Fridtjovhamna

Our anchorage was at the foot of Fridtjovbreen in the VanMijenfjord.  The foot of a glacier makes for a safe anchorage - shallow enough for the chain to reach the bottom, and mud for good holding. But a lot of that mud comes back on board with the anchor - much swearing and use of buckets is called for to wash all that lovely silty gunge off the decks. This whole southern area was a geological wonderland of towering peaks, sharp ridges, and twisted and tormented strata. We met some research geologists the following day, who explained that these are some of the oldest exposed rocks in Svalbard - the volcanic layer has been scraped off the top,and the cataclysmic twisting and uplifting was caused by a close encounter with Greenland during the long drift north from the ancient tropical seas.