Gallivanting the globe 2019 - RTW and then some

[JohnM]

Late in the day we made our first landing on Wrangel Island at Cape Blossom, which is at the very SW corner of the island. It has two old huts that are used by walrus and polar bear researchers occasionally, although it looked as though they had not been there for some time.



Some fascinating botany and mycology – but there is a need to look close to the ground.



Back to the ship and a summary of the day’s traverse and plans for tomorrow.

A sensational day!

 

[drron]

Those Silversea voyages are Expedition cruises and there is a detailed itinerary to begin with.It is hardly ever what actually takes place due to weather,something more interesting comes up or the wildlife is in a different place.I know there were pictures of guests with the Russian guides,not sure they were onboard but it is the usual way of Silversea to do that. One of the reasons for the extra cost is because they have an accompanying icebreaker after being caught in the ice a few years ago doing the north east passage.They have ice rated ships but are not icebreakers themselves.
Most of our cruising has been on Silversea Expedition cruises.

Don't worry in my mind you are now definitely a cruiser.
The wildlife has been incredible and you certainly have got some great shots and will have lots of great memories.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning was a landing at Cape Thomas – after the rangers had gone ashore and made sure that the PB that had been spotted mooching around was well out of the way.

At Cape Thomas there is a memorial to the Russian icebreaker Vaigach, whose crew landed here in 1911 and erected a navigational beacon. In so doing they helped bolster the Russian claim to the island. The cape itself is named after an American whaler who was a crew member on the ship of another Thomas, Thomas de Long, who sighted Wrangel Island in 1867.

These raise interesting questions about early voyages to Wrangel Island, and their implications for sovereignty. Ownership of Wrangel Island has been contested by three nations: the UK, the US and Russia. The UK first staked a claim when the Royal naval Captain Kellett sighted the island in 1849. He landed on Herald Island and planted the Union Jack.

A couple of decades later, however, when the crew of US revenue steamer Corwin landed on Wrangel Island and made a counter claim, the British government decided not to object, concluding that “…such a thing were not worth anyone’s while except a polar bear, to trouble himself about.”

Later, the US also gave up any rights to the island, choosing not to protest when a group of US settlers was deported by the Russian military in 1924. Wrangel Island has been recognised as Russian ever since.

We spent the time at Cape Thomas just roaming about exploring the tundra – and watching out for the PB in the distance.

Anyone interested in firearms, as I am, and eagle-eyed will notice that this ranger’s double-barrel shotgun looks like something very old with its flintlock-like hammer action. In fact, it was not very old. Simple mechanisms are best in extreme environments.

While the rangers may have carried deadly rounds for use in an extreme emergency, my understanding is that their cartridges were flares to frighten away any aggressive PB. All the rangers carried flare pistols.



I think it was further along this section of coast that a dead whale washed ashore in 2017 and created a feast for over 200 PBs (More than 200 polar bears in Russia were filmed feasting on whale carcass in bowhead banquet). That would have been a sight!

There was an amazing array of small plants flowering. A keen macro photographer was having a great time.

Essentially, I’m putting in pics in the time sequence as I wandered around.

 

[JohnM]

A woolly bear. The caterpillar of a moth, it is noted for its slow development, extending as long as seven years. Most of the year is spent in diapause (a state of deep physiological dormancy, characteristic of insects occurring in seasonally severe environments), out of which it breaks for a very brief feeding period in mid-summer.

 

[tgh]

In the Arctic this year SS had trained bear guards with modern high powered rifles spread around the hills before us plebs were allowed ashore
The guides all carried flare guns.
It all seemed a bit over the top to me but one of the guards was from Svalbard; he said the bears are both fast and fearless and not to be taken lightly.

 

[JohnM]

No bears are to be taken the slightest bit lightly. Very dangerous creatures.

 

[JohnM]

Back on board for lunch and making our way further N, aiming for Ptichiy Bazar. We were in ice-free water now and kept a course close to the coast.



Disturbing the afternoon peace of some of the locals.



Then something absolutely spectacular as the ship caught up with the walrus after they plunged into the water.



That’s Mark Carwardine in the pic above, with Rachel, his executive assistant/producer to his left. She regaled me with the story of how she had spent Christmas Day on Cottesloe Beach when she was backpacking in Australia.



A PB and her cub were heading for open ocean. It worried me that we had cut them off and caused them to head out to sea. There were no icebergs in sight. I hope they can float for a long time.

Shortly after, we landed and the rangers took up vantage points.

 

[drron]

Don't worry about the PBs swimming ability.They regularly swim 50KM and one was recorded swimming 350KM.

We were lucky on Svalbard seeing just 8 PBs feasting on a whale carcase which had been there for 2 years so the numbers of PBs had dropped off.But it did include a very small cub.

 

[JohnM]

Wandering around the cliffs of Ptichiy Bazar.

 

[JohnM]

Time to head back to the ship and out of the fog to enjoy a spectacular sunset.

Another cracker day!

 

[JohnM]

I forgot the track plot.

 

[Milboo]

The photo of the PB with the reflection is stunning! Loving the photos overall too.

 

[JohnM]

The first landing the next day was at Lake Komsomol, which is separated from the ocean by a sliver of shingle spit. The day was fine and sunny; after an hour or so I was down to shirtsleeves. An old trapper’s hut is slowly decaying away.

Again, prostrate hardy plants and many in full bloom.



Arctic willow, a woody prostrate plant and a major food source for grazing animals. It’s the primary food for the woolly bear caterpillars.



After lunch, while under way, a herd of muskox was spotted on shore, so an opportunistic stop was made at Drem Khed. It ended up being a very long walk across slushy tundra in rubber boots to get near to the herd, but it was well worth the effort.



Sneaking up on snow geese and muskox.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning, we reached Herald Island. The intention had been to cruise the cliffs in the Zodiacs but the swell and wind was adverse. We circumnavigated the island before heading to the E coast of Wrangel Island for a landing at Cape Waring/Dragi Bay. With that, came a return to sea ice.



This guy on our left thought he may have spotted a smorgasbord, while on our right there was a different guy watching on.



The PB wandered over to a ranger hut (unoccupied) and mooched around that for a while. The windows have fiece grilles for a reason. The muskox just slowly wandered around, looking pretty relaxed and allowing plenty of fairly close photo opportunity.

 

[JohnM]

Back aboard and continuing S with ice increasing. And that means PBs.

The overnight route took us due S before turning W because of a military exclusion zone in the SE corner of Wrangel Island.

 

[JohnM]

Next morning, we anchored in Doubtful Bay in a pea-soup fog. This is the location of the main ranger station and where we were originally due to collect the rangers. The icepack had now substantially cleared but we were still obliged to anchor further along the coast than usual, meaning about a 45-minute Zodiac ride in. All Zodiacs were deployed, rather than shuttling with about five as often happened with short runs to shore. They also all had to stick together because of the fog. We had a fun flat-out mass-Zodiac weaving race along the (invisible) shore into the ranger station.

I was in the Zodiac steered by Yuri, their long-serving Zodiac engine maintenance crewman. He had a lead foot – and knew which Zodiacs had the best motors. We aced it .



There is a lot of machinery and hundreds of thousands of old fuel drums abandoned around the station, dating back to the war. With the ramping-up of the military base, a drum-crusher operated by the military is slowly working its way through the pile.



A ‘museum’ of mammoth tusks and other animal remnants, including a mammoth tooth outside the well-protected hut. Some mammoth tusks still lie about, 4000 years later.



One of the staff in the past liked to weld artistic window protection. A PB ‘welcome mat’.



Lemming.

 

[JohnM]

After bidding farewell to the rangers, it was back to the ship, by which time the fog was clearing. Then it was S-bound and into the ice and more PBs.

And finally it was bye-bye PB #52 and we later sailed off away from the sunset.

 

[JohnM]

Next day was the haul SE and across the Chukchi Sea ‘whale alley’. Whales abounded – probably 200+ humpbacks in all directions.

 

[JohnM]

By next morning we were around the corner into the Bering Strait and anchored at Bukhta Puutin. Big Diomede Island (Russia) was visible on the horizon; Little Diomede Island (USA) was hidden behind it.

After breakfast it was into the Zodiacs for a cruise along the cliffs before making a landing to meander amongst the plant life, and to spot a not-too-shy arctic ground squirrel.

Photographing the birds on the cliffs with a dinky slow camera while bobbing about in a Zodiac is particularly difficult.

 

[JohnM]