19 Aug 2013

Walrus and Whales

The last few days have been full of activities and fascinating insights into this amazing part of the world. Our planned landing at Kolyuchin Island was thwarted because the landing beach was covered with walrus, so we spent an enjoyable few hours Zodiac cruising off-shore where we got some great views of these unique animals.

We chanced upon a Humpback Whale “convention” where we conservatively estimated there to be around 450 whales grouped together in an area west of Cape Dezhnev. Later in the day after a visit to the village of Uelen, we were to witness a pod of Orca attacking a Humpback Whale, but due to a curtain of fog descending over the ship, were unable to determine the outcome of this encounter. Unfortunately heavy fog and sea conditions later thwarted our plans to land at Cape Dezhnev, but at 2am this morning we made a brief stop at the village of Lavrentiya to drop off two technicians from Chukokta Telecom who had been stranded at Uelen village because of lack of transport. It must be a big challenge to keep telecommunications operating in this part of the world.

This afternoon our assistant Expedition Leader, Elena, will deliver a lecture on “Women in Russia” and we will make the final landing for this voyage.