27 Jul 2015

Off Overland

Time flies (especially when you are having fun as we are). Since our arrival at Wrangel Island we have spent time in and around the old settlement of Doubtful Bay where the reindeer herding enterprise was based during the Soviet period. There we dropped off five passengers for our northbound Overland Traverse excursion and sailed into heavy pack ice towards the western end of the island. Normally we would do our best to avoid ice like this but we were on a mission to see Polar Bears.

We saw several in the distance and also good numbers of female walrus with young on the ice. (The walrus we had seen hauled-out at Kolyuchin Island were all males.) The weather and sea conditions are good as we steam towards the eastern end of Wrangel and seldom visited Herald Island.