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Ny Alesund (or New Alesund in Norwegian) is now a small outpost on Spitsbergen. It is the most northern community in the world and has just a few arctic researchers living here year round. Our ship anchored in the bay just offshore and used tenders to take us to the dock. The first things we noticed were some young residents off to do their thing carrying a rifle and walking sticks. They were very discrete in ignoring the dumb tourists we were. Further along we also saw snow mobiles and husky dogs.

We were told that polar bears do exist and can be unexpected visitors to this remote place. We were given a map with a 'safe' route to follow. 'Just don't go wandering off by yourself unarmed,' was the word. A few months earlier, in February, I had sent an email to the director of this station asking him what he thought of all these tourists coming to interrupt his work. His interesting response is at the end of this page.

The only wildlife we saw were these arctic terns enjoying the summer cold. Seemingly out of place was this small steam train. It is kept as a reminder of the coal mining days. Several families lived here up to about eighty years ago to work the coal mines. Their lives and details are depicted in photographs and articles on display in a small museum. A store and post office were the only other buildings we were allowed to enter. Actually there is a hotel in the village, but this was more for official guests to the research site, not for us.

It was very quiet. No traffic, other than one person riding a bicycle. And we saw only one car. The place was clean, no litter, no asphalt. But then I came across this house with a bicycle parked to the side. It had a perfectly nice reindeer pelt draped over the handle bars. Yet, no one around but us.

In the middle of the village is a large bust of Roald Amendsen, the famous explorer who used Ny Alesund as his base of operations when going to the arctic ice cap. It was here that his epic journeys to the North Pole began. He died in a plane crash on the ice searching for a colleague he never found.

After Sharon wrote some postcards to the family and mailed them at this tiny post office, we strolled back to the dock and enjoyed the scenery before boarding the tender. Yes, those are glaciers in the distance.
But now it was time to head south to warmer climates and more blue skys.

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The following is the response from Roger Jacobsen, the Director of the research station when asked about the tourist situation from his perspective. Keep in mind this is mid February, 2010, and dark 24 hours a day.
I might also mention that HAL did not provide the armed guards he refers to (or were they also like the polar bears: very discrete and invisible?)

Thank you Mr. Jacobsen.

Hello Sir!
Thanks for your mail, I normally don’t have time to respond on “small talk”, but you made some interesting points.
Last summer 31.000 cruise tourists visited us. 2/3 were overseas tourists, the rest came by local boats.
It’s only tourists by ships who can visit us in addition to researchers and my staff.

For the moment it isn’t really crowded here. Including my staff and the researchers from Germany, France, Korea, China, Japan and some constructors we are nearly 60 persons.
We are only 1231 km from the North Pole, but living in a well situated society. Due to the Golf-stream the conditions are better than expected.

According to the cruise tourists, - yes they make some disruptions from time to time. But we can mange!!
You have to stay on the roads in my village, it’s prohibited to walk on the tundra due to environmental damages. And please, don’t leave any garbage as plastic, paper, cigarettes, etc.
Some also try to feed the polar foxes, and that’s not allowed. We try to leave the wilderness undisturbed to the best for arctic research and monitoring. (Flowers, birds and animals.)
The crew from your ship has to establish armed guards at some road junctions to fight polar bears, if they appear.
We have an information centre you can visit, and we also have a small museum which tells the story about the northernmost settlement and the mining period and polar expeditions.
In addition our small shop will be open, and they accept both visa-cards and different valuta (dollar, euro). Many like to buy some souvenirs as T-shirts, socks, pullovers, etc.

Hopefully you will enjoy your stayJ
Best regards
Roger Jakobsen
Managing Director