29 Aug 2017

SOE: A Close Gray Whale Encounter

An element of déjà vu prevailed this morning as we returned south to Pitchy Bazaar. As the bird cliffs came in sight to the south, so too did the white caps as the wind began funnelling down the valleys toward the coast. By the time we’d reached them, wind-devils scoured the sea surface, lifting it to the sky. Clearly no chance for a landing, but spectacular for a ship’s cruise. Besides the kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins and murres that were swept about in the maelstrom, the polar bears grabbed our attention. The mother and cub we saw yesterday still called the ridgeline home, as did the bear on the beach below the cliffs, and another three to the south. But as we continued north, the full density of polar bears on Wrangel was revealed. In just one spot where tundra met the black scree, we counted 18 bears, looking, as one person put it, like a scattered flock of buttery sheep on a hillside. As we continued north, our count quickly exceeded 50 (most of the white dot variety).
Again we stopped by Komsumol to see whether the wind had eased, then continued back up past Drem Head. While we travelled, ranger Julianna gave a wonderful talk on musk oxen, teaching us ways to determine male from female, juvenile from adult, all based on the configuration of their horns, and much more. After lunch we set off on another exploratory Zody cruise, initially heading toward the spit we’d visited the night before. Along the way, we were waylaid by grey whales that insisted in blowing close to our Zodiacs, but none more so than the one that nearly popped into Helen’s Zodiac, giving everyone onboard a good whale splash.
On the spit we saw half a dozen bears, stopped for some photos, then continued on through an opening into a vast lagoon, alive with short-tailed ducks, king eiders, and the odd seal. We landed on the far side beneath another bear-laden slope, and one sleepy fellow on the tundra a short distance away. What a fantastic place we found ourselves in, with lichen painted standing stones pushed up by the frost, and a tundra rich in plant life. All too soon we were back in the Zodiacs, for an easy downwind ride back to the ship.
After lunch, we moved down south of Drem Head to exchange our southbound overlanders for the northbounders. It all went smoothly, and from initial reports, it sounds like they had an absolutely wonderful adventure. As we began our voyage around the top of Wrangel, Chris gave a fascinating lecture about the sinking of the Karluk and subsequent tragedy the followed. By early evening, we were coming around onto the north coast of the island, and to our south, could see the beautiful snowy flanks of Soviet Mountain, at 1096 metres, the highest peak on Wrangel Island.