In Oct 25, I gave up on trying to book onto Oceanwide Expeditions' 2026 Atlantic Odyssey expedition cruise. Having completed the Atlantic Odyssey in 2018, it is still one of my all time favourite foreign trips and I was keen to rerun the route, but I wanted to complete it on my favourite ship, Plancius. That wasn't possible in 2025 as the Atlantic Odyssey was being run on Hondius. When I looked at the options in Oct 26, all the four berth bunks were booked (as they had been a year earlier). I gave up on the idea which in hindsight was an excellent decision as Oceanwide Expeditions switched the ship to their larger Hondius soon after. Had I been able to book, I would have insisted on my booking being deferred to a year when they were running the Atlantic Odyssey on Plancius. In the end, it was good I hadn't been able to book, as that trip sadly turned into the Hantavirus trip.
Having given up on the Atlantic Odyssey option, I considered other options on the bucket list. Firstly, I booked on the excellent trip to Antarctica in Dec 25, where I successfully saw three Emperor Penguins and I enjoyed some amazing Orca encounters. Next I looked at the North Atlantic Odyssey which was being run on Plancius in 2026. A couple of hours after booking the Antarctica trip, I had also booked this trip, with the option to stay onboard for the first week in the Svalbard area. There was a nice discount on this extra week, but in reality it made sense to stay on and to maximise my chances of seeing Bowhead Whale, Polar Bears and the potential Seal Ticks. There were some good Seabirds to see as well, but to be honest, the highest placed Bird, Ivory Gull, was only number twelve on my trip's target list. Officially, I was booked on the North Atlantic Odyssey and Around Spitsbergen expedition cruises, but it will become obvious in future Blog Posts why I've renamed it as the 'From the Biggest to the Smallest Expedition Cruise'.
The Schiphol to Vlissingen train crosses many dykes: The Dutch are so much further ahead of the UK with onshore wind generation
The next decision was whether to join the Plancius in its home port of Vlissingen, Holland or Aberdeen. Logistically, it was a no-brainer as it was easier to fly to Amsterdam and catch the train from Schiphol Airport to Vlissingen, than to get to Aberdeen and then to try returning to wherever I left the car from Norway. It was only when I was in the North Sea that I also realised that choosing Vlissingen as the starting point, meant that I have sailed from the Northern Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula all the way to the pack ice off Svalbard on the Plancius. I travelled from Ushuaia to Vlissingen in Mar - May 2018 and from Ushuaia to Antarctic in Jan 2023. I guess there aren't that many other passengers who can say that for this lovely ship.
The train went past plenty of low-lying wetland patches
I wanted to travel on Plancius as she is a fantastic ship for seeing Birds, Cetaceans and other Sealife, due to her old-fashioned bridge wings which are open, but with a glass panel over part of the wing which provides a bit of shelter in colder locations. The bridge wings allow clear views across the bows and are an excellent place for general photography. So many ships these days are designed with larger bridges, which do not have the same outside visibility. True other ships have other decks you can view from, however, these are also a lot more exposed in adverse weather and the generally lower height reduces the range you can see.
I'm assuming Dutch law states that any road scene has to have at least one cyclist in it
The other big bonus of Plancius is she is a very quiet ship and quickly able to stop and mill around, thus affording excellent close views of Whales without spooking them. I've now seen thirty-seven species of Cetacean from Plancius along this route. This is stunning forty percentage of the World's Cetaceans and there are still three species that I could have seen Cuvier's Beaked Whale, Southern Bottlenose Whale and Commerson's Dolphin: all of which should have been possible along parts of this route.
I quickly booked some flights from Heathrow to Amsterdam for the day before the ship sailed and a hotel for the night in Vlissingen. Next I booked a flight from Longyearbyen in Svalbard back to Heathrow, via Oslo. One of the benefits of the internet is it is easy to organise the expedition cruise, flights, hotel and Heathrow car parking in a couple of hours online. That would have taken so much more effort in the old days when I started travelling. I was all ready to go, apart from having to wait about seven months for the Plancius to be ready to depart from Vlissingen. Seven months later I headed to Heathrow. My KLM flight departed on time, I collected my main bag without fuss and was quickly walking down the steps from the raised airport terminal to the train station below. Within fifteen minutes, I was on a train to Vlissingen. The journey was under three hours, including a change of trains along the way. Once in Vlissingen, I had a thirty minute walk to the uninspiring City2Beach Hotel. This proved to be an overpriced, small pokey room and good bathroom, which was let down with very steep and narrow steps (which weren't mentioned accurately on Booking.com).
The City2Beach hotel was overpriced and underwhelming: The steep and narrow hotel stairs (with no lift) were unmentioned on Booking.com and would have resulted in an immediate strong moan from my sister, potentially resulting in demands to move to an even more expensive hotel had she booked there. It wasn't easy getting my large, but not too heavy, bag up the stairs. It would have been impractical for less mobile guests with larger bags
The following morning I enjoyed my last lie-in: I knew I wouldn't get another one for the next three weeks or so. I didn't have to arrive at the train station to meet the Oceanwide Expeditions bus until 15:30. As I didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day, I started the thirty minute walk back to the train station about 11:00 at check-out time. Along the way, I remembered I had seen a sign for a historic ship, the Hr. Ms. Mercuur. This wooden minesweeper was launched in Jan 1953 and named Hr. Ms. Onverschrokken (M886). She and her sister ships were built in the USA and handed over to the Royal Dutch Navy in a Mutual Defence Assistance Program. She was reclassified as a headquarters-support ship for minesweepers squadrons in Jan 1969. After a major refix, she was redesignation as a torpedo work ship and renamed Hr. Ms. Mercuur in May 1973. After being decommissioned in 1987, she became a museum ship in 1992 until Dec 15. There was a threat of her being broken up, but fortunately, she was saved, cleaned up and moved to Vlissingen, where she opened as a museum ship in Sep 17.
Hr. Ms. Mercuur (A856): I wish I had remembered about this ship earlier in the day, so I could have had a look around without worrying about where to leave the bags. It will be on the list of things to do, if I return to Vlissingen
I was the first to arrive at the train station and slowly a few others appeared as trains arrived. One of the first to arrive was Christian and his partner Anna. I met Christian on the Atlantic Odyssey back in Spring 18. He stayed on for the Svalbard leg and moved into my four berth cabin for the final week around the islands. They also brought their friend Birgit, who joined the rest of my cabin for the first part of the trip at meal times. Finally, the Oceanwide Expeditions ground team arrived and started checking us onto the bus to take us to the nearly port where the Plancius was docked.
The Plancius looks very small compared to this massive pipe burying vessel, Rockpiper
The fourth berth cabin is compact: However, I only really need it for sleeping and the bathroom. My bunk was the bottom right bunk and was kept tidy, albeit with all the clothing and kit in it to allow for an emergency dash to the bridge wings when there was a shout for something good (as happened later in the trip). It wasn't ever a problem sharing with Luc, Kris and Joris who were tidy cabin mates during the first eleven days. This photo was taken during the Svalbard extension when some of my fellow cabin mates weren't as tidy as Luc, Kris and Joris (27 Jun 26)
After getting settled into the four berth cabin, it was time to head to the Observation Lounge for the first of several initial briefings from the Expedition Leader, Jan Belgers. Then the ship's First Officer took us through the emergency evacuation drill as we departed from Vlissingen.
An early briefing from our Expeditions Leader Jan on the plans for the next eleven days
The North Atlantic Odyssey: The route for the first eleven days was Vlissingen, Aberdeen, Noss (as we couldn't land at Foula), Jan Meyan, before arriving at Longyearbyen in Svalbard
It's good to see the safety briefing is taken seriously: This includes taking us to see the lifeboats
A later briefing introduced us to the rest of the Expeditions staff and it was a pleasure to see that Esther Josten and Jess Owen were on board for the next three weeks. I travelled with Esther to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica in Jan 23 and with ex-ORCA Ocean Conservationist, Jess, on my return to Antarctica in Dec 25. I didn't know any of the other members of the Expedition team, but there was three weeks to get to know them. After completing the first of initial briefings and the safety briefing, we were allowed on deck to watch our departure from Vlissingen. It looks a nice waterfront and something else to explore if I get to return to Vlissingen.
Sailing along the Vlissingen waterfront
Sailing along the Vlissingen waterfront
Finally, the Pilot boat arrived to collect the Pilot: We were now officially in the North Sea and the ship's crew were now in charge until we reached Longyearbyen
Sailing along the Vlissingen waterfront
More of the Vlissingen waterfront
The ship blew its horn as we passed the Panta Rhei restaurant: Some of the Oceanwide Expeditions office staff traditionally go there to see their ships head North
Beach huts North of Vlissingen: There were a lot of beach huts once we had sailed North of Vlissingen
Having ceremonially said goodbye to Vlissingen, it was time for dinner. I landed up on what was easily the best table for meals with the rest of my cabin mates, Kris and Luc from Belgium and a Dutch Viking Joris. We were joined on that first evening by Birgit from Germany. That left one visitor's seat where a number of different passengers put in guest appearances.
Myself, Luc, Kris, Birgit and Joris (left to right): Very quickly Kris, who was a great story-teller, had nicked named us as Tribe 205 (after our cabin number) with a Pirate (Birgit). A nickname which stuck for the rest of the trip
After dinner, I headed back on to the top deck to start the first of many evening watches. We didn't see any Cetaceans or any particularly interesting Birds. But it was good to be back at sea and there was a cracking sunset for us to enjoy. In reality, it was the best sunset of the trip and sunsets weren't something we were going to see many of as we heading for twenty-four hour daylight.
A few modern Dutch windmills
It was time to go to the Observation Lounge and do some socialising
