Across the Arctic Circle

Upon arrival at Aberdeen airport, you will be met by a representative of Aurora Expeditions and transferred to our group hotel. 

Should you already be in Aberdeen, make your way to our pre-voyage hotel, Sandman Signature Aberdeen Hotel, St Andrew St, Aberdeen. Check-in is from 3:00pm. Today there’s free time to enjoy Aberdeen at your leisure (Dinner not included). 

Please visit the Aurora Expeditions hospitality desk, located in the lobby. Our team will run through your embarkation day, answer any questions, and give advice on the local area. They will also provide you with cabin tags for your luggage. Please clearly label the tags with your name and ship cabin number. 

Accommodation: Sandman Signature Aberdeen Hotel (or similar) 

After breakfast, check-out and bring your luggage to the foyer. Please place any items required today in your hand luggage as your main bag will be placed in the bays of the coach. We’re in for a right royal day out as we tour the scenic hinterland of Aberdeen, known as Royal Deeside. We leave the hustle and bustle of the city and enter this perfectly paddocked, stone-walled land which has attracted invaders, travellers, and of course royalty, for centuries. Our first stop, the Green Tourism Award accredited Royal Loch Nagar Distillery, sits at the foot of the Cairngorm mountains. Fed by the crystal-clear waters of the Scarnock Springs the distillery combines traditional pagoda kiln heads with sustainable techniques to create its popular whisky. We end our tour in true highland style – with a wee dram.  

Continuing our royal theme, we enter the grounds of Balmoral Castle; the Scottish holiday home of the royal family since its purchase for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852. Famous for its English country gardens, and sprawling lawns, the castle invites guests to enjoy its formal gardens which contain a range of Victorian glasshouses, a conservatory, a water garden, and kitchen gardens used by the royal chefs during the royal families’ annual summer stay. Guests also enjoy an exhibition located in the main ballroom, while an audio guide brings famous visitors, household characters and royal green thumbs to life. There’s time to indulge in some royal treats at the Balmoral coffee shop or restaurant (own expense) before our short drive to the Aberdeenshire village of Ballater. Flowing through it’s centre, the River Dee is famous for salmon fishing while it’s surrounding hills attract hikers. We’ll wander it’s quaint streets before our drive returns us to Aberdeen to board the Greg Mortimer in the late afternoon. 

You’ll have time to settle into your cabin before our important briefings. We will set sail for the Orkney Islands in the evening and meet your expedition team and crew at Captain’s Welcome Dinner. 

Among Orkney’s archipelago of 70 windswept islands, nine kilometres (six miles) north of the Scottish mainland, a rich tapestry of archaeology, history and wildlife awaits. We follow the passage of time – from 5,000-year-old World Heritage Neolithic sites, past relics from wandering Vikings and reminders of World War II occupation – to present-day crofting communities. Imposing sea cliffs teem with seabirds, and clifftop paths and bleak moors beckon the keen hikers among us, while our kayakers use paddle-power to explore sections of Orkney’s fascinating coastline. 

Midway between Orkney and Shetland is Fair Isle, home to quaint croft houses and famous for its knitwear and historical shipwrecks. The 70 or so islanders mostly live in traditional crofts on the more fertile low-lying southern part of the island. 

A bird watcher’s paradise and boasting a major European bird observatory, Fair Isle lies on the intersection of major bird flight paths from Scandinavia, Iceland and Faroe. It attracts common species and also eastern rarities such as the lanceolated warbler. In summer, the cliffs teem with breeding fulmars, kittiwakes, guillemots, gannets, shags and puffins. Fair Isle is an excellent place to view seabirds at close range – especially puffins. The island also has more than 250 species of flowering plants, including rare orchids, alpine and wetland species and common wildflowers. We will be welcomed by the hospitable villagers, and may take a hike or visit the museum. 

Britain’s most northerly islands lie almost 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of the Scottish mainland, at a similar latitude to the southern tip of Greenland, or Bergen in Norway. Kept relatively warm by the Gulf Stream, Shetland’s 100 islands experience almost 24 hours of daylight in summer. They abound with nature reserves and archaeological sites, and offer a taste of traditional island life. We plan to visit some of Shetland’s best preserved and most complex archaeological sites, brochs – fortified Iron Age towers. 

As we sail towards the Norwegian coastline, the bridge or the outer decks offer an excellent and warm vantage point for birdwatching. Our historian and naturalists will delight us with their informative talks. 

We spend three days exploring the superb Norwegian coastline, cruising the intricate maze of seldom-visited inlets and outer islands. The cod-fishing island of Sør Gjæslingan welcomes us with its delightful wooden houses and cheerful inhabitants. Here, we search for nesting kittiwakes and reclusive sea otters. Delight in the hunt for fabled trolls, passing through Torghatten – meaning ‘mountain with a hole’ – said to have been caused by a troll’s arrow. 

Crossing the Arctic Circle, we make our way to the stunning Lofoten – meaning puma’s foot – Islands. This is a land scoured by ice and legend, the towering crags with their sharp edges, standing in silent protection of the villages below. 

As we travel north, the days are noticeably longer and we search for blue whales, humpbacks, orca, minke whales, pilot whales and dolphins in the deep, squid-rich ocean trenches off Andenes. 

We approach Spitsbergen at its most southerly point, South Cape or Sørkapp, and explore the coastline, entering a different world – that of the polar desert. Enormous peaks and deeply gouged fjords make our visit to Hornsund a powerful experience. As Hornsund is the southernmost fjord in Svalbard, we keep a lookout for polar bears, and Zodiac-cruise along glacial fronts that are home to bearded and ring seals, kittiwakes and guillemots. Here in Svalbard we continue our exploration into human history dating back 400 years, encompassing trapping and hunting, whaling and mining. If the skies are clear we may catch a glimpse of the dramatic Hornsundtind, peaking at 1,430 metres (4,695 feet). 

Dramatic folds characterise the geological landscape of Bellsund and here we will enjoy magnificent vistas, steep bird cliffs and lush vegetation, always an open invitation to arctic fox and polar bears. Little auks, guillemots, northern fulmar and pink-footed geese make this their breeding home. Reindeer graze the slopes peacefully and as the fjord branches, there are numerous places to explore. 

Polar bears pass through the area on their way to the west coast, and if we are lucky, we may encounter the elusive and alluring white beluga whale. 

Disembarkation