26 Aug 2015

Stormy Weather

We watched the storm develop and grow as it moved in from the west and planned our Wrangel visits around the likely wind speed and direction. Our plans largely succeeded although we were prevented from making a couple of landings and the wind made picking up the first Overlanders a little more interesting this morning. We did have a great visit to Herald Island yesterday before the storm hit, with good numbers of walrus and some Polar Bears. These, along with the history and landscape of the island, always make this a fascinating visit.  Our planned visit to Dragi Bay had to be cancelled as the north-easterly gale and rain made it impossible.  We also had to drift offshore from Doubtful Bay overnight as anchoring wasn’t an option. This morning we were able to launch two Zodiacs and farewell the rangers who had accompanied us throughout our visit and pick up our returning Overland party that had had a good (though wet) trip back from Dream Head.  We are now enroute to the small marine mammal hunting village of Vankarem where we know there is a large walrus haul out.