Newsletter winter 2012

Winter

The trees have lost their leaves and the wind is blowing. It’s the moment to speak about winter. No snow and ice yet here in Holland!
The Anne-Margaretha is waiting again in Spaarndam, near Haarlem, for her “winter-service”. Until now we had other things to do, but Heinz started sprucing her up last week. In March we’ll haul her out of the water and she’ll have her annual inspections and a brand new paint job!

Season 2012

Our sailing program is set for the New Year: we will cross the North Sea to Norway and will sail along the impressive Norwegian fjords-coast and then travel slowly to the north. At Bodø we’ll cross over to the Lofotes where we’ll hike. After 11 days we’ll arrive in forever cosy Tromsø.
This is the starting place for the trip to Bear Island where we’ll go ashore while the Anne-Margaretha anchors in hidden sight of Bear Island surrounded by thousands of breeding birds…!
After Bear Island, there is still a one-day sailing trip to Spitsbergen. The first anchorage is near a Polish science station at the entrance of the Hornsund, one of the most beautiful fjords of Spitsbergen (!)
We will take some time to visit this sound, full of marvelous icebergs!
After several days of exploring the coast we will arrive in Longyearbyen, where planes arrive and leave 5x daily. This is also the starting place for our Spitsbergen trips.
For more information about our trips, see www.annemargaretha.nl , Sailing Program 2012

Explorers

Last year we learned and read more and more about the explorers from the last century who started in Spitsbergen to try to reach the North Pole. We have quite a library on board the Anne-Margaretha.  Last season, our guests knew a lot of stories about Nobile, Amundsen, Andreé etc. Also on Spitsbergen we’ll see the remains of the great whaling ships of the 16/17th century!
Spitsbergen, besides being a region of great beauty, is also an historically interesting place!
We will make 3 trips to Svalbard this year. The first and second legs are already booked up, but we have still some places available on the 3rd leg.
We wish everybody a happy and healthy 2012 and hope to see you again on the Anne-Margaretha!

Greet & Heinz