Svalbard · Norway · Ice
Hornsund
Bays here only appeared as the glaciers pulled back
Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hornsund is a fjord on the western side of the southernmost tip of Spitsbergen, its mouth facing west to the Greenland Sea. The coastline is broken into bays at the mouths of mountainous glacial valleys, and some of those bays appeared only at the beginning of the last century as the glaciers behind them receded. Diving is tender work among the ice they still shed.
Where it is and how deep
76.9833° N, 15.9167° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The fjord is 30 kilometres long and its mouth, facing west to the Greenland Sea, is 12 kilometres wide, so once a ship is inside there is a lot of coast to choose from. Where it anchors is decided on board from the ice and the weather rather than from a list of sites, and the tenders run from there. No published source names a dive site inside Hornsund or gives a route or an entry point for one, and polar dives here run to around 20 metres at most.
The shape of the fjord is the story. Its coastline is diversified, with a number of bays at the mouths of mountainous glacial valleys, and some of those bays appeared as late as the beginning of the last century as the glaciers behind them receded — this is very new water. Those glaciers still supply the ice you dive among, and a front is worked well clear of any active calving face, among grounded and drifting blocks.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season |
Season follows Svalbard: Expedition ships operate Jun–Sep in the polar summer; outside that window the archipelago is dark, iced in and inaccessible.
Know before you go
- A glacier front is dived well clear of any active calving face, among grounded and drifting blocks rather than under one; the ship sets the standoff, not the group.
- Outside the settlements a rifle must be carried for polar bear protection, so tender landings and shore work run with the ship's armed guide.
Photos from Hornsund
China Crisis · CC BY-SA 3.0
Jerzy Strzelecki · CC BY-SA 3.0
Bjoertvedt · CC BY-SA 3.0
Questions divers ask
What is the diving like in Hornsund?+
It is glacier-front and ice diving run from an expedition ship, in the bays at the mouths of the glacial valleys around the fjord. No published source gives a visibility figure or a route for a specific site here, and dives run to a maximum of around 20 metres, so the plan is set on board from the ice and the weather.
When can you dive Hornsund?+
In the Arctic summer. The peak season for ships in Svalbard is the brief summer from June to August, when it is light and not too cold, and a dive here is part of an expedition-ship itinerary rather than something arranged locally.
Sources
- Hornsund — Wikipedia
- Polar diving — Oceanwide Expeditions
- Diving in Spitsbergen — Oceanwide Expeditions
- Svalbard — Wikivoyage
Photo credits
- Aerial view over Hornsund fjord in Svalbard, with frozen sea ice framed by mountain ridges on both sides. by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Snow-streaked mountain peak reflected in the still water of Burgerbukta, a bay inside Hornsund. by China Crisis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A blue-white iceberg floats near a small expedition vessel below dark mountain slopes in Hornsund. by Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aerial view of glacier-carved ice channels draining into the inner reaches of Hornsund fjord. by Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Ice diving: how it works and where to goCold water · 12 min read
- Where to dive in every month of the yearTrip planning · 14 min read
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