22 Jul 2015

Whale Bones and Hot Springs

We spent yesterday afternoon at Preobrazheniya Bay on a ‘shakedown’ Zodiac cruise and made the first landing. The swell didn’t allow us to get as close as we would have liked to the magnificent bird cliffs but our tundra landing went well. This morning we spent several hours ashore at 'Whale Bone Alley' on Yttygran Island. This is a fascinating archaeological site which dates back thousands of years. The jaw bones of multiple bowhead whales form a definite alley which you can walk down (hence the name), but just what function they served is debated.  This afternoon we landed at the Gil’mimyl Hot Springs where expeditioners could take a walk in the tundra with either a birding or botany focus before enjoying a therapeutic wallow in the hot pools.