Spitsbergen in Depth

At the end of July I embarked on a 3 week vacation to Oslo and the Arctic Circle. The focus of the trip was Quark Expeditions' Spitsbergen in Depth which makes a complete circuit of Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, with visits to outlying islands. The hope was to see scores of nesting seabirds, lazy walrus lolling on the shores, and - of course - the iconic polar bear, prowling the ice edge. Spitsbergen boasts a remarkably diverse landscape, which let me explore everything from jagged mountain peaks to sweeping polar deserts. [Quark Expeditions]