June 20-22 2016  Moscow Moscow dah dah dah ........ 

One of the things we missed seeing on our train journey was the Ural Mountains. It was a little disappointing as they mark the transition from Asia to Europe and take me back to enjoyable geography lessons at high school, but what can you do? we crossed them in the dead of night. However ......Moscow! 

This could only be Moscow!

It is huge, almost overwhelming, architecturally grand, crowded, fascinating, elegant in a way that redefines 'cosmopolitan'. Famous names, buildings and historic events confronted us at every corner. We walked and walked taking in the heart of Moscow from Red Square and the Kremlin to the magnificent Metro stations with their mosaics and sculptures. Dimitri, like all our Russian guides, was very knowledgeable and had a deep passion for his country. Our Russian guides all had tertiary degrees in languages, tourism etc and they were always open to probing questions so we felt very fortunate.

A different perspective on this fantastic cathedral

The big highlight for me, well there were two actually, but the first - St Basil's cathedral! Wow and again wow! We visited it two days in a row. First to walk the perimeter and take lots of photos and simply soak in its beauty and then to return the following day to explore its inner depths. It was a Lewis Carroll dream in living colour - cupolas of  brightly coloured boiled lollies of giant proportions, domes of colour and phantasmagorical patterns - I walked around with my mouth hanging open. Everywhere you looked was something new - turn a corner and look up and there's another dome or spire or new roof perspective, a different pattern painted or carved and almost hidden in a small alcove or high under a lofty domed ceiling a quirky totally unnecessary decoration tucked into an unexpected spot. What a fantasy place! We climbed narrow spiral stairs between floors and in one magic moment I turned a corner in a narrow passage way and heard the most beautiful singing. One could have imagine that Angels live in this glorious place and do nothing but sing with joy or sorrow. But no, it was a small group of monks lost in a Gregorian chant which echoed down through the darkness of this one frescoed passage in the vast labyrinth of curved passages and rooms.

It is everything people say it is - and more!

In the end of course, we had to leave but it was a 'bucket list' day for me. Why? because as well as visiting this magical place, which incidentally was built to celebrate vanquishing the Mongols, we visited a few underground Metro stations. Words fail me as always, but the stations we visited lived up to my expectations. Intricate mosaics and bas-relief sculptures, massive bronze statutes gleaming gold where people touch them every day on their way to and from work - a boys knee, a dogs nose and so on for luck or peace. All the images and cameos told the history of Moscow and Russia. They are palaces for the people, history and art museums built into everyday life. 

I have forgotten so much of the history and certainly the dates except for one that still amazes. Russia was baptised as a Christian nation in the 17th century. Why I didn't know this I can't imagine. I had imaged its Christian orthodox roots went a long way back in history. I am determined to read more Russian history (as well as of that of Armenia and Georgia but more of that later). If I have it wrong I wouldn't be surprised as we have been almost overwhelmed with information but it seems that around this time Christianity made a push into the lands of  Slavic tribal groups and aboriginal  lands of what we know as Siberia.

Absolutely beautiful full of marble, chandeliers and mirrors. Opened in 1901.

 We had our Moscow guide for an entire day and what a day! We headed out at 9am (after our 4am arrival!) and didn't stop till after 7pm. After a whirl wind day of walking around buildings, the Metro, Red Square etc etc and a visit to Moscow's oldest supermarket, Gastronomia Eliseevsky, our journey of discovery with Dimitri wrapped up with a visit to a most unusual place. Tsiferblat, a coffee 'shop' where you pay for time spent there rather than what you consume.  It felt a little like a secret club - ring a bell on the wall and you are let into an old building, climb the stairs and knock - no password require but it felt like that. Once inside you are greeted warmly, told to select a clock all of which are named (ours was Eva) and that is recorded with the time and your name and then you simple wander until you find a corner to your liking, make yourself a drink and chill out.  We were entertained by two different pianists, casual, spontaneous, just enjoying themselves playing for no one in particular. All very arty and rather reminiscent of the atmosphere of the coffee shops of the 60s, but one could image Dostoyevsky and Pushkin lounging there engrossed in philosophical debate.

This small plaque on the wall with an intercom. Enter via an ordinary door in an apartment building, mount the stairs and there it is -  Tsiferblat

The next day we headed out again in our own to negotiate our way through the Metro to spend time on the Red tourist bus for a more global view of the city.  We ended up spending at least 5 hours in a whirl wind tour which took in history, architecture, politics, religion etc. All too much to relate here - even if one could remember it all! But we saw old and ancient history celebrated in bronze statues in prime positions on front of new modern edifices, examples of architecture like the 'Seven Sisters' from Stalinist time reaching above the horizon like adornments on a crown. Moscow's architecture was strongly influenced by some of the wonderful buildings of early 20th century USA - the Chrysler and Flat Iron buildings for example.

The following day was our last in Russia and we had but a morning to snatch a last look at this intriguing city. We visited the Izmaylovo markets. Borrowed I am sure from children's literature, it is a conglomeration of fantasy shapes and images ..... Google it! A crowded colourful and typical market to tempt tourists and locals alike. We had no room in our cases to buy anything but the draw card really was the roof of the market.

The roofline of this market is phantasmagorical

So ended our wonderful sojourn in Russia.

June 9 to 20 2016   Russia - east to west 

The Golden Horn bridge looms out of the mist 

I could never do justice to our journey across Russia's vast planes, marshes and mountains, not to mention its monumental cities and intriguing and, for us largely not understood, history. I'd be talking about attempting something in the proportions of 'War and Peace'! Suffice it to say it was exciting, engaging, challenging, intriguing and memorable. From misty Vladivostok where we had a wonderful guide who walked and talked us through much of the city's history over the last century - its involvement in numerous wars, it's naval history and to the post soviet period when it opened its doors to visitors. We skinnied through old submarines, mounted the decks of a ship that was built for the Russian-Japanese war, lit candles in a church rebuilt after the Soviet period, strolled through a Friday farmers market in the centre of town which sold just about everything you could image (and some things we simply couldn't identify) - fresh and dried fish and meats, gruesome cuts of 'meat', cheese local and imported, fruit and vegetables local and imported, honey from many different trees and flowers, flowers, plants and herbs. There we bought fresh food for lunch as she, Anna, had invited us to her home for some Russian home cooking.
We were very fortunate to have had the opportunity to peak into the life of Vladivostok proper away from the tourist trail - off Broadway so to speak. For us the city was a little reminiscent of San Fransisco with its steep streets and stairs, busy harbour front, Golden Gate/Horn bridge shrouded in fog. Two days and we were off again.

Every carriage had a samovar  on the boil

Smoked salmon by the rails and by the bucketful 

The Trans Siberian train journey, which we started 11 June, was a wonderful adventure made just that little bit more challenging as we could speak and understand only a very few Russian words and the train stewards didn't speak any English. We managed - most of the time! We arrived in Irkutsk (Siberia, central Russia and part of the Asian continent), the so-called Paris of Russia, after 3 days of misty weather and soft grey skies which threw into stark relief the vast green meadows we passed as we traveled west, lush grass we wished we could have gathered by the armful and taken home, marshes and huge rivers, villages and shepherds cottages. We spent a lot of time just gawping out the window. 

One cathedral to survive the Soviet era

In Irkutsk we paused our trans-Siberian journey for a couple of days so we could explore the city and the nearby Lake Baikal which holds a quarter of the world's fresh water.  It is enormous! During our time in Irkutsk we learnt a little about the region's, and in fact Siberia's, history from early and more more recent tribal pagan times through the introduction of Christianity in 17th century, the Soviet period in the 20th century and finally to the present time of renewal. We walked through one of the villages on the banks of Lake Baikal, took a chair lift to a high vantage point to peer into the distance trying to see the distant shores - we couldn't, but we got the chance to sit on a rocky spire when once the villagers sent people accused of a crime to spend the night exposed to the elements. If they were alive in the morning they were deemed innocent!

Two days of walking and our feet were very happy to mount the steps of the train for the next leg of the train journey west to Moscow 4 days away.

Lake Baikal

As an aside, we ate well along the entire route - self-catering for breakfast and lunch with packet soup, salami and cheese bought at the markets, fruit, pastries and, what we hoped were, hard-boiled eggs bought in a point and nod with fingers crossed at whistle stops along the way.

The scenery was beautiful - forests of conifers, birch, beech, willow, poplars, wild flowers of all descriptions including hollyhocks, wild roses, lupin, lilacs. And the colours - white and all shades of pink, purple, mauve, blue, yellow!

Charging batteries for our various devices was a bit of a challenge, but we found a 220W outlet in the dinning car and sat over a glass or two of wine whiling away the time as our various things recharged.  Oh, that life could always be as complicated as that!!

Bogey tappers! testing for cracks

It was a memorable journey peppered with funny and not so funny moment like having to dash off the train at a small station in the middle of nowhere in the wee hours for just that - the toilets on the train were locked approaching and while at stations and having just woken I simply couldn't wait!! Lindsay stood guard at the door of the train, not that he could have done anything if the train had started to pull out, but he had an anxious eye on his watch - Russian trains leave and arrive at precisely the scheduled time to the second! It was a hurried and hilarious pit stop!

We rolled into Moscow at 4am two days before the summer solstice so the sun, and us, had been up for some time, and staggered onto the platform with our way-to-heavy luggage packed for Arctic and Mediterranean climates - plus those ..%#*^.... gumboots! And so we started another highpoint of our journey ...........

I am writing this from Gudauri a ski resort nestled in the very heart of the Greater Caucasus mountains but that will have to wait until later. We still have Moscow and Armenia to explore.

June 7-8 2016  Kunashi, bears and sad farewells

This is nigh on the perfect volcano - a cone within a cone.

Today was our last day in the Kurils before heading for Sakhalin and the end of our 'expedition'. We spent the morning in the national park on the largest of the Kuril Islands - Kunashir. Three 'armed' rangers met us on the beach just as the sun was climbing out of the sea to escort us for the morning - there are lots of bears on the island as well as foxes and wolverines and particularly in the national park. And just to reinforce the potential for a dangerous encounter, a big brown bear made an appearance as soon as we arrived.

We split up into 3 groups - 2 to go birding and the third to explore the beach (that's me and a handful of others including a volcano devotee from Paris).

Total tranquility 

Bears and red foxes fossicked on the beach for delicacies 

The iridescence in the early morning sky provided a perfect backdrop to a magic morning. Our particular ranger-guard, Uri, is an entomologist and together he and I rescued a caterpillar crawling on the wet sand - bizarre. He and I strolled in companionable silence taking it all in.

We wandered for over three hours and managed to see 3 bears and 4 red foxes as well as a number of dinner-plate sized jellyfish and tiny krill and masses of sea and beach debris. It was quiet, tranquil and warm and just being out there with only the sound of the waves running back over rocks and pebbles was nigh on perfect. I collected shells, rocks and lava and Uri found some beautiful coloured pebbles for my bulging pockets. I tend to clink a lot when I go beach combing and have to keep hauling my pants up because of the weight of my specimens.

this was one of the big jelly fish I found (the tip of my stick for size comparison)

Leonid, our Kuril Island expert, was in his element. It is here that he brings school children to camp out under the stars, to learn to live as the aboriginals Kuril islanders lived foraging for food such as krill and shell fish on the beach and in the shallow waters, and to identify and collect edible herbs. What an experience!

I don't recall what this plant was but like many of our native plants, it is edible.

Back on board and after lunch Leonid gave the final lecture - Russia and Japan in the Kurils at the end of WWII. The conversation about occupation and 'ownership' of these islands continues - it's a bit of a hot potato politically, and I suspect the conversation between Leonid and Fujio is not over.

Our final night on board was quite festive. Passengers and staff dressed up a bit even if it was just adding a clean shirt, a scarf or a bit of lippy.  The atmosphere was definitely party and dinner was a special banquet affair.  After a bit of an informal debrief, we finished the night with a slide show of the entire cruise complete with passengers and staff caught in odd moments;  we all received a copy to bring home. What memories have!

Packing up and saying goodbye was quite sad. Leonid sought me out and he and I spent some final moments talking in our halting Russo-English about his family, us making a return visit, and having a few hugs.  He is such a lovely unforgettable man who helped make that part of our trip a bit more special for me.

Our journey continues westwards ............

Sadly we said farewell to the sea.

Thanks Wild Earth Travel and Heritage Expeditions for a voyage of a life time. We look forward to the next!

June 6 2016   Hot springs and dobri Russki  

Today we went inland with a packed lunch for a change. Once we beached our zodiacs, we were piled into 3 monstrous trucks and taken to the mountains on the island of Iturup to visit their hot springs. We drove through a few villages on the way which gave us the opportunity to see how the local people live - we had local school teachers as translators so we were able to ask a few questions.  Fishing is the main, perhaps the only, industry that keeps the villages ticking. There is little tourism apart from the occasional 'expedition' ship like ours so we had a chance to see things exactly as they are. 

We drove up and up through forests and across rivers and ravines with the patches of snow increasing as we went. For us who rarely see snow in winter, seeing it in summer was a little bizarre. The air was filled with the smell of Christmas trees and the sound of masses of small birds (wrong word to describe birds I know, sorry) chirruping away from the scrub, trees and bamboo thickets - the wild variety of bamboo that grows on the islands is not tall (and there are no pandas!!)

We made a number of stops to check out the birds.

The road down to the hot springs was steep and covered in snow in sections and we reached a point where the lead driver pulled up and refused to go any further. So out we clambered to tackle the rest of the way on foot, but after checking out the decline I reckoned it was much too steep and slippery for me to climb back up comfortably so Lindsay and I retraced our steps to a safe place and sat on a rock to have our picnic lunch and wait for the others to return - keeping a watchful eye open for bears. Were we worried? .... weellll not hugely, why? I don't know as there were bears know to be in the area, but here we are!

We were surrounded by silence as we picnicked alone in that beautiful little piece of wildness! But that was soon shattered by the return of the trucks which had gone back a ways to park. The long and short if it was that eventually when our lovely driver, the man with a golden smile (all his front teeth were entirely gold!) discovered that I was afraid I couldn't make it to the springs, he walked down the track, even after his fellow driver had done the same reconnoitre and put the kibosh on it, to check the road conditions for himself. When he came back up he piled me and Lins and another person into his truck and 'walked' it down the slope and then guided us on foot down the last little steep stretch to the hot pools and waterfall. The other drivers wouldn't go there. At one stage he actually reversed down the slope. What can you say in face of such kindness? He was obviously keen for us to share the beauty of his island.  We felt very privileged (particularly as he didn't go back for a few others who were similarly concerned like me).  The only explanation I can think of is that people are very responsive when you try to communicate with them in their own language - believe me I can speak very few words of Russian, but those few combined with sign language and many 'thank yous' and smiles carry you a long way. 

Pale blue warm water captured a few brave dippers!

In spite of being totally out of puff, the effort was worth it. There perched on the side of a very steep mountain was a cascading 'waterfall' of pale blue warm water trapped for a spell in a couple of shallow pools surrounded by rocks and crossed by a wooden bridge.  Quite lovely! swimming was out for me given the time (and bruised rib cage) but I managed to have a bit of a paddle. Yay!

Getting back up that slope in the truck was a challenge for 'golden smile' but we made it!

We have been treated so generously and with genuine kindness from so many of the Russians we have met. It has been quite humbling. 

June 4-5 2016   Brimstone, lava and auklets! 

Yankicha - sulphur and steam

I wimped out of joining the shore party the next day to the island of Simushir. The weather was better but the swells were still large. Getting up and down the gangway, which cunningly masquerades as a ladder, and climbing in and out of the zodiacs in clumping great gum boots, carrying your 'stuff' and togged up to the eyeballs in full wet weather gear is hard enough, but with a swell of a couple of metres and the time between swells not long enough to allow for any wrong steps or slips - forget it! What a wuss - I had also injured a rib and had a bit if pain (don't ask), but that sealed the deal for me.  As it turned out, after three attempts only one boat got to shore, one boat got loaded but had to turn back and those watching and waiting to board very wisely decided against it.  It was disappointing as the landing was to be in a flooded caldera, the island of Simushir.

Exploring within the drowned caldera of Yankicha

So we moved to the Plan B which turned out to be spectacular which had us doubling back to Yankicha, another flooded caldera. We disembarked very late afternoon to take a stroll through a field of vents belching sulphurous fumes straight from the centre of the earth I am certain!  You could almost hear the flames licking, the lava bubbling and the fiends screeching for you to come step into their world. OK, so it wasn't quite like that, but peering into those dark yellow-encrusted holes was eerie not to mention a little hard on the lungs. The crust was thin in places so you had to be a bit careful where you put your feet. Quite awesome really!

This is Leonid. I learnt much about the islands and their vegetation from him.

Then we piled back into the zodiacs to cruise around the caldera as the light was fading and the cute little auklets - crested and whiskered - started their massed flight into the caldera to roost for the night.  Looking up all one could see were millions of birds layer upon layer, turning and soaring in great dark feathered-clouds like swarms of midges above and around you and way out to sea.  We stayed for hours it seemed watching them chattering with each other, squabbling over spots to sit, and eventually hopping up or flying to their burrows which pock-marked the entire inside of the caldera.  And still they kept coming. The seething mass of birds provided a wonderful 'eat all you want' smorgasbord for the large gulls and Arctic foxes who just picked them off at will. Some of the gulls caught them mid air, some stole their prey from other gulls mid air or plucked single birds from among a cluster of birds straight off the rocks.  It was an astonishing and ghastly performance. We returned to ship for a very later dinner - 10pm, but it was worth it.

A whiskered auklet.  Absolutely adorable

We saw real live lava!!

It was now early Sunday morning and we were anchored off Chirpoy, place of living breathing moving lava - that day at least! There had been reports that the volcano had been erupting but they weren't sure if it was still active so a small party went out very early in the morning to check it out. We got the green flag and we were away, a small flotilla of black rubber heading for the lava flow. First we simply saw old lava flows ragged, sharp and craggy. We passed towering cliffs spotted with nesting kittiwakes and then rounded a point and ..... wow!

At the edge of the flow - rock and ash tumbling into the sea 

We were confronted by a huge smoking crumbling 'cliff' about 30-40 meters high extending about a kilometre. It was a wall of smoking rock - black, brown, reddish brown. Every 5 minutes or so a section would collapse into the sea creating great clouds of steam and smoke filling the air with sulphurous fumes and rending the air like thunder. It was mighty! Awesome! A once in a life time kind of thing. We got our fill of it - almost! But eventually we had to leave and headed back to the ship flying across quite choppy seas, getting doused with spray as we smashed through the waves, but buoyed up with the wonder of seeing the earth move so to speak, trying to imagine the force that kept pushing billions of tons of rock into the sea. We worry about rising sea levels - here we saw it live with the added dimension of tons of green house gasses being released into the atmosphere. Words fail me!

June 2-3 2016   Volcanoes, katabatic winds and big seas  

The base of Taketomi with the small climbing party

I'm sure the last two mornings were dress rehearsals for this morning which saw us in the 'briefing' room at 6am for a 6.30am zodiac boarding. Overnight we had reached the most northern of the Kuril Islands - Atlasova, which boasts the highest volcano in the Kuril Archipelago, Alaid at 2340m, as well as one of the youngest. Taketomi which came into being I think in 1932 is a mammoth consolidated pile of the rocks and ash spewed out in that mighty eruption. We were to visit quite a number of the spectacular Kuril islands over the following 6 days, but this morning was special - Lindsay climbed Taketomi! Led by Leonid, our resident vulcanologist, and accompanied by 'Team Russia', as our 4 Muscovite fellow passengers had been tagged. He climbed right to the top which was no mean feat given he had to clamber over rocks and plough upward through compacted albeit somewhat unstable ash to about the height of a 30 story building or more. He came back down hours later beaming, albeit exhausted.

The remnants of the the fish processing plant and associated structures

Nervous of tackling the rocks as well as the steep climb, and reassured that there were few bears on the island, I set off alone for a little beach-combing under the watchful eye of a Largh seal and discovered lots of treasures and curiosities - shells, plants and rocks. I then headed away from the beach to tramp through the grass, scrub and sand dunes on the fringes of the island. I wandered around the remains of an abandoned fish processing plant which had been operated mainly by women who were shipped in specifically for the job; contrary to some beliefs, was not a gulag.  I fought my way through tangled mats of long grass in my oversized gumboots, skirted round dense thickets of dwarf alder trees just starting to pop out their fragrant catkins and in many places under the stunted trees I found carpets of a herbs whose foliage looked and smelled like the fronds of carrots. That and stinging nettles, which I carefully stepped around, were once used by the Ainu (aboriginals of the Kuril islands) to 'preserve' their meats. The herbs were placed in alternating layers with meat (seal, sea cow, otter, fish etc), seaweed and other herbs with insect repelling properties and hot rocks in a deep pit and then covered with earth.  Sound familiar?! Well in fact the belief is that these people were related to Polynesians. 

All the while I was tramping, I kept an eye on Alaid volcano and saw it slowly emerge from the fog which had completely blanketed the island when we landed. And finally voila there is was ..... quietly belching out plumes of smoke and ash - looking exactly like what is was. Quite awesome!

Mt Alaid (2340 m), the highest volcano in the Kuril Archipelago

Then it was back to the ship for a very late brekkie. Now that's the way to start a day!

We weighed anchor after brekkie to head south to Onekotan sailing on the western side of the archipelago in the Sea of Okhotsk in an attempt to avoid the heavy seas produced by a cyclonic, or anticyclonic, weather pattern (not sure which). Even so the sea got bigger and bigger as the day wore on which was quite thrilling - watched from the warmth and safety of the bridge! Birds were tossed about in the winds that reached 80-90 knots by the end of the day. The swells were growing in size and were made more ominous looking as the wind scooped up and flung huge walls of spray into the air and way up onto the monkey deck and across the windows of the bridge (I am sure there's a more nautical name of those).  The winds were intensified as they swept down the sides of the volcanoes and hills - I believe that is called the Katabatic effect. One was tempted to have a quiet little worry about our little ship's ability to stay upright in swells which had us clinging tight to what ever hand holds we could find. But we were, well I was at least, reassured that all was fine that the Professor Khromov could handle 50 foot seas without a problem - it was built as a metrological and hydrological research ship and designed to survive huge seas and ice. Even so we spent the night sailing up and down in the lee of Onekotan, along with another ship, for safety. Meal time and sleep were interesting experiences!

The captain left the safety of Onekotan around 4am and headed further south, but that morning the sea was still too big to launch the zodiacs so we spent a day at sea entertained brilliantly with a series of lectures - the habitat and behaviour of orcas/'killer whales', a potted history of Russian and Japanese occupation of the Kuril Islands in the first half of 20 century, and bird migration.  They were all quite fascinating but we were all anxious to get back into those zodiacs and explore - the next day hopefully. I have discovered that I love being in small boats surrounded by the heaving sea - it is like being in the embrace of a huge moving and mostly unpredictable beast, so much raw power is impossible to comprehend. But there have been magical times too when the surface is like satin and all you can hear is gentle lapping, slurping sounds in the silence with land a long way off.

Life on board an expedition ship is a far cry from your usual cruise ship - which is perfect for us.  There are no lifts, stairs are narrow and steep and space is tight especially when 40 odd people are running up and down between decks, the bridge etc when calls go out that a whale has been spotted at 11 o'clock off the bow or Dall's dolphins are riding the bow wave or the rarely-sighted short tail Albatros is circling the ship. Even the commonest of sightings bring people up on deck, binoculars and cameras at the ready. There is a constant buzz aboard ship. The quietest spot is usually the library/bar where people go to read, sort and upload photos, doze over a cuppa - except during happy hour that is!

June 1 2016  Bukhta Russkaya and Stellar sea lions 

Kayakas preparing to paddle the fiord

Bukhta Russkaya is one of Kamchatka's fiords and quite spectacular. We anchored as far up the fiord as possible around 7am (so you know what time we had breakfast .... hmmmm?!) and some went ashore, including Lindsay, to explore all the while keeping a careful eye out for bears who are known to wander around the abandoned buildings of what was once a settlement/base, maybe a border guard post - ship hulks, abandoned boats and even the remains of a crashed helicopter littered the shore. There was quite a bit of snow around and Lindsay walked in drifts knee deep - thank goodness for the gum boots!  No bears were seen thank goodness, but they are not aggressive we were told unless frightened or trapped and then they can become dangerous.  The idea is to make lots of noise to scare them off if they come near. So a couple of the staff packed crackers and pepper spray just in case - bears are loved and protected in the whole region.

Once the small landing group had finished having a look around, we weighed anchor and headed for the mouth of the fiord where we loaded into zodiacs for a magical few hours of  exploring the coast in our trusty zodiacs hoping to find a colony of Stellar sea lions and hopefully spot some Orcas, those amazing black and white whales/large dolphins with huge straight dorsal fins - Killer whales, a misnoma. 

A cluster of very vocal Stellar sea lions 

The scenery was magnificent - awesome towering sheer cliff faces, steep ravines and crevasses lined with snow mixed with scree. Snow topped the cliffs and spread down slopes and some rocks and cliffs were also frosted with 'bird snow'.

We saw Stellar eagles (they are about the size of our wedgies) perched high on the cliffs, masses of other birds including gorgeous Tufted Puffins clinging to cliff walls, sea otters and we found the colony of Stellar sea lions. Actually we heard it before we saw it - 20 odd snorting, honking, barking red brown lumps of furry blubber.  Man, they big and the couple of males were humongous! There was a batch of solar panels powering monitoring equipment tucked on top of the rocky outcrop that the colony calls home.

We had a date to meet the kayakers at the entrance to fiord at noon so we turned seaward and crashed and thudded our way back to the ship across a sea of heaving grey satin. There was little wind and we had clear view for miles until the fog and mist started to roll in from the ocean and down from the cliff tops.

Mother ship!

It was a pretty special morning and the excitement of seeing these amazing wild creatures up close made us numb to the sharp sting of sea spray that doused us as we made our way back for lunch.  In spite of being rugged up warmly, it is cold out on the sea in those little rubber dinghies particularly when you're barrelling along at maybe 20 knots .......... brrrrrr, but you wouldn't miss it for quids! 

May 31 2016   Zhupanova river and southward 

We have been treated to some really interesting lectures on various local wild life and before we go ashore or on zodiac expeditions we are always well briefed on what to expect - a bit about the history and wild life. This morning in preparation for our southward journey through the Kuril Islands, we had a short lecture from Leonid a longtime resident of one of the Kurils by choice, but Ukrainian by birth.  He is a volcanologist and naturalist and also a passionate historian and champion of the Kuril Island Archipelago. He gave us an introduction to the recent history as well as the aboriginals of the region, the Ainu. He speaks little English so the lecture was in Russian with Katya, assistant expedition leader, interpreting. I have since engaged in halting conversation with Leonid and he is quite delightful, gentle, helpful and caring. One of the passengers, Fujio Mizuoka a Japanese professor of geography, raised a small challenge to some of what Leonid talked about so it was agreed that he would be given an opportunity to give the passengers a different perspective.

Heading up river

After lunch  we piled into the zodiacs and headed ashore for a trip up the Zhupanova river. At the mouth of the river there is a large lagoon on the banks of which is a large fish processing plant - this is a land of fishes and fishers! Unfortunately it wasn't operational so we didn't get a chance to inspect. No matter we just headed on up stream to find some Eagles. It was a grey, watery vista: quiet and beautiful with snow covered peaks as a backdrop, a broad expanse of fast flowing river edged with willows, birches and other trees just starting to throw out pale green buds, and long blonde grass flattened by months under snow.

Watching and counting Aleutian terns

A very gentle peaceful landscape. We spotted Harbour and Largh seals who popped their heads up to check out who was invading their territory, 3 large black and white Stellar eagles on nests and various other birds, and a couple of people also saw Musk rats and marmots. Eventually we had to turn the boats around and head back to the lagoon to meet up with the kayakers and offload two thirds of the people to go tromping through the marsh looking for a special albeit elusive bird. The rest of us headed back to the ship and hot drinks.

Dinner was latish but worth the wait - roast lamb or chicken.  We are served 3 courses each night and we are finding it a bit too much but it is all delicious and the daily menu deliciously varied.

Tomorrow we explore a fiord on the southern end of Kamchatka.

May 30 2016  A little piece of paradise - Medney Island 

Another early start today - breakfast 6am, briefing 6.45 for a 7.15 departure - in order to maximise our time exploring Medney Island, the other large island in the Commander Islands chain, before sailing back west towards the Kamchatka Peninsula to venture up one of the large east coast rivers.

Scrambling aboard - careful not to slip!

Before I go into detail about this beautiful island, let me tell you about boarding a zodiac. Bear in mind that we are dressed in a few layers of warm clothing, hats gloves etc finished off with wet weather outer layer - pants and coat plus clumping great gum boots a few sizes too big - all of which hamper movement somewhat. We line up and wait our turn to go down the gangway. Oh and I should mention that 90% of the passengers are over 60. The gangway is a stair-like ladder swaying with the ship and feels like it is held together with rope - it's not of course but it's a wobbly affair.  We are helped individually into a zodiac by a couple of sailors using a 'sailors' grip to avoid hands slipping. You have to step onto the pontoon of the zodiac first then down into the boat, perch on the pontoon, shuffle down to the back and hang on. We zap across the waters like a small flotilla of harlequin beetles - black upturned carapaces dotted with bright spots of colour - there are usually 5 boats that head out. The first time was a bit nerve racking but the ride has become quite exhilarating (depending which driver you get). 

Landing at a totally deserted beach on a deserted island

We landed at Preobrazhenskaya Bay which had seen a settlement established by Russians for the collection of seal, sea lion and sea otter pelts. That was a dark piece of history but the settlement was abandoned, I don't recall when, and the remnants of the settlement left to rot. 

A large group went off bird watching, a few intrepid trekkers walked up snow covered mountains, over headlands, cliffs and rocks and I explored plant life and rocks. I found masses of beautiful green rocks which I reckoned contained copper which makes sense - I found out later that apparently Medney means copper. They had attempted to mine it at one stage but it was too hard to extract. It was all quite fascinating for me discovering strange plants including cow parsley which the bears eat. It grows about 3 feet high and when it dries, it leaves a stiff hollow stalk which the aboriginal people used to stuff with salmon roe and then dry and smoke it over the fire. They would then take these nutritious snacks with them when they went  hunting or travelling.  I saw an Arctic fox also know as a blue fox because of the bluish tinge to its summer brown coat; their winter coat is pale golden. They are around the size of a kelpie.

After our wander, we piled back into the zodiacs to explore the cost line.

Bird-snow decorated cliffs

Medney is stunningly beautiful! Towering moss covered cliffs some with grass mats on top like strange looking wigs, caves and tiny hollows where sea birds nest. The sea was fairly calm as we glided through kelp forests that hugged the cliffs and provide a safe haven for sea otters. Our little flotilla had an audience - curious sea otters kept popping their heads up in ones and twos, mums with their young on their bellies, to check us out. Adorable! They float on their backs while not diving.  Sea urchins are their food of choice but they also eat clams and other crustaceans which they gather lots of then tuck them into skin flaps under their arms before surfacing to eat it floating on their backs often using rocks and shells to crack open their food, clever things. 

Hugging rugged coastal cliffs - thrilling!

We cruised slowly around rocky headlands, passed beaches littered with debris, mainly large logs, maneuvered between rocking outcrops 'iced' with 'bird snow' and poked into the entrances of large sea caverns. I spotted  a few pairs of horned puffins - they are soooo cute! They perch and nest on the tiniest rock ledges and their babies learn to fly by basically falling off. I was very happy and there was so much more yet to come - what a magic holiday!

We rode back to the ship in dense fog which had started to descend around noon. An absolutely perfect morning.  The afternoon we set course for the Zhupanova River on the east coast of Kamchatka to search for ginormous Stellar Eagles.

May 29 2016  The Commander Islands

We didn't sleep well our first night on board - everything a bit strange, constant movement, and we were awakened very early by an announcement that a couple of blue whales had been sighted.   We all dashed up to the top deck above the Bridge, the 'monkey deck', but saw nothing except lots of fog. But that set us all on alert for further sightings. We spent a bit of time on deck watching but eventually Lindsay and I, and a lot of others, headed for the Bridge and a little warmth.

That first morning the sea was like satin pewter - so smooth. It became a little more choppy as the day wore on and the fog swept in from the north east only to peter out after a little while. 

I was feeling the effects of our many days of travel plus the unfamiliarity and excitement of being at sea so I had a rest with my book in the afternoon.  I had just drifted off to sleep when another whale call came over the PA system so I rolled off the bunk grabbed my binoculars and headed to the Bridge.  Then we saw them - two fin whales breaching the waves and blowing spouts of water high in the air.  So magnificent, they had us all entranced until they disappeared into the depths not to resurface for a long time.

We saw a number of species of birds throughout the day - albatros, fulmars, gulls, petrols, guillemots, and even the gorgeous puffins, the birds I most wanted to see.

That evening Lindsay faded and had to return to our cabin before he had finished dinner.  He was headachy and feeling seedy. It had all caught up with him, poor thing. But after a night's sleep he was fine.  I reckon we are both adjusting to the constant motion. It can be a bit unsettling, so I've been chewing ginger 'lollies', drinking lemon and ginger tea and have taken some ginger tablets - just in case.

Landing on Bering Island

 This morning we arrived at Bering Island, the largest in the Commander Archipelago which extends east to join the Aleutian Islands.  We were dragged from slumber at 6am for breakfast as we were heading off early for the island in the Zodiacs - a whole new experience for us.  We had a briefing before we left about what to do and what not to do and were then sent off to don layers of warm clothes, wet weather gear, gum boots, life jackets and line up at the gangplank - after washing our boots to remove any nasty exotics which might threaten native flora or fauna.  We looked hilarious bundled up to the eye brows and looking twice our normal size with thermals, parkas, raincoats, scarves etc etc.  Getting down the gangplank in gum boots and then stepping into a bobbing rubber boat was a little nerve wracking to say the least.  But we did it and set off bouncing from wave to wave, through light rain for the 1km ride to the landing which was a 'wet' one i.e., we disembarked in the water, hence the need for gum boots.

Skeleton of a Stellar sea cow - now extinct

Man was it cold! We split up into two groups - the mad birdies, including Lindsay, who planned to walk for about 3 hours in the rain and icy wind and the sensible ones who chose to go to the museum and to visit a local eccentric artist in the village of Nikolskoye. Not surprisingly I chose the latter! But even so we had a long walk in the freezing wind and rain.  Thank goodness for wet weather clothes is all I can say. I wore just my thermals with parka, waterproof pants and raincoat and felt completely warm except for my face which froze. 

It was a very interesting visit and we left there knowing a little more about the discovery,  exploration, history and in fact the very existence of what was for me an unknown part of the world.  (As I write this I have to brace myself on the chair and keep track of the iPad on the little desk top as the ship tosses and rolls in a swell of 3 meters.  It's hard work).

Back on board ship, we warmed up with a delicious lunch of seafood chowder. The afternoon was cold, windy and wet but three zodiacs took off nevertheless with a few stalwarts to cruise around a small island a few ks away. I stayed back and was glad I did as they came back looking rather shell-shocked after braving rough seas and driving rain. Embarking and disembarking in rough seas is fraught with danger as you have to step onto a moving narrow target. In spite of that, only a few people fell into the boats and none went in the water - except for one of the kayakers who went under. No harm was done.  The kayakers are all Aussies and in their 60s - they are inspiring. 

In the evenings the bar opens about 6.30 and people gather to have a drink and chat before dinner. It's a great time and very informal.  Well actually the whole thing is informal apart from having to observe the safety rules of the ship, landings and boarding etc. Throughout the day, calls goes out that a particular bird or cetacean has been spotted and people appear out of cabins hastily donning coats and hats with binoculars in hand to dash outside or climb to the Bridge for a better look. Everything stops for a special sighting, meals are delayed if it means we get to hop into the zodiac and head for shore. For example, as I write this 3 June, it is 6.40pm and we are waiting to see if the zodiacs will be launched for a trip ashore at Matur Island in the Kuril Archipelago and the kayakers are also waiting to see if it is safe for them to attempt a paddle.  I won't be going as it is too rough for my liking - we will see soon enough, but dinner could be late!  A report on that later ..........

May 2016  Life on an expedition ship

Our final day it PK was one spent waiting.  Luggage pick up at 12 noon, bus pick up 3.30 for a 6pm departure which as it turned out was delayed until 9.30pm due to a technicality. So our first dinner on-board was while we were still tied up in Kamchatka. Speaking of food - it is excellent and plentiful - breakfasts comprise all manner of cereal including porridge, fresh fruit from as far away Ecuador, sweet pastries, eggs, bacon, sausages and beans (they have two NZ cooks on board). Lunch - 1st day out lasagna, today seafood chowder, plus fruit and pastries.  Dinner we get to choose between two alternatives; dinner is always 3 courses - man oh man!  Just think of the waist line but we walk miles each day - up and down stairs between decks and my arms and shoulders ache from hauling myself up and bracing myself going down - the stairs are very steep and the outside ladders are rather treacherous particularly when wet which is most of the time. Lectures and briefings take place on deck 2 (2-3 per day), all meals are on deck 3,  our cabin is deck 4 as is the library and bar, and we climb to and from decks 5 and 6 watching for birds, whales etc etc. It's an open bridge which means we are allowed to go in and enjoy watching the sea, birds and sea mammals out of the weather which is wonderful when you have days like today with 20 knots winds blowing straight from the Arctic and temperature below 5 degrees, not to mention rain.

Professor Khomrov-Spirit of Enderby

The 47 passengers are a mixed lot - 4 from Russia, a few from Great Britain, some from Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, one from Japan, some from Canada and the US, and the rest from Australia.  The company, Heritage Expeditions, is NZ based and there are a few staff from there including the expedition leader, but there's also an Aussie kayak leader, the cruise director is from the US, a couple of the guides are Brits, a couple are Russian, and I think the crew is all Russian.  It is a small Russian ship named Professor Khromov and was formerly an science expedition ship set up to study meteorology and hydrology, max 50 passengers and 22 crew.
The cruise company charters it and a sister ship from the Russians.

The staff include expert guides - 2 bird experts one of which is also a photography guru, a marine biologist whose specialty is the sea otters of the area and orcas from the Ross Sea (she is now enrolled to do a PhD in Qld Uni studying bottle nosed porpoises), a Russian volcanologist, naturalist and historian from the Kuril Islands, and the cruise director is an environmentalists and naturalist. And because this is a wild life expedition there are many amateur experts and passionate birders including a retired professor of geography from Japan (whose English is not brilliant but way way better than my Japanese). So there is always someone to attempt to answer questions (and I always have loads!) and to top it off there is a lecture program, we've had a couple of great ones already.

All togged up waiting to board a zodiak

Temperature and weather wise - it has been very cold maybe 4 degrees during the day and there's been quite a bit of fog and some rain, but we are toasty warm inside.  The cabins and the rest of the ship are well heated. Outside we rug up with thermals, thick sox, parkas, hats, gloves and scarves and feel perfectly OK.

Our cabin is absolutely fine - two lower bunks, a small bathroom, oodles of storage space, a writing desk and a port hole to peer through.

What have we done so far?  Stay tuned ........