17 Aug 2014

Majestic Reindeer Stag

Our Wrangel Island experiences have continued thick and fast. On Saturday as we headed ashore by Zodiac we spotted a Gray Whale feeding close inshore, only a matter of metres off a rocky beach. We watched as it rolled and scraped itself clean on the gravel. A few kilometres west we spotted a magnificent lone reindeer stag with an impressive head on it. Reindeer were introduced to Wrangel some years ago, but in recent years there has been a massive die off. This is believed to be a result of their food freezing due to unseasonal rains in early autumn. It is rare to see reindeer now, especially one with such a great head, so we were pleased to observe this beautiful speciman. While we were ashore we were visited by a female Polar Bear. She ambled along the beach to within 40 metres of us and when she scented us, turned and walked back down the beach about 200 metres, lay down and went to sleep. This encounter had us all enthralled.

Yesterday we visited Herald Island, which was significant on the anniversary of the wreck of the ship Karluk. We speculated on which beach the four young men who made it to Herald might have camped and what were the circumstances surrounding their death. Their bodies were found in a collapsed tent in 1924 but when and how they died remains a mystery. (Those interested should read ‘The Ice Master’ by Jennifer Niven.) We made a brief landing on one of the small beaches and later watched a large haul out of Walrus before we returned to Wrangel. Today the weather has deteriorated and we are surrounded by heavy fog as we steam back to Doubtful Harbour where we will drop off the rangers who accompanied us to Herald Island and pick up our Overland party before heading south to the Chukotka coastline and ultimately back to Anadyr.