Bank Hol Weekend Plannage.....
- Thread starter onemore
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Morbyd
Moderator
I was staying on a ship in the Arctic Ocean and dodging polar bears on Wrangel Island
8)
Only thing about expeditions is lots of down time. I read 4 books (more that I've finished in the previous year!) and watched 3 movies
And the lack of mobile signal or internet all week was tough to handle!
8)
Only thing about expeditions is lots of down time. I read 4 books (more that I've finished in the previous year!) and watched 3 movies
And the lack of mobile signal or internet all week was tough to handle!
puppylover
Active Member
Sweet FA - never left the house all weekend practically - Phil was really not well at all so played Flo Nightingale - never been so bored in my life, needless to say I didnt get to Lawler - BEYOND gutted 
kimajy
Well-Known Member
Still up from yesterday and a heavy night @ Space .. In Barcelona crawling home on all 4s with FA internet signal .. Bank holiday finally over ...
OllieNotts
Well-Known Member
kimajy
Well-Known Member
I was staying on a ship in the Arctic Ocean and dodging polar bears on Wrangel Island
8)
Only thing about expeditions is lots of down time. I read 4 books (more that I've finished in the previous year!) and watched 3 movies
And the lack of mobile signal or internet all week was tough to handle!
It's a fascinating choice of Summer vacation, Morbs - a place I'm sure not many people living outside the country would be able to spare the time to visit. Looks a fair old trek from Moscow too - only about 300mi to Alaska ! Did you fly somewhere nearby to set out from ?
Was there much more there of interest than the preserved wooly mammoth .. and did you see any polar bears in the end ?
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Morbyd
Moderator
A friend and colleague of mine was helping to organize the trip and asked if I wanted to tag along, all expenses paid. I realized it was probably a once in a lifetime chance so decided to go for it. 
I flew 6 hours to Yakutsk (the Eastern edge of Siberia) where I had half a day to look around. Not much there aside from the Mammoth Museum and a small old town of frontier wooden houses. Then back to the airport to meet up with everyone else (Swiss, French, Russian, American - half scientists and half explorers, journalists and tourists) for a charter flight to Pevek in the Russian Far East region of Chukotka, on the Arctic coast.
There, we boarded a scientific ship for the 24-hour trip out to Wrangel. We made a few landfalls on the island over 3 days to visit the wardens of the nature preserve, see the remnants of the 2 settlement that used to be there, and to find and observe wildlife. Then back to Pevek where we toured the local school and museum and went to visit a former gulag where they mined tin. So I was out there for 7 days altogether (plus one day transit to get there)
Half of the crew - the scientists, obviously - stayed behind on the island to collect mammoth fossils. Mammoths lived on Wrangel after they were extinct everywhere else... eg. they disappeared from Yakutia 7000 years ago, but only about 4000 years ago from Wrangel. The plane we took back to Moscow (8 hr flight) brought in a 2nd shift of tourists and explorer types who were taking the boat back to Wrangel to pick up the scientists.
Fascinating trip. Really glad I went. And yes, saw lots of these guys:
This pic taken from my phone so not too close up. We were about 15 meters offshore on pontoon boats. We had planned to make landfall here but from the ship they spotted 23 bears in the area so we just rode up to shore to say hi We saw bears from vantage points on land on other occasions.
Also saw whales, walruses, birds, seals, and lots of holes where lemmings live but no lemmings. Other local fauna include Arctic foxes (native), oxen and reindeer (introduced by man), and wolves and wolverines (made their own way to the island over ice in winter)
I flew 6 hours to Yakutsk (the Eastern edge of Siberia) where I had half a day to look around. Not much there aside from the Mammoth Museum and a small old town of frontier wooden houses. Then back to the airport to meet up with everyone else (Swiss, French, Russian, American - half scientists and half explorers, journalists and tourists) for a charter flight to Pevek in the Russian Far East region of Chukotka, on the Arctic coast.
There, we boarded a scientific ship for the 24-hour trip out to Wrangel. We made a few landfalls on the island over 3 days to visit the wardens of the nature preserve, see the remnants of the 2 settlement that used to be there, and to find and observe wildlife. Then back to Pevek where we toured the local school and museum and went to visit a former gulag where they mined tin. So I was out there for 7 days altogether (plus one day transit to get there)
Half of the crew - the scientists, obviously - stayed behind on the island to collect mammoth fossils. Mammoths lived on Wrangel after they were extinct everywhere else... eg. they disappeared from Yakutia 7000 years ago, but only about 4000 years ago from Wrangel. The plane we took back to Moscow (8 hr flight) brought in a 2nd shift of tourists and explorer types who were taking the boat back to Wrangel to pick up the scientists.
Fascinating trip. Really glad I went. And yes, saw lots of these guys:
This pic taken from my phone so not too close up. We were about 15 meters offshore on pontoon boats. We had planned to make landfall here but from the ship they spotted 23 bears in the area so we just rode up to shore to say hi
We saw bears from vantage points on land on other occasions.Also saw whales, walruses, birds, seals, and lots of holes where lemmings live but no lemmings. Other local fauna include Arctic foxes (native), oxen and reindeer (introduced by man), and wolves and wolverines (made their own way to the island over ice in winter)
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kimajy
Well-Known Member
That's amazing - what an opportunity and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime chance .. bet it costs a small mortgage to tag along on one of those trips normally .. 
I used to look at maps a lot as a kid and Wrangel Island always triggered my curiosity (can't explain - Svalbard had the same effect) .. you're the first (and potentially the last !) person I've come across ever to have been near the place 8).
The microclimate in the South is quite a phenomenon by all accounts - can see why the place is of such interest to researchers.
PS - where did you stay in St Barths last Winter ? One of my favourite islands anywhere - though I haven't been for what must be a good 3 years or so now.
I used to look at maps a lot as a kid and Wrangel Island always triggered my curiosity (can't explain - Svalbard had the same effect
) .. you're the first (and potentially the last !) person I've come across ever to have been near the place 8).The microclimate in the South is quite a phenomenon by all accounts - can see why the place is of such interest to researchers.
PS - where did you stay in St Barths last Winter ? One of my favourite islands anywhere - though I haven't been for what must be a good 3 years or so now.
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Morbyd
Moderator
It costs about $1200 to fly to Chukotka commercially. I'm not sure how much 5 days room and board on a boat would run you! (plus donations to the nature preserve for showing us around)That's amazing - what an opportunity and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime chance .. bet it costs a small mortgage to tag along on one of those trips normally ..
We went to St Barts for New Years Eve and powered right through until our ferry back to St Maarten the following morning, so we didn't really stay anywhere.