24 May 2012

Sea Otters Aplenty

We have taken advantage of a couple of high pressure systems over the Sea of Okhotsk giving us warm settled weather and put in some long hours as we near the end of the survey. Our benzene or petrol supply that we use to power the 60hp Evinrude engines on the survey boats is now running low (and we started with over 1000 litres).  Yesterday we completed a couple of transects on the east coast of Paramushir Island and Otter numbers increased as we went north.

In the afternoon all boats were launched to survey a small group of islands off Cape Levashova. Estimates of Otter numbers around these rocky stacks varied from 300 to 500 - it was difficult to count, but it was simply amazing to witness and experience. Memories and memory cards were overflowing. It was particularly encouraging to see so many females with young.

We sailed through the second Kuril Strait into the Sea of Okhotsk and made a landing on Shumshu Island. In late August 1945 the Russians attacked the Japanese defences there. After a fierce encounter the Japanese surrendered and the Russians took control of the entire Kuril chain of Islands based on their victory in this one battle. The island is littered with relics and memorials to the people who fought and died there.