May 2016 Life on an expedition ship

Our final day in 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 cereals including porridge, fresh fruit from as far away as Ecuador, sweet pastries, eggs, bacon, sausages and beans (they have two New Zealand 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 waistline 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 C, not to mention rain.

Our ship the 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 we are traveling with, Heritage Expeditions, is NZ-based and there are a few staff from there including the expedition leader, but there is 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 environmentalist and naturalist. And because this is a wildlife 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 turn to with 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 zodiac

Temperature and weather wise - it has been very cold maybe 4 C during the day and there has 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 porthole to peer through.

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