Episode 6

Our first night after leaving Wrangel Island the heavens put on a show for us. Although the only colour that could be seen was through the camera lens it was still quite a show of swirling white light. It showed up green through the lens, and lasted a good half hour. Although there was quite a bit of cloud about we managed to see plenty.
Our first stop along this north east coast of Russia as we head back towards Bering Strait was to be a small village where a couple of our young Russian students we going ashore to study the Walruses. Outside the weather was deteriorating with heavy clouds and, strong winds and the sea was very rough. So a shore excursion to the village for all of us wasn't possible. The students were taken ashore and watching them as they boarded the zodiac was enough for most of us to accept the fact that it really wasn't a good idea. The trip into the shore and the beach landing was quite a wet affair, by the time the two crew members got back on board they were thoroughly drenched and glad that they hadn't tried to get the rest of us ashore. Disappointing we had to miss our visit to this small native community. As we entered Bering strait the weather got worse and it was nighttime. We all got bounced about in our beds, or at least I did, but then I was sitting on the sofa. L woke up, said something about it being a bit rough, then promptly went back to sleep. It seems she and D were about the only people that weren't bothered by the rough sea. Next morning the major topic seemed to be that most people had got very little sleep although no-one seems to have gotten seaside fortunately. As no landings were scheduled for the morning we all listened to a talk by Chris about the edible plants of the tundra. There really are quite a number of plants that provide a good food source for the local people. Many of these are herbs that belong to the buck wheat family. Of the berries it seems to be only crowberries that will keep over winter. The others, cloud berries, cranberries, and blueberries are enjoyed while fresh as they all quickly go mouldy. Some sea kelps are also harvested and eaten. Some of these plants can be squashed into block form and kept for use during the winter when some of the block is grated into soups and stews. So, it is a myth that these people only eat whale, seal and walrus meat and blabber. These plants form an essential part of their diet, and although the quantity they eat is small these items are high in nutrients and vitamins. The Russian scientist Vasili also gave a talk this time on the animals and birds of Wrangel Is. It seems that the success of each breeding season depends on the amount of snow accumulated over winter. If there is deep snow the lemmings breed well and that is the key. If they breed well there is plenty of food for the snowy owls and the foxes. If the snow is shallow then there are fewer lemmings and the snowy owls and foxes eat more snow geese goslings and take more eggs and birds from the seabird nesting cliffs. The snow owls also take the eider ducklings. Again, it was a very interesting talk. Although Vasili had trouble with his slide show he did show us a wonderful cloud formation that he'd photographed and had won an international competition with it. L didn't have her camera to get a photo of it unfortunately. So once again it was too rough for a landing at Cape Dreznev. We continued on southward to Pengingay fjord. Once into the fjord we anchored and set out again in the zodiacs. This is part of the same complex of waterways and fjords as where we had encountered the whales in the early part of our voyage. We cruised about the fjord looking for any form of wildlife, whales in the sea, brown bears, foxes, and reindeer on land. We encounter a pod of whales and spent a good amount of time watching them. L had to sit right up front in the zodiac and it was bobbing around far too much for her to get any decent photos. Then Howard, our zodiac driver decided he wanted to see if there was anything worth seeing at the far end of the fjord. It took us a good 20 mins at high speed to get within sight of it, then someone spotted a camp on shore and soon after some reindeer silhouetted against the skyline. As we rounded the last bend and came into the head of the fjord we saw a vast number of reindeer. The herders spotted us and came towards the shore to greet us. Our Russian translator, Tanya was in another zodiac and we had to wait for her to arrive before anything more than a general greeting could be exchanged. These herdsmen were very friendly and they offered to bring the herd of reindeer down to the sea so that we could get a good look at them. For my lot it was the 2nd time they had seen such a herd, the previous time it too, had been with Howard as expedition leader on the Aurora cruise off Kamchatka. Apparently it is quite rare for cruises to encounter this. My lot have been just plain lucky! Reindeer have to drink seawater at least once during the summer months. They are all brought to the coast for this purpose. The tundra vegetation is low in trace elements and minerals but the sea water is rich in these same things so drinking the sea water is vital to the health of the animals. The herders sent their well trained dogs around the spread out herd and although it took longer than the crew had allowed for, eventually the animals were herded down towards the water and we got a really good close up look at them. One lady who had not been able to leave the zodiac and walk up the tundra slope found herself to be in prime position as the reindeer almost surrounded her. At this time of year their 'racks' are at their most impressive. Some more impressive than others. All the animals looked to be in really good condition but then if they weren't so at this time of year then they certainly would never make it over the winter months. What stuck L in particular was that there were no younger animals in this herd, all seemed to be fully grown ones. About 1700 in the herd. We had originally set out for about 2.5 hours in the zodiacs, and by this had been out almost 4 hours, L's feet were little blocks of ice, extremely painful from the cold, and she could barely walk. D had tried to walk up the tundra hillside and made himself sick again, he had trouble making it back to the zodiacs, he nearly collapsed on the way. L says her feet are still trying to warm up. After a great outing everyone was glad to be back on board and were soon sitting down eating a later than planned dinner, everyone except David that is, he was too ill again to face dinner. In the early morning we had re-positioned and found ourselves in another part of this huge fjord complex. When L made her early trip to the bridge she could see whales 'blowing' not that far away. Shortly after breakfast we were once again out in the zodiacs, D too, as he really wanted to see more whales. Again they put on a really great display for us. Not as many as the first time but, just as energetic. We had a couple surface right beside our zodiac and one breached so close to us that no-one got a photo because he was too close for the telephoto lenses everyone was using. A couple of people ducked down thinking that this whale planned on joining us in the zodiac. Not sure what good they thought that might do is he had done so. L got a photo of his belly, and we all got splashed as he belly flopped back into the water At least D got to see a good display. As no landing had been planned for this outing L had worn her good new boots and her feet had stayed lovely and warm. So much more comfortable she says. Again the ship re-positioned around lunch time and we then set out for a landing on Yttygran Island. This was to be our last landing. From here it was full steam ahead back to Anadyr. Apparently the ship can only go into and out of that channel to the dock at Anadyr at slack water so timing is everything. Again L chose the medium walk, and this time it was at a more leisurely pace, or everyone made it so. Another group had set out to climb the peak to get a great view, however, we found out later that a few had turned back because it was too steep, while those that made it to the top had some great views along the way but when they reached the top it was shrouded in fog. Meanwhile on our walk with Chris as our guide, he had heard a sandhill crane and then spotted it and got some photos. He also saw and photographed an eagle and we all saw a pair of white swans on a small lake. No-one was quite sure what they were doing there as this is really out of their normal comfort zone. A few eider ducks were paddling around the lake too. Cheryl spotted a vole as we crossed a small stream, a few others got to see it too, but not L of course, nothing stands still long enough for her to see. It was a thoroughly enjoyable walk or several k's and one where L got time to take some photos at least, perhaps not as many as she would have liked. The autumn colours of the tundra were spectacular, golds, tans, russets and deep burgundy coloured foliage, what a wonderful colourful way to spend our last few hours ashore in this arctic wilderness. Do we really have to leave!. Good job L didn't take her eyes off me when she put me down for a photo, I just blended in far too well. Our last day on board was spent making our way back to Anadyr. Still, we were lucky enough to encounter a pod of Fin whales, and this is fairly uncommon as they are quite rare and the 2nd largest of all the whale species. Although L didn't get any photos, she spent a good time watching them through her binoculars. They were hard to get photos of because one never knew just where the next one would pop up and they were only up for a second or two. All too quickly our voyage was over, it was time to bid farewell to the crew and all our fellow passengers. We headed back to Anadyr on the ferry but by now most of the Belugas that had so entertained us two weeks ago had left the area, the salmon run having almost finished. During our stay in Anadyr we meandered around the town and visited the museum. Both my lot took it easy as they tried to get over this bug that had been plaguing them for the last two weeks. One lady at the museum got quite emotional when L told her we were from Australia, she gave us a big hug while tears streamed down her face. She spoke no English at all, and the other lady who guided us around the museum spoke only an odd word of English, but it was enough to help my lot interpret some of the exhibits. Overall it was a very good museum. Our all daylight flight back to Moscow was long but uneventful. We were nearly two hours late arriving into Moscow. Again it took almost an hour for our luggage to appear on the carousal. What the hell do the Russian do with this luggage as much of it had been unloaded before we even got off the plane. L had been able to see it being unloaded while we awaited disembarkation. Our flight had taken over ten hours and we'd had a 9 hour time change. Phew!!!! Before even leaving the terminal D had arranged a taxi to take us to our hotel which was near Sheremeteyvo airport. So once outside we were quickly ushered to our taxi and were on our way along the motorway. This proved to be a far longer journey than we had anticipated, some two and a quarter hours later we arrived after about a 70k journey along Moscows ring roads, for a cost of about $60 AU. Once we got to our room my lot didn't waste any time in having a nice hot shower and heading to bed, it had been a bloody long day. t The following lunch time found us back at Sheremeteyvo airport awaiting our flight to Gatwick. This one left on time, we arrived on time and quickly we had our luggage and were soon on our train to Ford, a train we could take arriving on the platform the same moment we did. It was tipping with rain when we got off but the heavy shower soon passed then D went off and got the car from the lock-up and pretty soon we were once again back at Brookside. Since then nothing more has really happened, so again I am bored out of my stuffing sitting in the van while my lot recover from that bug. © Lynette Regan 21st September 2017