Spitsbergen Cruise Photos

From: MS Nordstjernen cruise review

Liefdefjord and Monaco Glacier

The Nordstjernen passed a fin whale that was traveling in the opposite direction. (You can just see the tip of the whale's tale in the photo above, which doesn't do justice to the sight of a big whale rising and falling in the sea while propelling itself with a flipper.)

The fin whale is second only to the blue whale in size, and one of the guides estimated that this specimen was about 24 meters or 70 feet long and 80 to 100 years old.

Fin whales aren't seen often at a latitude of nearly 80º north, and our guides were as pleased as we were. (A while later, on our way out of the fjord, we encountered several dozen beluga whales.)

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