20 May 2012
300 Year Anniversary
Whilst cruising around the Kuril Islands we have noticed a Russian Orthodox Cross on nearly every Island. These were erected last year and commemorate 300 years of Russian Discovery and activity on the Islands from 1711 to 2011.
Today we deployed two teams to undertake a coastal survey and also got our divers down to sample a couple of areas in known Otter habitat. Those not involved in the survey today landed in Zakatnaya Bay where there is extensive evidence of the Ainu people, the earliest inhabitants of these Islands. There are also fortifications built by the Japanese against a feared attack from the Americans during World War II.
19 May 2012
We completed our survey of Simshur Island late last night. The final landing for everybody was in a large flooded caldera at the northern end of the…READ MORE
17 May 2012
This morning off Urup Isalnd we enjoyed a rare sleep-in, followed by a very interesting lecture from our Russian Historian, Leinid Kotenko, on Russia…READ MORE
15 May 2012
In the early afternoon the fog rolled in, curtailing our survey just as we were counting good numbers of Otters along the eastern coast of Urup Islan…READ MORE
