ZECO TRAVEL TALK

Sunshine and blue skies added to our fantastic morning at Ossora Town on the coast of Karaginskiy Island off the Kamchatka Peninsula. On shore, all the Koryak people were waiting for us… We watched a fish gutting demonstration and three passengers tried their hand at gutting their own fish. Afterwards, we were treated to wonderful traditional dancing and a reindeer lassoing demonstration.

Another sunny day made our landing in Glybokaya Bay nothing short of spectacular. Even before breakfast, as we cruised into the fjord, we saw several bears up on the snowfields. Ashore, we had more excellent sightings and good photo ops; even those who stayed on the ship were treated to some great bear watching. Our Zodiac tour later in the day yielded yet more bear viewing—and quite close up—and we didn’t know where to look first. Our tally, for this one day alone, was 25 bears—give or take a couple!

At Peters Bay we went ashore for beautiful nature walks—towering volcanoes under a blue sky and no mosquitoes made the day extra great. In the afternoon, at Bogaslov Island, we jumped into Zodiacs, zipped right up almost to shore and watched and photographed more than 100 walrus! This trip has been such an incredible wildlife extravaganza…

We’re into the Russia part of our Japan to Kamchatka adventure—or so says the map. If it wasn’t for the Russian writing on the side of a building, you’d think we were in Antarctica! Northern fur seals and Steller’s sea lions by the thousands covered the beaches of Tyuleniy Island off the coast of Sakhalin—the island’s name means “seal.” On Shimushir, while we were exploring an old Soviet base, a beautiful little Siberian rubythroat put in an appearance and we all had the chance for a good close-up look. The weather was wonderful, clear and calm, and in the afternoon many of us walked to the top of Yankicha Island for incredible views across the sinking volcanic caldera. A bonus photo op (though blackmail also comes to mind!) was the impromptu hot spring dug out by our expedition crew who could be spotted huddled in the little pool in their undies—“researching the hot-bath bird list, ” they later explained. Hmmmm.

We stayed at anchor in the evening and saw the most amazing site. All three species of auklets came in to nest overnight on the island. It was like a huge haze of birds, so many it looked like a swarm of locusts and not like birds at all. Truly awesome. The next day was chilly and foggy, but our Zodiac explorations of Srednego Islands rewarded us with hundreds of seals and sea lions surrounding us in the water. And, as we sailed to Matua Island, we had the most incredible encounter with more than 30 orca—the photos should be fantastic!

Our North Cape excursion ended the day with a great zodiac cruise around the seabird cliffs. The contrast between Norway and Russia is unbelievable and amazing to witness. Someone commented that it’s like going from a black and white movie to a color movie… from bleak Soviet-style apartment blocks to charming little houses with lace curtains, neatly manicured lawns, and lots of flowers.

The leaders and many passengers are still in heaven after seeing the nuclear powered icebreakers in port in Murmansk; we even saw the famous nuclear battleship named Peter the Great. Olga Stone plays the piano like I have never heard before and got continuous standing ovations throughout the two trips. All in all, the contrasts between Svalbard, Russia, and Norway - the amazing ceremonies and beautiful landscapes have made these trips truly special. The highlight today was the Sami reindeer herder standing in front of his tent telling us reindeer stories… When his cell phone went off and he had to get it out from under his reindeer skin tunic, everyone cracked up!

Solovetskiy Islands, White Sea to Norway

Today at Solovetskiy was totally unexpected —and so amazing that it’s hard to describe, but I am going to try. We ran a continuous zodiac shuttle for the passengers back and forth from the ship to the island where a ceremony was being held at the monastery to bless new bells that had been made and shipped over to the island.

The Archbishop of Russia, the second highest authority in the Russian Orthodox church flew out from Moscow for the blessing and to perform the ceremony in the Russian Transfiguration Church in the monastery’s Kremlin. Pilgrims from all over the country came to celebrate and pray, from old women in colorful babushkas (scarves) and skirts, to young people… all arriving en masse to take part in the ceremony. We were the only outside witnesses to this special event, and had to wait most of the morning, but it was really worth it. The pomp and ceremony was spectacular, with all the monks and priests carrying crosses and icons, dressed in long robes with huge hats, parading out of the church as they made their way to the bells. The Archbishop then got up on the bell platform and started flinging water around with large brush, blessing the bells with his holy water. Most of us got blessed as well! When we came back to the ship, everyone was so excited and some of the passengers even said that if they had to turn around and go home now, it was worth coming!

We ended the day with Olga Stone playing a Russian piece of music that was inspired by the ringing of church bells and Sergey did a toast with vodka with all our passengers. What a day… and we have pictures to prove it!

Wahlenbergfjorden, Spitsbergen to the White Sea

We had a great day again today… Went to a fjord called Wahlenbergfjorden and then up a side arm called Palanderbukta. We did a great walk on a glacier this morning, and in the afternoon we visited some absolutely amazing bird cliffs, Alkejfillet, where there were thousands and thousands of birds. The rock cliffs themselves were spectacular; we saw small chicks dive-bombing into the sea with their dads, then having to learn to swim… all in a couple of minutes. We saw gulls eating chicks… big drama, fast action, and everything you could imagine in this bird colony. In the evening we made a landing to view a large number of walrus and 71 passengers got out there to quietly watch and photograph the walrus. They got really close and had a great look at them.

Liefdefjorden, Spitsbergen to the White Sea

A change of plan turned out to be just what we needed today and we had a fantastic time up in Liefdefjorden where we started the morning with a polar bear sighting… it was eating a seal! We spent some time with him and when he went into the water we continued up the fjord where we found another bear rolling around on a piece of ice. Last night we stopped at Moffen Island after dinner and had a great experience from the ship with a number of walrus.

Glybokaya Bay, Kamchatka to Alaska

We started with walks ashore at Glybokaya Bay and sailed on to Lavrova Bay. We split the group and put half ashore and half did Zodiac tours. Within 5 minutes of starting Kevin found a two year old brown bear. Everyone had fabulous views and got incredible photos while Craig and I served them Apple cider in the zodiacs. We were nervous that the second group ashore wouldn’t have the same opportunity, but luckily, this little bear caught yet another fish, rolled around and played for the second group as well. It was great!

Paradise Bay, Antarctica, South Georgia & the Falkland Islands

Well, what can I say, the weather gods were on our side when we woke up this morning in Paradise Bay to stunning sunshine… pods of Orcas were all around. We saw three orcas chasing pengies, and for the first time in my life I saw a huge Orca whale grab a penguin right abeam of the ship! It was awesome nature in action!