Last Friday morning before we left the ship to fly to Anadyr, I stood above the bow of the Kapitan Khlebnikov, looking across the sea to the distant snow-capped mountains of Russia’s Far East. This amazing icebreaker with 90 passengers, its Russian Captain & crew, the Quark crew led by Cheli Larsen and all the “hotel” support staff had just completed a full circumnavigation of the Arctic. I had travelled across half of the Arctic, from Greenland, across Canada's high Arctic, through the Northwest Passage, and west to Russia.
Read MoreWhat a finale to this amazing journey. On Wednesday evening we finally left Provideniya, sailed out of the harbour and turned left/north. Once dinner was over and people had drifted to the bar, the lounge or their cabins, we changed course and bounced along the sea heading to our next landing in Penkingngey Bay in Chukotka. What a surprise we had in store!
Read MoreWe arrived in Provideniya on Monday evening, and anchored in the port yesterday (Tuesday) at 7am. The immigration process was long but completed around middle of the day. Customs, however, took an additional 24 hours – in fact we’ve just been told that we can go into Provideniya this afternoon, with passports and a border patrol check.
Read MoreWe have been sailing in Russian waters since we crossed the International Date Line in the middle of last night, the uncomfortably rolling seas subsiding at around the same time. We’re also now south of the Arctic Circle. I woke just before 5am and saw a very pretty sunrise starting to light up the sky. It has been some time since we saw the sun rising – it’s either been very, very early, 24 hour daylight or cloudy. But this morning was spectacular!
Read MoreWe’re now well into our 3 sea-days having left the sea-ice behind in the Beaufort Sea at around 1:30am this morning, and passing Point Barrow mid-morning. We’re now well and truly in the Bering Strait, with Alaska visible in the distance on our left – we can’t yet see Russia.
The sea is choppy with reasonable winds (can’t get to the Bridge to check the data), but the 2-3m swell is ensuring that the KK is now rolling up to 15 degrees to port and then to starboard, and possibly more at times.
Read MoreWe left the Smoking Hills (Franklin Bay) during the afternoon yesterday – these are an unusual geological phenomenon, discovered by John Franklin on his 1826 expedition. The hills contain strata of hydrocarbons (oil shales/lignite) that combust spontaneously when they are exposed to air through erosion. The hills have been burning for centuries.
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