During the COVID pandemic when travel was obsolete for almost three years, I went through my archives and started working on the images of some older trips. In this context, the voyage from Otaru on Hokkaido (JP), all along the Kuril Islands, the east coast of Kamchatka and Chukotka, finally crossing the Bering Strait from Provideniya to Nome in Alaska, will remain a particularly memorable experience. In addition, the current sad Russian-Ukrainian war in Europe will most likely prevent any revisit of this region in the foreseeable future, underlining the uniqueness of this trip we made in June 2011. For this reason, I decided to give preference to a comprehensive description of the journey and presentation of a collection of my photos below.
The 18days voyage on board the moderate-sized cruise ship “MS Bremen” with around 100 passengers (plus 15 guides/ lecturers for various topics) was not a special photography trip. I usually avoid big ships and schedules designed for normal tourists. However, it was the only opportunity to visit this extremely remote region in the Russian Far East that only few people worldwide have seen. Therefore, some compromises had to be made in terms of photography. However, we made the best of it and were content with the options so far.
The Kuril Archipelago stretches out in an approximately 1,300km (800miles) long belt between the north-easternmost point of Hokkaido in Japan and the southern tip of the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia. It divides the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean and consists of 56 islands that are actually the tops of stratovolcanoes, pushed up by the collision of the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates. Many of the volcanoes in the Kuril Islands are still active. For this reason, the loop of tectonic instability including Kamchatka is part of the so-called “Ring of Fire” circling the Pacific and, in addition to the volcanoes, is also home to many amazing geothermal phenomena such as puffing fumaroles, superheated lakes and hot springs. The water from the deep trenches created by volcanic activity and the currents around many of the islands create productive seas and perfect conditions for seabirds such as auks, gulls and puffins , as well as sea otters and whales, making this area one of the richest in the world, both in number of species and their abundance.
Many of the islands contain rusted remnants from World War II and Soviet military bases, dilapidated buildings, partly also shipwrecks and boats from Japanese fishing.
Over the last two centuries, the islands have been passed back and forth with changing border lines between Russia and Japan several times, e.g. in the Shimoda Treaty (1855) and the Treaty of St. Petersburg (1875) – see the red lines in the Kuril map below. Since the Soviet invasion in August 1945 at the end of World War II, all islands northeast of Hokkaido have been controlled by Russia and claimed as its own territory. To date, however, there are ongoing disputes with Japan, which lays claim to four of the southernmost islands (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai islets), considered the country’s “Northern Territories”. The conflict over them has led Moscow and Tokyo to avoid signing the peace treaty that would have formally ended the Second World War.
As of today, many of the Kuril islands are uninhabited, there’s just a small population of 20000 people scattered across the 1300km long ribbon of islands covering 10,503.2 square kilometers (4,055.3 sq mi).
The map below shows roughly the itinerary of our voyage. The islands and main sights that we actually visited are marked with green dots. The second graphics may give a more detailed overview of the Kurils with the visited islands highlighted again. The annual figures and red lines refer to the text in the previous paragraph above.
Description :
Below are some details and additional information about the itinerary, the main islands and attractions we visited as we travelled north from Otaru along the Kuril Islands, the east coast of Kamchatka & Chukotka to Nome, Alaska.
After the earthquake and devastating tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, causing the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant with radioactive contamination of neighboring areas, our cruise ship was one of the first to visit the country, just 3 months after the disaster. To get to the departure port in Otaru, Hokkaido, we flew in from Europe via Osaka and Sapporo, though, also to avoid any risks and problems in the area around Tokyo, which is only 240 km from Fukushima-Daiichi.
After setting sail from Otaru, the first stop was the small island of Rishiri to complete customs formalities and clear the ship for entry into the Russian-administered territory. The island lies about 20 km off the northern tip of Hokkaido with Mount Rishiri, a dormant volcano, at its center and is part of a national park. We then had to make an unscheduled call to the nearby port of Wakkanai on Hokkaido to wait for spare parts for the ship, which were expected the next day. Wakkanai is the northernmost city of Japan (not marked in the map).
To make up for the delay, we afterwards had only a short stop at Korsakov on the southern end of Sakhalin which is the largest island of the Russian Federation, being 948 km long and 25 to 170km wide. It was the center of a long rivalry and power struggle between Russia and Japan for control of its rich fishing grounds, strategic location and finally its large oil and gas resources off the coast.
Formerly habited by the indigenous Ainu people, Sakhalin was colonized from both sides with Japanese fishermen being the first to settle along its southern coasts at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1853 the first Russians entered the northern part. By an agreement of 1855, Russia and Japan shared control of the island, but in 1875 Russia acquired all Sakhalin in exchange for the Kurils and soon became notorious for its Russian penal colony. As a result of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904/1905 the island was divided again in two parts and Japan in 1905 gained Sakhalin south of the 50th parallel. However, following the Russian Revolution 1917, the Japanese occupied all of Sakhalin, but withdrew in 1924. So aside from shorter periods with changing ownership of the whole island, Sakhalin basically remained divided in two parts since 1855 until the end of WW2 in 1945, when Soviet troops invaded the southern Japanese half and have kept control over all of Sakhalin, together with all the Kuril Islands since. It’s important to note, that each time the ownership had changed in history, the inhabitants became displaced and the island was settled by the new sovereigns who replaced them.
Korsakov is the oldest city on Sakhalin Island and its largest port. It was founded in 1853 by a Russian navigator and explorer as the first Russian settlement and military outpost, named Fort Muravyovsky and rebuilt in 1869, under the name of Korsakovsky. After the invasion of the Soviet army (1945), the settlement was converted into the town in 1946 and given its present name.
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Insertion: Sakhalin Oil & Gas – economical and global political aspects
After the discovery of huge oil and gas fields off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin and following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the island has experienced an oil and gas boom with Russian and foreign oil companies pouring into the island since the mid1990s (e.g. Exxon, Chevron, Shell). It had been the largest foreign investments in Russia until 2006. Consortium members under the leadership of Exxon mobile began drilling in May 2003 for the Sakhalin-1 project which already was in full operation at the time of our trip in 2011 and included a 225km pipeline to the Russian mainland. Its sister project Sakhalin-2 with the first Liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Russia was inaugurated in 2009 and about to become the world’s largest LNG plant by that time.
Around 2005, the resources off the coast of Sakhalin had been reported to be the largest untapped oil and gas deposits in the world. In 2017 and 2018 additional large oil fields were discovered there, the so-called Neptun and Triton fields. Along e.g. with the Yuzhno-Lunskoye , and Kirinskoye oil and gas fields detected earlier, they are part of the Sakhalin-3 complex owned by Gazprom and currently under development. The production is expected to begin in 2025.
That said, the offshore oil and gas extracting projects on the Sakhalin island raised major environmental concerns for affecting the world’s last 100 or so western Pacific Grey Whales, large fish grounds, birdlife and destroying the marine environment.
The globally discovered resources and shares of the countries have changed at lot in the past 20 years, (also due to new technologies) of course. As of 2023/24, Russia as a whole is still ranked first in the world by natural gas reserves (32%) and second in gas production and export, primarily via pipelines, -. periodically changing place with the United States as the world’s largest or second largest producer. despite the US currently being just 5th in proven reserves.
As for oil reserves and production, the figures are more complicated and divergent: Different sources include different classes of oil reserves (for instance, some may exclude shale oil or tar sands oil) or have various definitions of “proven” oil reserves. This can lead to disparities between estimates from different sources. For example, while Russia ranks #8 by oil reserves (with Venezuela #1) and second in production and export of fossil oil globally (2023), – the US is now sitting on more oil reserves than Russia thanks to the shale oil boom and is the world’s foremost producer of oil if you include the Oil Shale & Tar sands, though the US is only 9th in the world in terms of available and recoverable oil reserves.
Anyway, though all the ranking may be subject to quick political, economic or technological changes, Russia still remains a major global player in terms of gas and oil production and export. Gas is regarded a transition fuel by some countries that will be phased out of the energy mix gradually and replaced by renewables, though. Aside from pipelined gas, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is becoming more and more important because of its logistical advantages. Sakhalin-2 LNG production exceeded 10 mio tons in 2023. In 2017 the YAMAL LNG on the Yamal peninsula became Russian’s second, even bigger LGN plant, surpassing the capacity of Sakhalin-2 by around 33 %. Thanks to older operations, Russia is currently the fourth-largest LNG exporter globally, but restrictions on the flagship Arctic LNG 2 are crimping its aspirations to go further.
That said, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the sanctions imposed by western countries, Exxon mobile discontinued the operation of Sakhalin-1 and won’t make new investments in Russia. Shell said that it would exit Sakhalin-2 and other ventures in Russia while Japan planned to continue its participation, though. The exit of Exxon had a massive impact on the operation almost leading to the collapse of Sakhalin-1. However, as of 2023 it obviously had nearly reached its peak output again due to a reorganization with Rosneft and other partners, e.g. from India and China. According to the Governor of Sakhalin, the Sakhalin-2 offshore projects have been fully restored in 2023, too. So Russia’s economy has proved remarkably resilient to an onslaught of Western sanctions with a reduction of the gas and oil production by just 5% and shifting the export to other markets. LNG production and export may be more vulnerable, though, and obviously is one of the main targets of the sanctions now because LNG trade requires expensive specialized ships that can be tracked with satellite data, making the creation of an alternative fleet nearly impossible. There’s also a US plan to ban the use of EU ports to re-export Russian supplies destined for third countries since Russian LNG plants in the Arctic region are exceptionally remote. So the fuel is usually first delivered to Belgium or France for re-export to Asia or another European
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From Korsakov we continued to the island of Simushir, further northeast, and reached Broutona Bay that is located inside a flooded caldera of the Urataman volcano on the northern end and hidden behind the crater’s narrow pass. Though the island was mostly uninhabited over the years, a sizeable settlement was functioning for nearly 20 years at Broutona Bay, with a top secret submarine base of the Red Banner fleet operating here. 2000 occupants lived on this Soviet military base from 1978 to 1991. It’s a real step back in time and a ghost town atmosphere with large apartment blocks, a hospital and school with books scattered on the floor, livestock pens –all lying in ruins now. Trucks and gun turrets having never fired a shot rust outdoors. After the obviously abrupt decommissioning in the early 1990’s nature is clearly recapturing the area. That’s why we personally didn’t focus that much on the ruins and relicts, though, but were watching and photographing the Siberian Rubin Throat in the surrounding area.
Next stop on our northeast bound route was Yankicha Island, located roughly halfway between mainland Russia and Japan. It is the southern of 2 islets that are part of the larger, partially submerged Ushishir volcano and remnants of a devastating volcanic explosion, followed by a collapse that occurred about 10,000 years ago. Yankicha consists of the summit caldera with a diameter of 1.6 kilometers (1.0 mile). Its rim raises around 300 meters above sea level with the highest point of 401m. The caldera is breached on the south, but the internal Kraternaya Bay (Crater Bay) is only accessible during high tide by small boats (Zodiacs).Two lava domes form small islets in the center of the lagoon. There are numerous fumaroles, hot springs and solfateres along the southeastern shoreline of the caldera indicating the still evident volcanic activity; the last known eruption of the Ushishir volcano, sometimes also imprecisely used synonymous to Yankicha, was in 1884.
Yankicha is definitely one of the most spectacular sights of the Kurils and was a highlight of the trip. After ascending to the rim of the caldera via its lush emerald hued slopes, we enjoyed a simply breathtaking view of the scenery. The island is also a bird watcher’s paradise as the number of alcids which breed here has been incredible, with spectacular concentrations of Crested and Whiskered Auklets. On the way back to the ship we passed huge flocks of these birds resting on the water nearby, many of which flew away as we approached. Unfortunately, I was only able to take a few mediocre snapshots from the bumpy Zodiac. This was one of the experiences that highlighted the difference between a tourist cruise and a special photography trip: the Zodiac drivers did not stop or slow down to capture the unique scene and the special birds. Instead, we rushed back to the ship at high speed because dinner was waiting….
From Yankicha/Ushishir we moved on northbound to Matua Island which is also located near the center of the Kuril chain, around 76km (41nm) from Yankicha. Its name means “hell mouth” in Ainu language. Appropriately, the Sarychev stratovolcano (1496m) on the northwestern end occupies almost half of the 11km long and 6,5 km wide island and is one of the most active volcanoes of the Kurils. It is famous for frequent short-term, but strong eruptions which repeatedly changed the coastline and the relief of Matua. After a quiet period of 20 years, the largest historical eruption of Sarychev Peak began on June, 11, 2009 and produced ash plumes rising to up to 14 km and pyroclastic flows that reached the sea. The ash plumes drifting westwards at altitudes typical for commercial airplanes forced many flights with routes across the northern Pacific to be cancelled or diverted. Satellite imagery of August 2021 shows a hot spot and gas plume from the volcano’s summit crater. This suggests that there has been at least weak activity recently.
During the Second World War, the Japanese turned this piece of land into a fortress with an airfield and a garrison exceeding 3000 people. It was one of the largest naval bases in the Kuril Islands and was also reportedly involved in the formation of the Imperial Japanese Armada of 67 ships, including six aircraft carriers with 353 aircrafts on board, that departed Hittokapu Bay on Etorofu (now Iterup Island) on a 3,500-mile trek to Hawaii and launched the known surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. After the Kuril Island had been taken by the Red Army in the final days of WW II, a Soviet military base was established on Matua which was closed in 1991 after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The island basically was uninhabited from 1991 until 2017 when the Russian military established a new base on the island and deployed its defense missile system, called the “Bastion” systems. The ruins of the old Japanese WWII base and Soviet remnants are no longer accessible to visitors since.
When we visited the island in 2011, we did not join the group for a hike inland into the interior to explore all the widespread military remains such as bunkers, abandoned vehicles, trucks, rusting barrels or the radar station and airfield etc., although of course it was historically interesting. Due to limited time, we decided to walk along the coast and focus on the scenery and the birds, e.g. the Siberian Rubin throats and seals in the area.
From Matua we continued further northeast and anchored at Shiashkotan for a short Zodiac ride to the coast. Shiashkotan is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril arc and extends from SW to NE for 26 km. It consists of two joined volcanoes, (Sinarka, 934m and Kuntomintar, 828m), with about 18 km of distance between the summits. Both volcanoes are active with historic eruptions and both emit fumarolic gases. Since it was already late in the evening, we just took a short walk on the rocky coast close to a waterfall there.
Next stop was Onetokan Island which is located near the northern end of the Kurils and is 42,5 km in length and 11-16,7 km wide. Onekotan Island is unique because it has a water-filled caldera at both the northern and the southern ends of the island. The more prominent caldera at the southern end is almost perfectly round and stretches 7 kilometers across. It’s known as the Tao Rusyr Caldera and was formed by an explosive volcanic eruption around 5500 BC.The Kolzewoje-Lake inside the caldera is 369m deep, which is the 4th deepest lake in Russia. From the center of the lake raises the new 900m high cone of the Krenitsyn volcano which, at 1325m above sea level, is the highest elevation on Onetokan Island.
 Credits: NASA image collection |
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From the images I have seen, the view of the caldera and central cone is phenomenal (see above). The barely passable track from the beach to the interior and up to the rim of the caldera is difficult and around 15+ km one way, though. So that hike wasn’t possible on this trip, of course. The weather wasn’t favorable either when we reached the island. We just anchored at the northern end of the island for a short excursion to the beach and thus didn’t explore the island’s second water-filled caldera (Black Lake, Lake Chyornoye) in the north either which has almost been filled by the subsidiary cone, Nemo Peak (1019m).
As of today, Onetokan is the largest uninhabited island of the Kurils. Until around 1994, there was a Russian air defense base on the east coast. Before the Second World War, the island belonged to Japan.
40 km northeast of Onetokan lies Paramushir which is the largest of the Northern Islands and second largest member of the Kuril Islands after Iturup. It measures 100 km in length and up to 30km in width, covering an area of 2,053 km². Paramushir’s northernmost end is 39km from Cape Lopatka, the southern tip of Kamchatka Peninsula. It is the Kuril Island with the most mountains. Geologically, Paramushir is a continuous chain of 23 volcanoes, of which 5 are potentially active. The highest elevation point, Chikurachki Volcano, is 1816 m. Ebeko (1156 m) is one of the most active volcanoes of the Kuril islands. During its last eruption in March 2024 an ash cloud rose to a height of 3000 m and drifted towards the southeast. Other known volcanoes forming the landmark of Paramushir are Tatarinov (1,530 m) and Fuss Peak (1,772 m).
Paramushir was inhabited by the Ainu people when the Japanese discovered the island. During World War II the island was strongly garrisoned by both the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy. After the Invasion of the Kuril Islands by Soviet troops and following combat operations in August 1945, the island was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1946. In an increasingly unstable context, Russian missile systems have been subsequently deployed on the island of Paramushir in 2022, though – around a year after Russia put Bastion systems on the central Kuril islet of Matua.
In November 1952, the original capital Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed by a tsunami, then rebuilt in another location. After USSR’s dissolution (1990), the island’s population decreased and as of 2010 was less than 3000 people. Most villages along the coast are now ghost towns.
We went ashore at the Shelihov Bay to explore the remains of an abandoned Japanese whaling station and the scenery nearby.
Kuril’s second northeasternmost island of Shumshu, is separated from Paramushir by a narrow strait of less than 2 km wide and lies about 11 km from Cape Lopatka, the southernmost point of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Unlike the other Kurils, Shumshu is not of volcanic origin – although its low-lying terrain with a maximal height of 189m above sea level gets coated in ash whenever an active volcano erupts on nearby Paramushir.
Shumshu was the northern stronghold for Japanese forces during World War II, as well as the site of one of the war’s final battles when Soviet troops landed here in August 1945. The Japanese garrison on this island consisted of more than 8000 soldiers and 77 tanks. Prior to the Russian-Ukrainian war, visitors could explore the Japanese airfield, planes, and tanks left abandoned to the elements. Only 100 or so people live on the island today, sharing its coastline with otters, seals, and myriad seabirds. Again, we had only a short excursion to the beach at the landing site.
Atlasov(a) is the northernmost island , and also the tallest volcano of the Kurils: It is essentially the cone of the submarine volcano Alaid protruding to a height of 2285 meters above the Sea of Okhotsk. The island is named after Vladimir Atlasov, a 17th-century Russian explorer and has an area of 119 square kilometers. It’s located northwest of Paramushir at a distance of 17,7km (11 mi) at the narrowest part of the strait – and around 69km from the coast of Kamchatka. Atlasova Island is currently uninhabited; during the Stalin era until 1953, there was a prison camp here for up to 600 women. A Soviet fish factory on the southeast coast of the island has been abandoned, probably since the eruption in 1981 at the latest. That area with the ruins is accessible only by boat.
The Alaid stratovolcano is prone to violent explosive eruptions that have occurred from the 1,5km wide summit crater beginning in the 18th century; the explosive outbursts during 1790 and 1981 were among the largest reported in the Kuril Islands. Most recently, an effusive-explosive eruption was observed during September 10 through November 26, 2022 that consisted of Strombolian explosions, intermittent ash plumes, rising as high as 3km (about 700 m above the summit at 2,285 m) and lava effusion with two lava flows, 2.6 and 1-km long. The drifting ash plumes posed danger to local airlines.
From 1933 to 1934 an underwater eruption started around 150m off the east coast of Atlasova and ended on land. The outburst happened before people’s eyes and was essentially the formation of a new volcano which built a new islet that got connection to the coast by a small sandy spit The newly formed unique side volcano with an original height of 133,2m (now 90+m) was named Taketomi after the captain of a Japanese patrol boat and extensively studied by famous Japanese scientists and from 1946 on to the present day by Soviet and Russian researchers. The new small peninsula with the extinct and eroding Taketomi volcano got the name Poluostrov Vladimira.
The sight of the perfectly shaped cone of Alaid volcano, often compared to the famous Mount Fuji, was breathtaking as our ship approached Atlasova Island at sunset. On the next morning, we landed by Zodiac on the black lava beach of the Baklan Bay from where we also enjoyed even more stunning views of the Alaid volcano and its cloud-free summit at the time of our visit. We then walked to the remaining slopes of the Taketomi tufa cone and volcanic cliffs nearby to explore and photograph the amazing formations of layered lava flanks and eroding basalt walls that are exposed to the elements.From the Poluostrov Vladimira we had also an outstanding view of the Chikurachk and Fuss volcanos on the nearby Paramushir Island.
After visiting this northernmost Kuril island, we continued our journey to the east coast of Kamchatka, with the city of Petropavlovsk in the sheltered Avacha Bay being our first stop.
The Kamchatka Peninsula, located about 6780 km east of Moscow, stretches over around 1200 km in a north-south direction and is the northern link in the 2500 km long Kuril-Kamchatka arc which is part of the Ring of Fire that encircles the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula contains 68 active volcanoes, over 10 percent of the total found on land anywhere on earth. With 29 active volcanoes alone, Kamchatka is home to one of the most concentrated groups of active volcanoes in the world .The total number of volcanoes on the peninsula varies from 160 to over 300, depending on whether only conical peaks or also fumaroles, crater lakes and natural hot springs are counted. The Volcanoes of Kamchatka have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996, as the peninsula is one of the most outstanding volcanic regions in the world.
Apart from the unique scenery with its high density of volcanic peaks, the Kurilskoye crater Lake (Kuril Lake) in the southern part of the peninsula is another world-famous highlight. It is the second largest freshwater lake in Kamchatka and the largest spawning of Sockeye Salmon around all Eurasia, which attracts about 200-250 Kamchatka Brown Bears to the area of the lake in August. Another well-known highlight is the Valley of the Geysers in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve that has the second-largest concentration of geysers in the world after Yellowstone and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, too. The natural hot springs, steam vents and colorful mineral deposits and mosses are truly impressive. The two attractions mentioned, which are normally only accessible by helicopter, were not part of this trip of 2011. However, I had already visited Kamchatka including Kuril Lake, Valley of Geysirs, Petropavlosk etc. the year before, in 2010. You can read the description and check the gallery here. In 2012 – one year after this trip – we went to Kamchatka again, primarily to visit the Tolbachik volcano eruption (see here).
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskij is the only major city on the peninsula and one of the oldest towns in the Russian Far East. It’s also the scientific and cultural center of the region. There are no roads leading to the city. As of 2021, the population was reported to be around 165.000 accounting for approximately 65% of the peninsula in total. Petropavlovsk was founded by Vitus Bering who arrived in Avacha Bay in 1740. He named the area after his ships, the St. Peter and St. Paul.
On a guided city tour and individual stroll ,we visited the Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the gold-domed Orthodox Trinity Cathedral, the Alexander NevskyTemple, the market place and other points of interest most of which I had already seen during our stay in 2010. The evening before our departure from Petropavlosk, we watched a dance and song performance of the native National Even Folk Troupe ‘Nulgur’ who had come to the ship.
We continued our route further northeast with a short landing at the picturesque and sheltered Morzhovaya Bay located northeast of Petropavlosk-Kamchatskji where bears are said to often be seen along the bank of the river that flows into the bay. We didn’t see any, though. The wreck of an old Japanese whaling ship is stranded and rusting there.
Next stop was the mouth of the Zhupanova River, in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. With a length of about 100 miles, the Zhupanova is one of the largest of Kamchatka’s more than 140,000 rivers and creeks. It is perhaps Kamchatka’s most beautiful and scenic river with good views of the Zhupanova and Karymsky volcano, one of the most active volcanoes on the peninsula. The Zhupanova River is famous for its large rainbow trout and fly fishing tours.
We took the zodiacs several miles upriver to look for the giant Steller’s Sea Eagles,-the world’s largest sea eagles with a 2-2,5m wing span that often nest in the trees adjacent to the river.As mentioned before, this wasn’t a special photographer’s trip to work patiently on the best scenarios. Nevertheless, I could get some shots of those amazing birds with my 500mm lens from the moving boat and was happy about it since I had not seen those eagles on my 2010trip to the Kurilskoye Lake at all.We also viewed Aleutian terns, some Spotted Largha Seals resting on a sandbar and even a Brown Bear pretty close by.
We then set off to the Commander Islands, located around 178 km east of the Kamchatka peninsula and named after famed commander Vitus Bering. The Komandorsky archipelago is part of the Komandorsky National Biosphere Reserve and consists of 15 islands and islets of different size from 1667 km2 to less than 0.5 km2 which are the crowns of a huge submarine volcanic ridge extending from Alaska to Kamchatka. Often only 4 islands respectively islets of the archipelago are mentioned: The largest and most famous is Bering Island, followed by the slightly smaller Copper Island (Medney Island). Toporkov with a size of 0.5 km³ and Arij Kamen, a 53 m high rock with a circumference of 1km. All the others are just isolated unnamed rocks scattered around the two large islands.
After the arrival in the area, we went for a Zodiac cruise to Arij Kamen which is around 10km away from the settlement of Nikolskoye on Bering Island. The rock of the islet is populated with Steller Sea lions, Northern fur seals, Sea-Otters and is an important nesting place for 17 sea bird species ,such as Black-legged Kittiwakes, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Northern Fulmars, Guillemots, Cormorants, Tufted Puffins and many others. Generally, the Commanders are home to some of the largest seabird colonies in the region, including some rare species. However, our short Zodiac ride was not intended to be an extensive search for special birds, though, but simply to give an overview and impression of the birdlife and pinnipeds on Arij Kamen, considering that the voyage as a whole was not specifically designed for birdwatchers either. However, it was particularly pity that we did not at least look for the uncommon and highly localized Red-legged Kittiwakes. As I carefully reviewed my photos, I just happened to spot two of them, hidden in the colony of common kittiwakes.
On the next morning, we went ashore at Nikolskoye on Bering Island. Established in 1826 by fur traders, this fishing village is the only remaining inhabited locality of the Commanders and the administrative center of the Aleutsky District. The population is declining rapidly due to emigration; at the last census (2002), there were still 676 people living there, roughly 300 of them call themselves “Aleuts.” Only about a dozen older Aleuts still speak the Aleutian language and also try to maintain their vanishing culture. We attended an open-air dance and folklore performance by one of the Aleutian collectives.
The small local museum of Natural History hosts the giant skeleton of the extinct Sea Cow. The species was hunted to extinction in just under 3 decades after the discovery of the Commanders.The exhibition also includes some cannons and other equipment from the ship and from the winter camp of the Vitus Bering expedition, as well as some paintings showing the captain’s corrected appearance after his face was reconstructed from the skull. There’s also a large statue of Bering at the coast. Some of the buildings in the village are the last remnants of the Great Russian-American Company, which sold Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the United States in 1867.
After the visit of Nikolskoye, we moved on to the original gravesite of Vitus Bering at Commander Bay, located on the east side of Bering Island. The Danish explorer and cartographer had been in service of the Russian Navy. He is known as the leader of two Russian expeditions, namely the First Kamchatka Expedition and the Great Northern Expedition, exploring the northeastern coast of the Asian continent and from there the western coast on the North American continent. He was commissioned by the Russian Tsar to search for a land bridge between Asia and America. That expedition was shipwrecked in Commander Bay on their return from Alaska in 1741. Bering and almost half of the crew perished from scurvy during the following months and are buried here. Bering died on December 19th, 1741. It was certainly a very special moment when our group stood silently in a semi-circle, in front of the crenellated black stone slab of the famous explorer’s inconspicuous grave in that remote and lonely place, and listened to our captain’s short memorial speech. The Bering Strait, the Bering Sea, Bering Island, the Bering Glacier and the Bering Land Bridge were all named in his honor.
The known German naturalist Georg W. Steller after whom many animals are named (e.g. Steller’s Sea Eagle, Steller’s Sea Cow, Steller’s Jay, Steller’s Eider etc.) was also member of that tragic expedition. He and his assistant were among the few who did not suffer from scurvy – thanks to leaves and berries Steller collected to treat the rest of the crew. After overwintering, the survivors made it back to Kamchatka in the spring of 1742 in a boat built from the remains of the “St Peter”. Steller died in Siberia on November 14th, 1746 at the age of 37.
We then left Bering Island and continued our voyage towards Natalia Bay (Bukhta Natalii) which is located in the extreme north of Kamchatka’s east coast in the Olyutorsky region and is part of the Koryaksky Nature Reserve. The Bay of Natalia stretches in a north-western direction over a length of about 9 km, and a width of 5.5 km. It is adjoined by two small bays, – Peter and Paul .In its depth two large rivers flow into the bay: Vatyna and Lugovaya. Near the coast lies the small rocky Bogoslov Island. The dominant peak on the west coast is the Natalia mountain (809 m).
When we arrived in the bay early in the morning, the landscape was still partially shrouded in fog which created a mystical atmosphere. But after the sun broke through and the mist cleared, an extremely beautiful scenery was revealed with spectacular mountains towering over Natalia Bay, hills covered with snow that doesn’t melt all summer, an estuary and rocky banks covered with lush grass and tundra vegetation. We went ashore for a walk to enjoy and photograph this amazing place and listened to the Blue-Throats singing in the otherwise quiet solitude.On a Zodiac cruise beneath Bogoslov Island’s cliffs we explored the large colonies of kittiwakes, guillemots, cormorants and photographed the tufted and horned puffins around. Aside from two carcasses, we saw no walruses but spotted a bear climbing up the glacier.
In Anastasia Bay, which lies a little further northeast of Natalia Bay, walruses are said to be frequently sighted, too. But we could not visit this area because the swell was too high.
So the next landing took place at the nearby Dezhnev Bay (Bukhta Dezhneva) ,also not very far from Natalia Bay. We didn’t see any walruses there either. However, the extensive and colorful tundra vegetation was quite impressive and offered good opportunities for macro photography. The rugged coast with snow banks between the rocks was also very picturesque
As we travelled further northeast, we finally reached the Chukotka Peninsula (aka Chukchi Peninsula), the easternmost peninsula of Asia in northeastern Siberia. It is bordered to the north by the Chukchi Sea, to the south by the Bering Sea and to the east by the Bering Strait. The peninsula is part of the official Chukotka Autonomous Okrug with the town of Anadyr as its administrative center and capital. Approaching the peninsula, however, we had to pass through and partially circumnavigate a wide belt of sea ice off the coast. To our surprise, numerous Harbor Seals and rare Banded Seals were resting all over the ice floes.
We anchored in Preobrazheniya Bay with the nearby Achchen (Achen) Lake & Lagoon, located on the western side of the Chukotka Peninsula, and separated from the Bering Sea by a sand and pebble bank where we disembarked from the zodiacs. Many decayed whale bones were scattered across the beach and surrounding hills, including a grey whale skeleton. The landing site and adjacent area were also full of old whaling parts, crumbling fishing boats and some derelict looking hunting shacks, although a few young Chukchi were still around. However, the landscape was extremely beautiful, and the slopes were decorated with all sorts of tundra plants, – colorful flowers, lichens and grasses which in turn inspired macro photography again. From above we had an impressive panoramic view over the bay with the lagoon, the lake and the sea.
Travelling further along the northeastern part of Eurasia, we entered Providence Bay (aka Bukhta Provideniya), a 34km long fjord on the south coast of the Chukotka Peninsula. We stopped at Plover Spit (Plover Bay) that takes its name from HMS Plover, a British ship, in distress whose captain discovered a sheltered anchorage in the region to winter there in 1848-1849, as the spit represents a natural breakwater. It was also the first successful wintering of a ship in the Bering Sea region. Plover Spit is site of a whaling station abandoned in the 1940s and also contains relicts of huts and facilities of ancient Eskimos as well as more recent remains of a Soviet-era Yaranga village (tent-like homes of the Chukchi and Yuki). There are also ruins of military fortifications and Cold War-era remnants
We went ashore to briefly explore this area where large whale bones were scattered between the decaying remains and accessories of the settlement. Additionally, the wooden wreck of an old tugboat was stranded there.
Our journey continued in the fjord to the former Soviet military port of Provideniya (Providenija), sited in a sheltered branch of Providence Bay. It is the a largest inhabited locality east of Anadyr and belongs to the easternmost part of the Chukotka region. At the same time, Provideniya was our final destination in Russia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the bay was a popular wintering and supplying place for whalers and fur traders. With the development of the Northern Sea Route, the site became an important base for coal depots for refueling ships, before the first buildings of the future seaport were constructed by 1933. In 1946, the settlement was officially established. The modern name “Provideniya” (Russian for Providence) is credited to the English captain Thomas Moore who in 1848 successfully wintered with his ship “Plover” in the area,as described above. During the Soviet era, Provideniya became an administrative and commercial center supplying the surrounding settlements with cement and other goods. Mainly due to its geographical location and the protected ice-free harbor for the Red Army fleet, it quickly developed into an important military outpost during the Cold War.
Yet, after the collapse of the Soviet Union Provideniya looks kind of been forgotten and left in despair at the easternmost periphery of Russia. In 2011, as we walked through the city where many abandoned and dilapidated buildings showed traces and symbols of the Soviet era, time actually seemed to have stood still, creating a strange and depressing atmosphere. The population is declining; according to the 2021 census, there were still 2140 inhabitants living in Provideniya, who form a thriving community that tries to survive and to preserve its identity and culture in various ways, as we could experience in the small museum and at a dance performance by the locals.
We then departed from Provideniya to cross the Bering Strait and finally disembarked in Nome (Alaska). The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast and was established in 1901, soon after gold was discovered at Anvil Creek in 1898 and the gold rush kicked off by 1899. At that time, Nome became the most populous town in Alaska with more than 20000 people from all over the world through the early 1900s. When the rush dwindled around 1910, the population fell to 2600 then down to less than 1500 by 1934. The 2020 census recorded 3699 residents again.
The rough and turbulent history of the exciting gold rush years shapes the city with statues and buildings that commemorate it. We also got a demonstration of gold panning and gold is still mined in the area, although most of it is offshore. These days, Nome is perhaps best known as the finish line of the annual 1049-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race which starts in Anchorage each March. We visited a musher with sled dogs in their kennels who provided us with some details and demonstrations. For us personally, it was particularly exciting that we were able to see and photograph some musk oxen near the city.
On the return flight from Nome we made a stopover in Vancouver, where we took part in a city tour including a short visit to Stanley Park before the trip officially ended. We flew back to Europe enjoying breathtaking views of the Greenland ice sheet.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Back in 2011, I had mostly used the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III and Canon EOS-1 D Mark IV with the Canon EF 24-105mm/f4 L IS USM and EF 70-200mm/f 2.8 L USM II lenses for photographing the landscape. A few shots were also taken with the EF 14mm/f2.8 mm L USM or EF 16-35mm/f 2.8 L USM (v1). Macros were captured with the Canon EF 100mm/f 2.8 Macro lens, for the most part using the Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14 EX flash.
Birds and wildlife were mostly shot with the EF 100-400mm/f 4.5-5.6 L IS USM (v1), Canon EF 300mm/f2.8 L IS USM (+ 1,4Ext II or 2,0 Ext II) mounted on the Canon EOS 7D (v1) or EOS-1-D Mark IV. Some images, e.g. the Steller’s Sea Eagles; musk oxen and bears, were captured with the EF 500mm/f4 L IS USM (v1), partially with the Extenders, too.
SUMMARY:
The Russian Far East, including the Kuril Islands, is a place that few people have ever seen – not even many Russians. Given the current political situation since 2022, travel there is no longer possible today and won’t be in the foreseeable future, at least not for Europeans and US citizens. That’s why I’m glad and extremely grateful that I once had the opportunity to see this unique and remote part of the world. The endless chain of volcanic peaks which dominate the ribbon of the Kuril Islands is breathtaking with Yankicha, Atlasova and also Natalii Bay being specifically beautiful places, IMO. I was fascinated by the scenery and the colors of the blossoming tundra. It was also touching to listen to the song of the beautiful Siberian Rubin Throats breaking the silence in this lonely and almost forgotten periphery of the world and I was happy about my first sighting of Steller’s Sea Eagles as of 2011. As pointed out several times, though, this was not a journey specifically tailored to nature photographers or bird watchers, but more or less a tourist trip with kind of an expedition character. The schedule and routine on board were also important and there were several situations in which I wished that the uniqueness of nature should have been given the priority and more emphasis would have been placed on searching or watching the rarities. Nevertheless, our voyage as a whole covered a wide variety of aspects and provided many unforgettable impressions and valuable experiences, including an insight in the culture of the indigenous people and especially the dramatic history that is one of exploration, doomed voyages, military positioning, war and extreme conditions. From 1945 to 1991 the area was a hotbed of activity with a large military presence which unfortunately now appears to happen again. In this beautiful environment of high Arctic tundra, bird and wildlife sightings and stunning volcanic mountain ranges, there’s also the ugly side of WWII and the Cold War with decayed military bases and remains, now abandoned and left to crumble and rot away, dotting the landscape on most of the Kuril Islands. Regardless of this rather sad aspect and some aforementioned compromises, the voyage along the Ring of Fire in the Russian Far East will remain a unique, unforgettable and also instructive visit to one of the most remote and almost forgotten areas of the world that will likely remain closed and inaccessible for the rest of my life.
