Little Tanaga Island and Adak Island, June 29

This morning we arrived at Adak Island to do our clearance into the USA. It was foggy so the officials had to postpone their flight to the afternoon, so we decided to go to Little Tanaga Island for the morning and explore. We did an amazing zodiac cruise to see Steller sea lions and weave in and out of caves looking for birds. The scenery was just spectacular and the fog made it even more beautiful. After about three hours of zodiac cruising, we were sufficiently cold and ready for lunch.


Crusing around Little Tanaga Island
Photo credit: Wayne Brown

On our way to Adak Island for clearance, I gave a lecture on Alaska's salmon fishery which was well received despite the after lunch coma lecture slot.

Clearance went quickly in Adak and we arranged for a bus to take some people to Clam Lagoon for birding. Others decided to explore the town. I did not get to explore the town since I went to Clam Lagoon, but I did get to drive through it. Adak is a spooky place. There are about 95 people living there now, but around 5,000 used to live there when it was a military post. There are rows and rows of abandoned military housing, an empty multi million-dollar high school with a pool, and even an abandoned McDonalds. It's very strange. Where we went birding, there was another empty military building that is completely self-contained and able to generate its own electricity and make its own water. In fact, there are many of them around the island and no one uses them at all. Now, the town is quiet, with only 22 students and a large fish processing plant, which processes mainly halibut.

The bus we were driven around in belonged to the fish plant, so the entire thing smelled of fish.

Clam Lagoon was nice and we saw a lot of birds and even a few sea otters feeding. We had about an hour to look around, and many of the passengers decided to walk around the lagoon. I had to stay at the drop off area to wait for others and at one point was alone waiting on the road. Wanting to explore the lagoon, I made my way into the tundra and towards the water.

Needless to say, the tundra swallowed me on my third step into it. It was very funny trying to get through it to the beach and I was actually laughing out loud. At one point, I was completely buried. I have attached a photo of my view of the tundra from my walk.


Buried in the tundra on Adak Island

On the way back from the lagoon, the bus driver pointed out Adak National Forest, which is actually on the forest registry. I did not get a picture of it, but if I had, you would have seen that the entire forest would fit into the lens of my camera. It was basically just a clump of trees!

Kiska Island, June 28

After having brunch on the ship, we arrived at Kiska Island. The fog was still offshore, but the island was surrounded by sunshine and calm water.

There were three hikes and three landings planned - a long one up the hill and to the point, one for the birders, and one to explore the submarine left from the war. On all of these islands there is so much debris from the war.

Some of the passengers are veterans and very interested in the history here.
Kiska and Attu have been especially interesting for war history. Today, as I was looking onto the shores of Kiska I was trying to imagine the area with 5,000 people living there. My job for the day was driving shuttles between the three landings. After everyone was dropped off, I had some time to explore the coastline in the zodiac. I did not see much animal life, but the scenery was fantastic. The sun was shining on the kelp and the water almost looked aqua in some places. I took some photos, but basically just enjoyed the view. At the end of the day, I picked up some of the birders and took them on the same cruise to look for birds. We saw an eagle, some murelettes, baby harlequin ducks and some pigeon guillemots. All in all, it was another great day hanging out with wildlife, sunshine and zodiacs.

Kiska Island - Sirius Point, June 28

June 28, 2006

This morning I awoke to the most beautiful sunrise and calm seas signaling a great day was ahead. A few miles later, the ship was socked into the fog. We anchored just off of Kiska Island at Sirius Point to look for three different species of auklets. Since the weather was calm, and we couldn’t see anything from the ship, we decided to launch the zodiacs for an impromptu zodiac cruise. The cruise was fantastic. The shoreline was all cliffs and with the fog, it was almost surreal. Every now and then, we’d get a glance of a waterfall or the brilliant orange-red of the beak of an oystercatcher sitting on a rock. Since the goal of the morning was to see auklets, we headed up the shore about one mile. As we came to the point, the fog cleared and we were able to see thousands upon thousands of auklets on the water and in the air all around the point. They were just swirling around. At one point, our zodiac was positioned in such a way that the birds were flying behind us and were just parting to go around us - we were totally surrounded. It was something I had never experienced before. I will attach a photo if one does any justice to the scene. In addition, the Kiska volcano was visible, and, of course, beautiful.


Zodiac cruising in the fog - note the "naturalist pose" as I point out a Peregrine Falcon (photo credit: Mason Florence)


Stefan's zodiac crusing amongst thousands of auklettes.

Attu Island, June 27

This morning we had some time at sea on our way to Attu Island. The morning was foggy and it looked as if the weather was going to be windy and cold for our landing at Attu. However, as we tucked into the lee of the harbor, the sun came out and the fog bank decided to hover offshore. This made Attu look amazing and all the surrounding peaks were visible. Karen, Mason and I led a medium walk looking at wildflowers and general nature stuff. I have attached a photo of some of the wildflowers with the snowcapped peaks in the distance. You can also see the fog bank rolling in.


Wildflowers and Volcanoes

After the hike, I got a chance to hang out with the guys from the Coast Guard station and also visit the station. It is one of the most remote stations that the US maintains, although they keep saying that there are rumors it is closing since it is a LORAN station and not needed anymore.

There are 17 men (and sometimes women) that get stationed out there for one year at a time. Some of them choose the posting since afterwards they get their pick of where ever they want. The guys were nice and happy to have visitors. Some of them came out to visit the ship, and they even set up a ‘gift shop’ out of the back of a truck. I ended up with one t-shirt, although they were selling these amazingly funny Hawaiian print Attu Coast Guard shirts. One of the officers said that Hawaii is a state of mind. They said that the climate there is not too cold - last winter it didn’t get below around 28 degrees (on the same latitude as Seattle), but it does snow a ton and they get major winds - over 150 miles per hour is normal. Overall it was a great afternoon and I even got a little warm hiking around and a bit of sun on my nose and back of my neck. That was a nice surprise from thinking I was going to be very cold all afternoon in the wind and fog.


Hanging out with the Coast Guard men

Monday - Take II, June 26

Have you ever wanted to relive a day? How about a Monday? Well, that is exactly what I am doing today. We have a day at sea as we are traveling to Attu Island in the Aleutians and since we are crossing the International Date Line, we are getting a bonus day. We actually just set our clocks one hour ahead and one day back, or, for those of you that want to be complicated, 23 hours back. Today has been busy despite the fact that we have no landings. We are all working on preparing for the cruise for when we have no time to do anything else. I’ve also been working on some recaps for the cruise and swapping information and photos with other staff. I thought I’d have a nap by now, but seeing as it is almost 4 pm, I think I’ll just settle for an early bedtime.

The other big event of today has been seeing some Fin whales and a Blue whale. They were all traveling together and it was very exciting seeing the Blue whale especially.

Petropavlosk - Take II, June 26

Today we were in Petropavlosk and wow what a difference a few days makes in the weather. According to the locals, it had rained here for the past two weeks. Today was hot and sunny, allowing a view of the surrounding volcanoes. Petropavlosk is surrounded on all sides by snow-covered volcanoes - Incredible view! All of them were visible today and the sky was a perfect shade of blue. I did not get any decent photos because Stefan was borrowing my camera for a helicopter tour of the “Valley of the Geysers”.

This tour costs around $600 and is to one of the most remote places in the world. They got to fly over the volcano we saw erupting yesterday and then got to land and explore an area full of geysers. The passengers on the tour all came back beaming and said it was worth every penny. Stefan, as the geologist, got to go on the tour as well and it was his 7th try at the trip.

It is very weather dependent and since the weather here is so unpredictable, the trip often doesn’t run. I was happy for him that he finally got to go.



The view of the smoking volcano from the Zhupanova River


Stefan's view of the same volcano from the helicopter heading to the Valley of the Geysers.
Photo credit: Stefan Kredel

I, on the other hand, had the morning free with Ingrid and then did the tour with the passengers in the afternoon. The morning was fun. We went to the local military shop to purchase pins and patches. The military have to purchase their own uniforms, so while we were there, many military people came in as well. We even had one man come up to us and tell us that the hammer and sickle paraphernalia that we were buying was “old” and we needed to get the “new” things. The woman helping us must of thought we were crazy, with our stocking up on items for everyone on the ship and pretty much buying all the old USSR things. Our broken Russian “ “yes”, “no”, “thank you” was enough to communicate what we wanted to buy. She most enjoyed when we showed her the piece of paper that we had in case we got lost that said “please take us to the shop where they sell military stuff”. It was written on the back of a postcard of the ship, which we gave her as a gift before we left. The only item I did not get that I really wanted was a blue and white striped shirt. All of the military people wear them and they remind me of the shirt that Popeye wears (but cooler). All of them were too bolshoy (big) for me.

In the afternoon, I accompanied the passengers to the Dacha and Herbalist tour. Dachas are basically summer homes that people have where they have really extensive gardens and greenhouses. The dachas were amazing. I cannot believe how elaborate some of these gardens are. At this time of year, things were pretty small because they have a short growing season. It can snow until May and start snowing again in October. At the dacha we visited, we were served crepes with home made jams. My favorite was the honeysuckle jam, although there were also some other interesting flavors. The strawberry, although seemingly simple, was also amazing, with hundreds of small wild strawberries still whole in the jam. Yummy.

The feasting continued at the Herbalist’s place. I cannot really do justice to this man. Let’s just describe him as the Russian Robin Williams. He would holler ‘la la la la la la la la la’ when we wanted our attention. I wish I could send sounds over this blog so you can get an idea of what it sounded like. He first took us around his garden to see the different herbs. Then, we went into his ‘wigwam’ (yes, there was an actual teepee set up in Russia) to eat the herbs while he entertained us. And entertain us he did!

The three herb dishes were served with rice and they were very good. I don’t recall what I was exactly eating because I was laughing too hard at his jokes and the scene. To drink he mixed some concoction of vodka and some red herb juice. Again, no clue what it was, but I soon found out why he makes the ‘la la la’ noise. The first sip of vodka I took made me spontaneously make the same sound, causing much laughter at my table. Some people were just downing the stuff, making for a lively bunch as the day wore on. Then came the musical entertainment. He played guitar and piano and sang and one of his assistants sang also. It was really great. At one point, though, he said that he was going to play a universally known song and proceeded to play Hava Nagila on the piano. That gave me a little chuckle. Then it was more vodka and some freshly smoked salmon over apple wood. Yummy (to the salmon, not to the vodka). He just kept pouring and pouring the vodka and offering toast after toast. He even came up with a hand signal that meant it was time to drink - thumbs down. All in all, a great day once again!

The Russian Robin Williams aka Sasha - even Russian farmers wear cell phones around their necks!



Toasting with the herbal vodka. Notice how little is in my glass.

Crew Party, June 26

Last night there was a small crew party. Since we were getting ready for a day at sea, I decided to partake in the festivities. We began the night in our cabin with drinks on the balcony, taking in the beautiful sunset and amazing cloud formations. I’ve attached a photo so you can see how gorgeous the night was.


Sunset from cabin 608


Then it was down to crew mess for some dancing. Now you know I don’t party much on the ship when I get there and the Boatswain says to me, “Lori, I thought you’d be in bed by now”. I think it was the first night this whole cruise that I have stayed up past midnight. I think I danced with pretty much every deck hand and waiter and then it was off to bed. I’d had enough twirling and stepped on toes for one evening. I’ve attached a photo of Cheli and I with Boatswain. The crew on this ship are great!


Cheli, Boatswain and I dancing at the crew party

Zhupanova River Take II, June 25

Today we were visiting the Zhupanova River again. The weather today was the strangest I have seen so far. We awoke to partly sunny skies with some fog in the distance, and we could actually see the surrounding volcanoes. The absolute coolest part was that there was this volcano erupting in the distance. We could see poofs of smoke coming from the top of it - Incredible!

I took a photo so you can see what it looked like from our view. Anyway, the weather kept changing through the day, and changed about every hour.


Amazing cloud formations over the Kamchatka Peninsula

Sometimes it would be perfectly clear and sunny, and then the fog would roll through, disguising the ship, and then the wind would come, and then the fog again, and then the sun again, and so on. I was running shuttles to the beach in the morning and at one point needed to use my GPS and the very next second I was hunting for my sunglasses.

Early in the morning, the staff went out together to do our own cruise up the Zhupanova to look for Steller Sea Eagles, since the eagles are the primary reason we visit this place. We managed to find a few nests and spend some time with two of the eagles for a little while. In the afternoon, I got to go back up the river with passengers on a zodiac cruise. By this time the weather had turned to all sunny (I even got to have lunch on the pool deck in the sun!) and it was great cruising up the river. We saw a ton of eagles, harbor seals and other birds. I have attached a photo I took of one of the eagles. They are so gorgeous, and this is pretty much the only place in the world that you can see them.


Steller Sea Eagle in the Zhupanova River

Overall it was a great day, and even better that the sun decided to shine. I didn’t realize just how happy it made me to see the sun. Let’s hope it sticks around for a little while.

Chazma River, June 24

The Chazma River was beautiful. It helped that the sun was out (mostly) and the temperatures were pleasant. I drove shuttles of the passengers to shore, and then assisted Mason with the short Photography/Nature walk. We found a lot of cool things on the beach and a ton of wild flowers. I had a basic wildflower guide with me and was able to identify a few. I wish I had a better book because the passengers were very interested.


Chocolate Lilly

The highlight of the afternoon was visiting the park rangers cabin. No one was there, but they had a hut set up near the hot springs, running hot water into a bathtub. I have attached a photo of the outside and inside of the hut. The water was too hot to actually take a bath in, so I don't know if it was set up as a joke and never used, or if they take the hot water from there, mix it with cold and actually bathe. It was the best view from a bathroom that I had ever seen.


The "hot tub" hut - look how the water is routed into the hut


The bathtub inside the hut


Tonight was the Captain's welcome aboard dinner. I have skipped dinner to catch up on this and to start to organize photos for the slide show.

Tomorrow we are in the Zhupanova River again.

Kammineysta Bay, June 24

Today was our first day of the new cruise. We awoke to fog and drizzle, but by the end of the morning, the sun had started to poke through the clouds.

Our first stop was Kammineysta Bay, translated as communist bay. We got a bit of a late start due to a slight delay in leaving Petro (the Russian officials can be slow to clear the ship). The landing was on a nice sand beach with a waterfall directly to the left of the landing. On the way in, the Captain spotted a few bears on the beach, about ½ mile to a mile away from our landing site. I was in the zodiacs and far away from the bears so I did not get to see them. The landing was a stern one, and not too rough, so I got to practice. It was good, but challenging to remember and coordinate all you have to do - turn quickly around into the wave, back up to the beach, lift your engine as you come in, keep your eyes on the waves, don't crash into the beach, don't crash into the shore men, don't hit the prop on the bottom, stay straight so you don't take a wave on the side, start the engine quickly when pulling away from the shore...and do it all with grace.

The grace part I'm still working on.

We are now headed towards the Chazma River. We have about 20 minutes before we get there and I am currently writing this from my new cabin that I am sharing with Kara. We have been put into the "honeymoon" suite on the 600 deck, complete with our own balcony! No one was booked into this cabin and the rest of the ship is full, so they had to put some staff in here. It is a huge cabin with tons of light and Kara and I have just discussed that we may skip the afternoon landing and just read on our balcony and have cocktails.

I've attached a photo of the view from my bed.


The amazing view from the balcony in our cabin