Wrangel Island

The World visited Wrangel Island as the first foreign-flagged ship to do so in Russian history. It was a spectacular opportunity to see polar bears and walruses in the wild. Very few people have visited this island period; it's high in the Arctic Circle and is only reachable during the warmest months of the year.

The first photo is a pair of islands that we passed between when approaching Wrangel. One of them (the far one) is owned by the United States, and the near one by Russia.

View of The World from my Zodiac skiff as we approached the island for sightseeing.



Click the picture to enlarge. Scroll left to see the polar bear and right to see the other Zodiac boat full of onlookers.



My friend Juan, of the Canary Islands

Preparing to approach a group of walruses

Note the polar bear swimming to the right.




Heading back to the ship

Dutch Harbor, Alaska

Underbelly

Kodiak, Alaska

Windmills on a hill




About fifty of these fish heads fell off of a truck that passed us walking to the local dive. Kodiak processes a lot of fish. And they're famous for having enormous bears (no pictures).

These Are the Prettiest Things I Saw in Anchorage, Alaska

Fugly, right?

Seaman

This is my Bahamian Seaman's Book, which is like a passport for boat people.

It's Back!

OK y'all, I'm doing this blog again. I've just arrived in Buenos Aires a couple of days ago and am prevented from doing anything productive by a mysterious allergy and the medicine used to treat it. I'll try to post pictures in order, starting with the earlier parts of my time on the ship and moving through China and into Buenos Aires. I've taken 984 pictures with my new camera, so it'll take a while—maybe weeks—to select photos and post them.