22 May 2012

Paramushir Island Whaling Station

Paramushir is the largest Island in the Northern Kurils and has always been renowned for good numbers of Otters.  We worked our way along the east coast where the sea was glassy calm - perfect for our count.

In the afternoon we took a break from surveying and landed everybody at one of the three abandoned whaling stations on southern Paramushir Island. This one closed in 1973 . When it was operating, the meat was canned and the oil sold separately.  The years have taken their toll on the buildings and they have all rotted away, but the machinery is still all in situ.  One of the large storage tanks reputably has whale oil still in it, but we were unable to confirm that.

We are back in Kamchatka Brown Bear territory again and one was seen a long way off. With bears around we have to exercise caution when exploring ashore.

The survey is drawing to a close and in a few days we sail north to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy where this expedition will end.