhamna off the west coast of Spitsbergen, which is popular with beluga whales.
Each day of the expedition the photography guides will maximise the opportunities to spot wildlife, assessing the climate and often taking zodiac excursions in to massive fjords, closer to stunning, sculpted glaciers or in order to access the flower-covered Arctic tundra.
The group will scout for polar bears, on land and on the ice and, with a stable population of between three and four thousand.
Other wildlife may include reindeer, seals, walruses and the odd Arctic Fox.
Travellers on the second Svalbard expedition cruise, departing on 17 September 2020, will be joined by expert photography guides, Norwegian Tommy Simonsen and Australian, Rod Thomas.
Both of Swoop's Svalbard photographic expeditions depart from and end in Longyearbyen.
Passengers travel on board the R/V Kinfish, an ex-research and rescue vessel with all the comforts of a larger ship but small enough to navigate narrow inlets that are inaccessible to the bigger cruises.