Expedition Arctic Ocean 2026, blog post 11: Sunset and sunrise

It’s been a couple of weeks since we reached the North Pole and now we are moving around the other side of the Arctic Ocean. Since we left from Svalbard we have lived in constant daylight, but lately we have been experiencing almost a day-night cycle. In the morning when we wake up, it’s very bright outside.

If we are lucky, we even see little bits of sun. The shade of sunlight is very peculiar: it is a soft and diffuse yellow, that gives everything an ethereal appearance. At about 11 am, there’s some kind of sunset. Today we saw the sun disappearing behind organized cloud structures with a rainbow-colored halo not too far away.

The daily life on the ship continues while outside the sky becomes more grey and gloomy, but never reaches total darkness. The ship feels like a beehive, full of laborious individuals too busy with their tasks to care about what is unfolding outside. But then dinner comes and everyone is forced to slow down.

Night is usually a time where people come together, relax and share a few chats. At around 11 pm, the sky lightens up again as the sunrise wishes Oden a goodnight. Going to sleep with sunlight shining through the window feels unnatural, but it is one of the gifts of cruising around the North Pole.

/Bellagente, August 29