16 Aug 2017

SOE: Wind at Wrangel

And so the wind and sea that makes Wrangel Island such an isolated outpost in the high Arctic, challenged us to the end. The forecast strong northwest winds had backed just enough to the west to make landings at Doubtful Bay just that. In fact, ‘most unlikely’ would be more appropriate. We stayed at anchor for several hours to see if a change would give us the outside chance we needed (as it had yesterday at Draggi Bay), but it was not to be. Even picking up our southbound Overlanders required a careful repositioning of the ship and an extended drive along the spit to the east of the rangers huts. We watched as two Zodiacs carrying our wonderful rangers Igor, Julianna and Gennady, steered a circuitous route through steep swell and wind-whipped chop to reach the shore. Those on land had a dramatic departure from Wrangel, and were warmly welcomed back on board.

Our afternoon passed quickly as we sailed back to Chukotka’s north coast, this crossing thankfully blessed by a following sea. Helen put on an excellent documentary about the survivors of the Karluk expedition, with poignant reminders of what a desolate place Herald Island could be, something we can now relate to. After well-earned naps, memory card downloading, lightrooming and shared conversation, we gathered in the bar for a recap of our voyage so far, hosted by Chris, Sarah, Grisha and Howard, with wonderful contributions from many of our expeditioners. So many experiences we’ve had since boarding in Anadyr. Whether it was bird-photographing, whale-watching, walrus-admiring or even salmon-catching (by hand!), there will be as much memory space captured in our brains as all the harddrives on the ship. And the adventure isn’t over yet!