Episode 4

With both my lot feeling up to it they took part in the landing at Unexpected River (don't you just love these names) in the afternoon. It was still very rough and my lot got wet even before the zodiac left the ship, not good, but heck, they really wanted to make the most of this very expensive voyage. On shore D decided that he wasn't up to doing much in the way of walking but L decided she could manage the supposedly shorter walk that was only to be at a moderate pace with time to stop and take photos. I stayed with L and all us walkers set off together over very wet ground, so it was fairly slow especially for L who has to take her time. After about 1 k we split and us medium walk people set off to traverse the hill side whilst the others headed off uphill to a vantage point to get an extensive view of the area.

Being all rugged up for the zodiac trip and because she had a heavy cold L had even more trouble walking and her feet were frozen in the wellington boots. Still she did her best but lagged some way behind most of the walkers so didn't stop for photos as often as she would have liked. She also missed hearing what was said by the ranger that was with us, as he seemed to be setting the pace and was way out in front. By the time L got nearly caught up when he stopped to point out something, he was off again. L found it very frustrating and quite disappointing to miss out hearing what was said and not impressed with the organizers that this was allowed to happen. When my lot had done cruises with Aurora if there was some gem of information to be delivered everyone was given time to gather around and listen but not with this lot.

Finally we came back to the beach and as we made our way back towards the zodiacs we saw that it was much more rough than when we'd landed. We came to an old hunters hut and stopped to have a look inside, much of the old furniture and utensils were still in situ, so we could get some idea of how they lived whilst they were here.

Another kilometre and we finally got back to our starting point where all the others were waiting for the zodiacs. They were nowhere to be seen, they had been anchored off shore and only one dragged up onto the beach. Some of the crew had set off in the zodiac that had been beached to find the others and eventually they came back with them, it had taken quite a while as they had dragged anchor in the windy conditions and drifted quite a long way in the hours we'd been walking.

Then when they starting loading the first zodiac an American lady was washed off the side of the zodiac and dragged completely under water. She was grabbed by both those on board and the person assisting boarding and pulled into the zodiac. She was soaking wet is really cold windy conditions, not good, but it only got worse. Only 1 crew member was properly dressed for standing in the frigid water so he had to stay and assist while the rest of the zodiacs were loaded then we had a 10 minute trip back to the ship. So it was probably a good half hour the poor woman had to sit in the zodiac in soaking wet clothes. This should not have happened. The fact that it did happen was more bad management than bad luck. Fortunately for Nancy she didn't suffer any ill after effects, she didn't even get a cold. If it had happened to David he would have become desperately ill probably. No-one was particularly impressed when the expedition leader tired to brush it off lightly as something to be expected with expedition cruising.

The same expedition leader, Howard, had said when we landed in this spot that a close eye would have to be kept on conditions, then promptly left the beach with those taking the long walk, as did most of the rest of the crew did too. Those that stayed with the short walkers on the beach obviously didn't take any notice or the zodiacs drifting away and the worsening beach conditions. If anyone had needed to be transported back to the ship urgently, then it couldn't have been done.

Fortunately L kept me safe and dry although she got quite wet herself, as much as I moan about her secretarial skills she does look after me well, most times. By the way, our medium walk turned out to be the longest of the walks at over 6k's.

Our next landing on the following day was in much calmer conditions thank goodness. It wasn't at the first choice location as conditions there were similar to what we'd experienced yesterday and no-one really wanted a repeat of that.

We had seen polar bears along the coast as we sailed north so when we anchored the rangers went ashore and had a good look around for polar bears. There was some quite a long way off so it was deemed safe for us to go ashore and do some more walks.

All of us went again, and again D stuck to the short walk on the beach whilst L chose the medium walk. This time it was Uliana (Juliana) one of the Russian rangers who led our group, me being in L's backpack again. Well, if yesterdays lot walked fast, this lot took off like bloody rockets, in no time just 3 or 4 of us were left way behind. Again L was doing her best to keep up and again missed everything that was said. Uliana had set her sights on a particular point but after a good hour decided that it was really not going to be possible to reach that point in the time allowed with us 'slow coaches' holding things up. So we began to make our way back towards the beach and Uliana fell back to mingle with us few stragglers. It was good that she did so too because she pointed out some birds to L, who still couldn't see them and she took a photo of them for L with L's camera. That was very nice of her. She also pointed out some other things that we never would have noticed. Some of the flowers, and a caterpillar that lives in that stage for 8 or 9 years. L managed to get a bit of video of it. Not sure if it will load because L has found that it is very difficult to load photos and videos onto this new blog site we are using.

This walk too, turned out to be longer than the long one, we did almost 7k's, and L feet are very sore from trying to do that distance in gumboots/wellingtons. Her good hiking boots would have still allowed her feet to get wet in some of the deep puddle she landed in, even seeped over the top of the wellingtons a couple of times. I didn't stay so dry this time as L's water bottle leaked on to me and she didn't even get time to stop and have a drink. I soon dried out back in our warm cabin. We had seen some polar bears off on a distant hill side and the 'long' walk people had seen a mush ox off in the distance.

Later that some day there was another zodiac cruise north of our last landing but neither of my lot felt up to it, both were exhausted from the earlier outing. David had been on a zodiac cruise along the coast and they had spotted polar bears on the beach. Several others opted out of this later cruise, probably knackered like my lot.

Uliana gave a talk on the musk ox the next day. It was most interesting. They were re-introduced to the island in 1970, 20 beasts, half of which didn't survive the first year. However, the rest have done remarkably well with close to 1000 being counted in 2006. L thinks that's an incredible increase given that they only have a calf once every two years. Apparently the polar bears don't bother them but the wolves have been known to take calves. Not too many obviously, or they couldn't have multiplied to that extent. Other places in Russia where re-introduction has been attempted its been a complete failure.

Later that day the ship got in as close as it safely could to the island and on shore was the big Russian 6 wheel drive that our 5 overlands we'd put ashore in Doubtful Bay had done their trip up here in. It was too rough for us all to make a shore excursion so one zodiac was sent ashore to take the 5 who were setting off on the trip back south overland to Doubtful Bay and collect those 5 who were returning to the ship. Despite the rough conditions, all went well, no mishaps fortunately. The returning 5 had really enjoyed their overland journey. How much extra they had paid for it L doesn't know but would like to bet that it was quite a substantial figure.

We had no zodiac landings or cruises that day despite the crew being very excited that they could actually see the northern end of the island. Mostly it is shrouded in fog, or else they haven't been able to reach it because of pack ice. This time it was both ice free and fog free, and we were very lucky, even if it was too rough to visit the bird cliffs and make more landing.

Chris, one of the expedition crew gave a talk on the voyage of the Karluk that set out from Vancouver Island in 1913. What an adventure that proved to be for those that survived. The last remaining survivor of that trip was an Inuit woman who had been just a small child at the time, she passed away in 2008 aged 97. For anyone who might be interested there is a book called 'Ice Master" by Jennifer Niven about the expedition. L says she will try and find that book sometime.

© Lynette Regan 13th September 2017