Day 1: Embarkation
Exploring the Polar Pioneer and setting sail together
After two days of travel and a day-and-a-half killing time in Longyearbyen, it was finally time to board our ship. The charter company collected us at our hotels in Longyearbyen and brought us to the ship. This was our first time we had the opportunity to see our ship: A Finnish-built ex-Soviet icebreaker called the Polar Pioneer. The Polar Pioneer was the perfect ship for our expedition, offering the highest 1A-class icebreaker rating and a size neither too big nor too small: Big enough to go anywhere in comfort, but small enough to get to know everyone on the ship.
We had the chance to check out the ship before departure and I captured a few photographs of the ship.
We also started to get to know one another shooting outside on the deck and in the lounge.
As we sailed out of Longyearbyen, we caught our first few glimpses of the epic landscapes that lay ahead.
