Post-voyage GPS log

As well as recording daily points on our dynamic map, during our workshops we record GPS data wherever possible, using GPS dataloggers. These provide us at the end of the trip with one or more GPX files, which can be loaded into "geo-tagging" software to attach locations to photos based on their timestamp, or just for loading up into Google Earth to look at the "pretty map" (as per this screen-grab).

On this most-recent Arctic voyage we recorded a continuous trail of where our ship was. Some of us also carried personal GPS loggers to record our locations when away from the ship, and one person had a GPS unit attached directly to his Nikon DSLR. When geo-tagging my own photos I use whatever data's available from my personal logger, then fill in the blanks from the ship data. If I didn't take a personal logger (or it wasn't turned on!) and I couldn't get data from someone else in my Zodiac, at least I have the ship data to fall back to.

The ship GPX data is accessible to registered workshop participants via this site's forums. The data from this last trip shows we covered 2,335 km in our travels, and got as far north as 80˚ 50.91'N!

Map updated

We've fixed the problem related to the map updates via satellite, and re-posted the updates from a log file. So you can now look at my online map and see where we travelled on this Arctic odyssey around Svalbard. Just scroll up past mainland Norway...

We're planning a few more tweaks to the map before our Kenyan odyssey later this month, so stay tuned!

Day 10, and Day 11 disembarkation

Day 10 was fairly low-key, but had a great up-close reindeer experience in the afternoon. The end-of-voyage slideshow we put on for the ship was very popular. It's now Day 11 and we're sitting at cafes in Longyearbyen waiting for connecting flights home. Some folk will be home in the UK tonight, some of us will take another coupld of days to get back to Australia, and others are continuing on to further travels.

It's been an amazing trip! Our photography group integrated into the the ship's operations well, with our own Zodiac for cruising. We had great wildlife encounters starting early in the trip. Each day we were wondering how the next could get better. But it continually did!

Meanwhile it turns out the satellite uploads have been a bit spotty. Sorry about that. I'll fix up the map soon: at one point it inserted a jump back to Trondheim!

Day 9: Amazing day!

Afternoon: Arctic Fox kits, a Polar Bear encounter on land, and a polar plunge for some folk. What a day! 

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Short message posted via satellite, sent from 77.47976N 13.6422E ()

Day 9: Glacier morning

HUGE glacier calving this morning. We think the Belugas lured us a safe distance away from the glacier!

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Short message posted via satellite, sent from 76.92063N 16.27859E ()