We had passed Smeerenburg (Blubber town), a historical whaling station on our passage north when the priority was to get to the ice for Polar bear. On our return a landing was planned to see the historical. site and to photograph the walrus hauled out on the beach. There had also been talk of a Polar bear in the area feeding on a walrus carcass.

It didn’t take long to find evidence that one had been prowling the beach.

We had our ever vigilant armed guides keeping an eye out for our safety so could relax and explore the area a little.

There is nothing left of the historical whaling town with the only structures being a navigation beacon, an information board showing a map of the old settlement and some collections of rock where rendering ovens were.

The information panel gives an idea of the layout of the settlement with buildings and blubber rendering ovens. At its height there were 16-17 buildings and a fort to defend against Danish and other interests in the area. Smeerenburg declined from the 1640s with depletion of the whale population and it was abandoned in 1660. The area was incorporated into of Norway’s North-West Spitsbergen National Park in 1973.

We spent some time enjoying watching the walrus and trying to find some photos and I will include a post on that.

Photos with Nikon Z8 and Nikkor Z 24-200mm f4-6.3 VR