16 Sep 2016

Bears, Whales, Villages and Tundra in Russian Arctic

Our last expedition finished in the Port of Anadyr on Monday 12th Sept.  On our last night on the ship we reflected and recapped the expedition with the highlights for most people being the Polar bear encounters and observations. We finished the expedition with over 160 individual Polar Bear sightings and some of those encounters were very intimate considering we have just 50 expeditioners on each voyage.  There were some great photos obtained.  Another highlight was a group of over 60 Gray whales just north of the village of Uelen on the North Coast of Chukotka.  Our final day of that expedition was a visit to the village of Lavrentiya where we were welcomed by our friends and we enjoyed traditional foods, dance and even a game of Eskimo Volleyball.

Our ‘Jewel of the Russian Far East’ expedition, our last for this Russian season, departed Anadyr on the evening of the 12th. We spent the next day at Egvekinot.  As we approached Egvekinot early in the morning we spent about an hour in the company of more than 50 Humpback Whales.  It was an incredible show, if you didn’t know any better you would think they put it on especially for us.  In Egvekinot we took a Ural truck to the Arctic Circle out on the Tundra and visited the very good local museum.  

This morning as I write this we are approaching the small village of Meinypiligno where we plan to spend the afternoon with the local Chukchi people. The weather has deteriorated a little bit we have a strong arctic northeasterly wind.  There is plenty for us to see and do with significant numbers of walrus in water around the ship.