15 May 2012
Fog Promotes History
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 Island.
Once the zodiacs were back on board we steamed to the historic site of Aleutka Bay, where in the late 1700's the Russian American Company established its first permanent base in the Kuril Islands. The Japanese occupied the same site until September 1945 and then the Soviets moved in. We spent a fascinating couple of hours exploring the abandoned site with Leinid, our Russian historian.
We are now steaming to Novokuril’skaya Bay where will continue the Otter survey tomorrow morning.
150° 19.1' E 46° 13.4' N
14 May 2012
The storms have passed and the sun has broken through the clouds, making our work much more pleasant. We conducted two coastal surveys today along th…READ MORE
13 May 2012
Sea and wind conditions have eased somewhat allowing us to work the South and South East coasts of the small Kuril Islands. The two shore parties …READ MORE
12 May 2012
Seeking shelter behind Yuri Island during a passing storm yesterday, we observed a fishing vessel operating illegally within a prohibited zone. Insp…READ MORE
