Walrus

Still in Franz Josef Land, we were lucky to come upon a group of walrus on an ice floe. The zodiacs went out, and slowly approached with the engines off and the paddles out, approaching as a silent group, and stopping at a distance, where they drifted for an hour or so. Unlike in the Antarctic, where the animals are not timid, here they have a long history of being hunted, both by people and occasionally bears. So often seals and walrus will plunge into the water before you can get close enough to really see them. This group of walrus stayed out on the ice, providing a great view of them all afternoon.





Among the pinnipeds (group including the various seals and walrus), they are second largest, second only to the elephant seals. Males in this part of the arctic reach 2200 pounds or 1000 kg, and females only 1322 pounds or 600 kg.

Franz Josef Land

Here are a few more pictures from Franz Josef Land, taken from the helicopter as it flew over Nightingale Sound, in the southwest portion. The ship is plowing through very light first year ice.

There was an open bridge, which allowed anyone on the ship to get the best view from the top deck. Above it was the "flying bridge" which was the open deck from which one could see in all directions. The "Kapitan Khlebnikov," is a Russian conventional icebreaker, which has six engines and can run at 25,000 horsepower when in thicker ice.

Polar bear

A mother and cub were sighted off the port side of the ship and as we watched, they wandered in on the sea ice to check out the ship. They seemed quite curious, particularly the very young cub. It was a small first year cub, so it was probably the first time it had ever seen a ship. Few ships go to the Russian islands of Franz Josef Land, in contrast to Svalbard or Greenland, as it is quite far north, and there is quite a bit of Russian red tape to deal with to get there. Our ship was delayed a whole day in Murmansk because of it, even though arrangements and permissions had been arranged 5 months in advance. The person who had given permission for the ship to leave the dock, had since left the office. We were lucky to have the chance to visit this archipelago. But bears there are not too used to seeing people or ships.



The bear cub spent some time looking at the ship, even after the mother had decided there was nothing too interesting or tasty there, and had headed off, turning occasionally to see if her cub was following. The cub stayed at the ice edge for a while, regularly mewling (a cry almost like that of a cow, but much higher in pitch.) It finally turned and followed it's mom, and they wandered off into the distance, probably to resume their hunt for seals.

Murmansk to Berents Sea

We boarded the ship at Murmansk, the Russian port in the northwest part of Russia, close to Finland, after a flight of an hour and a half. It is an important port for fishing and shipping, and is also where the Atomflot is located, a high security area where they keep their several nuclear powered icebreakers.

Passing through the town, we stopped at the impressive statue, Alyosha, built in 1974 of a Russian soldier of World War II, which overlooks the whole port city of Murmansk. Those are people in the lower right... yes, it's about 42 meters high.

Soon we were headed into the Berents Sea straight into a storm, spending a day in a rolling sea, heading north.

Finally, we were plowing through some first year sea ice and came upon the sight of Franz Josef Land, a group of Russian Islands half way between Murmansk and the North Pole.

Arctic skuas

I am now making preparations to go on an Arctic cruise as "artist in residence" with Quark Expeditions. As my departure is just a week away, I am thinking more about the arctic wildlife we might see. I remember seeing a pair of "arctic skuas" also called "parasitic jaegers" on the tundra in Franz Josef Land two years ago. We were on the nuclear powered icebreaker, "Yamal," stopping at Franz Josef Land, a Russian archipelago, on the way south from the geographic North Pole. I sketched the birds through binoculars, and later used that pencil sketch to compose a painting of the nesting pair. Today, walking on a beach in Rhode Island I thought of them as I watched one hungry tern zipping through the air after another, who had a small fish in its beak. The arctic skua takes that one step further, by chasing gulls and terns in the air, forcing them to disgorge their last meal, so they can steal it. These are true aerial pirates! Maybe we will see that in action on the upcoming trip.