04 Sep 2014

Albatross Lost?

We have arrived at the penultimate day of our third and last expedition to Wrangel Island this season and are now sailing across Anadyr Bay. Tomorrow our seasoned expeditioners will disembark and we will greet a new bunch of keen explorers for the run south down the coast to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy.

Yesterday started early with a Zodiac cruise at Big Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. Conditions were typical of this area with a big swell from the N–NW (probably from that weather system that plagued us while we were at Wrangel). Despite the weather we enjoyed viewing this amazing bird island from the Zodiacs. It is unfortunate that no ornithologists have been allowed ashore there due to it being an important Border Guard Base for a number of years.

The weather and sea conditions improved as we transited south until the sea was glassy calm under a bright blue sky. We happened upon a group of about a dozen Humpback Whales and captured some great photos of them breaching. While we were watching their performance a juvenile Short-tailed Albatross circled the ship. This was remarkable as it happened at 65 degrees north, the furthest north we have ever recorded this species. A spectacular Artic sunset capped off the day and then later in the evening the Northern Lights made a brief appearance. It was a fitting and magical end to this expedition.