The Kuril Islands
Voyage of a lifetime with opportunity to add Japan extension | 17 days
Draped across the north Pacific Ocean from Hokkaido, Japan, to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, the 22 islands and 30 islets of the Kuril Islands form a necklace of active volcanoes and sea-sculpted coastlines waiting to be explored. Nutrient-rich waters washing this ‘Pacific Rim of Fire’ teem with marine life, from sea otters to harbour seals, Steller sea lions to orca, Dall’s porpoise to beaked and sperm whales. The islands form a natural ‘flyway’ for migratory birds including both horned and tufted puffins, whiskered and rhinoceros auklets and exquisite little murrelets. You’ll Zodiac into flooded calderas, beneath soaring bird cliffs, to landings where brown bears fish for salmon. The fittest may even attempt to attempt to climb a volcano. Every day brings new adventure.
Highlights include
- Marvelling at the sun-kissed beauty of snow-capped volcanoes, slowly revealed by rising sea mists
- Supercharged birdwatching along a migratory flyway alive with Siberian ruby throats, rough legged buzzards, snow buntings, spectacled pigeons, tufted puffins and rhinoceros auklets
- Zodiac cruising through waters boiling with Steller sea lions and pups, thousands of crested auklets and into the flooded caldera of Broutana Bay, an abandoned, secret submarine base from Soviet time
- Trekking through a kaleidoscope of landscapes, from megaherb and coniferous forests to grasslands, lava fields and the flanks of active volcanoes. Watch for brown bears and cubs, and historical remains of Ainu (indigenous Japanese) settlements and World War II battles
As the voyage starts with a charter flight from Tokyo to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, why not ask us about tailor-making a tour of Japan prior to boarding, to make this truly a voyage of a lifetime.
Ship: Sylvia Earle
When: Normally one departure annually in August/September
Guide price: Please ask
Important note: As a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, these voyages are suspended until further notice. We continue to watch the situation carefully and will issue updates accordingly.
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Far Frontiers Travel
Our sister company, Far Frontiers Travel, specialises in tailor-making bespoke travel to Central Asia, China and Mongolia, the Far East, Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas, Indochina, Myanmar, Middle East, North Africa and Europe, Russia and South America.
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Clients’ comments
“Once again thank you very much for yet another wonderful trip to the Arctic. Memories from this trip have surpassed some of those of previous visits to this part of the world. The whole voyage provided me (and fellow passengers) the chance to see a part of the Arctic seen by few people and experience the vastness of the Northern Sea Route and the challenges it presents in the future”.
Peter Wright, The Northern Sea Route and Wrangel Island
“This was a wonderful trip. Getting there and back was slightly trying, not because of the airlines (both Transaero and Yakutia were good) but because of the length of the flights, the hassle of boarding, stopping over in Irkutsk on the way back, and of course the time changes (3 hours London/Moscow, nearly 9 hours Moscow/Petropavlovsk, and the reverse on the way back. The voyage itself was splendid. There were some early starts and late finishes, a few rather optimistic ‘dry landings’ from zodiacs (I always wore rubber wellingtons and always needed them) and one optimistic ‘walk’ through a pass between bays which involved ploughing through deep/very deep snow for about a mile while on a slope most of the way. But we took these in our stride. We saw tons of wildlife – literally; at least two dozen whales, more than 5,000 hauled-out walruses, about 50 sea-lions, dozens of seals, and at least 15 brown bears. We were successful in finding the spoon-billed sandpiper, and the scientific element of the trip was both enlightening and exciting.”
Chris Meader, In Bering’s wake, in search of the spoon-billed sandpiper