13 Jun 2016
An Abundance of Seals in Sea of Okhotsk
We arrived off the Shanter Islands at 0830 this morning local time after a great overnight run from Iony Island. We zodiac cruised at Iony Island yesterday in good but foggy conditions. Despite the fog we had some great encounters with Stella Sealions, brilliant observations and photo opportunities with Whiskered, Crested, Parakeet and Least Auklets plus other species.
This morning despite the fog we have seen a number of Ribbon Seals, Ringed Seals, Bearded Seals and Largha Seals. We have been working in heavy ice but as I write this it has become a “white out” so we are extracting ourselves and will try again further to the south. Hopefully visibility will be a little better. We did encounter a couple of “ghostly” Stella Sea Eagles hunting over the ice in the course of our search for seals.
Photo credit: © Heritage Expeditions 'Sea of Okhotsk' 2016
Photo credit: © M.Kelly 'Sea of Okhotsk'. Note: photo from file
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