12 Aug 2019

Herald Island In The Mist

Over the last 24 hours the weather has changed and mist set in. It shrouded Herald Island as we approached, creating a sense of mystery. This must be one of the most remote and inaccessible locations on earth. Sitting 70 kilometres east of Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean, Herald Island rises from the ocean in sheer cliffs, the scale is immense and the great slabs of rock dwarf us as we cruise close by in our Zodiacs.

There was little shelter here, even for wildlife. We saw polar bears swimming, but the vertical rock gave them few places to climb out. In a small gully, one had managed to scramble up a frozen snow bank to a small hole, from which it peered out at us. A little further on a group of walrus crowd inside a shallow cave, their grunts and bellows echoed eerily in the space as they jostle for space. This is about as harsh a place as you can imagine and we are fortunate that calm seas have allowed us to visit such a unique and lonely location.

Back at Wrangel Island, the most easterly point of Cape Waring it's equally forbidding. Mist-clad cliffs fashioned from dark, heavily folded rocks are devoid even of bird life. We cruise north for 7 kilometres along these dark cliffs until a vertical line marks a change to a lighter coloured rock, with horizontal bedding planes. On these ledge thousands upon thousands of seabirds perch, probably the greatest density we had seen. Above them the cliffs are carved into fantastical towers, below them stacks and arches rise out of the sea. A simple change in geology transforming both the scenery and the opportunities for life here.

There were more Polar Bears too, one in a small sea cave, another resting on the rocks. Barely an hour goes by at Wrangel Island without spotting a bear. In just a few days, we were close to seeing our one-hundredth Polar Bear. No surprise then, when later in the day we visited a remote ranger cabin, that a large notice inside the front door read in Russian and English: "When you come out of the house look around and make sure there are no Polar Bears nearby!"

The metal spikes and bars on all the windows showed they also took no chances with the bears breaking in. These Arctic islands are some of the last truly wild places on earth, where you really feel the scale and power of nature. They are places that we visit on nature's terms, and are rewarded with humbling experiences and a new understanding of the world in which we live.

Image (c) A.Breniere, Heritage Expeditions