Next Day | ||||||||||||
Unanswered Questions | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
June 17, 2008 Onekotan Island / Shelakova Bay, Paramushir Island, Russia
Onekotan Island is a volcanic mountain that is well covered with vegetation. Snow banks, steep cliffs and a sandy beach greeted us. After fording a stream I went part way up the hill where I got a good view of the man-made rings. Some attribute flotsam them to an old Ainu settlement other "experts" believe it was a Japanese encampment from World War II. We also noted man-made caves cut into the stone walls. Amongst the tundra slopes were a variety of small flowers. Some mountain goat types worked their way to the top in their quest for birds others eventually gave up. Returning to the ship we had a talk on the botany of the islands and an old fashion ice cream social before leaving for Paramushir Island in the late afternoon. Paramushir Island is the site of an old whaling station used by the Japanese and Russians. Today, its few residents are there for the salmon run. I followed Conrad along the shore as he described the beach formation and observed more flotsam and jetsam. After dinner it was Vodka and Irish coffee as we got ready for a talk on the Russian Bureaucracy & Russia Today given by our Russian agent, Sergey Frolov. He talked of his experiences and the difficulties he has had trying to open up the east coast of Russia to tourism. In the end Putin gave permission for our expedition. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Next Day |
These slideshows are in Quicktime |