July 31st 2013

Cape Zelaniya

76° 56,928' N, 68° 34,299' E

This day restored my faith in the future of Russian Arctic and in the

Novaya Zemlya National Park in particular. Today in Cape Zelaniya, we

visited an old polar base founded back in the 1930's and closed down in

the 1990's just as the rest of the polar stations. But the difference here

was that, unlike the bases we had visited in Franz Joseph Land, this was

exactly what I had imagined and hoped a so-called polar station to be,

people actively cleaning the surroundings, scientists of different fields

studying the environment, and the team working and living together almost

like a family.

We came to Cape Zelaniya to collect our paper charts which were never

delivered to Franz Joseph Land. But, surprise, surprise, the charts were

not here either. After a few satellite phone calls we found out that the

ship, Ivan Petrov, from Archangel which was supposed to bring them had

been to the polar station about two weeks ago but had not left our charts

here because their orders were to hand them over to us. And since we had

not been here at the time of their short visit, they had taken the charts

with them. Where our charts are now, no one seems to know. I'm sure you

can image what we think about all this!

Despite our disappointment because of the undelivered charts, we spent a

wonderful day exploring the station and its surroundings and in the

evening, after the crews had been to the sauna/banja, we were entertained

by its staff. The atmosphere was so warm and inviting that it almost made

me forget the depressing state of the polar stations we had seen in Franz

Joseph Land. Irina, Tamara, Ivan, Michael, Igor, Igor and last but not

least, Alex, our guide and interpreter – Spasiba!

Tomorrow, we'll weigh anchor and continue south towards Dikson and finally

to the Northern Sea Route aka the North East Passage. Leaving Novaya

Zemlya behind marks the end of both our Russian Arctic Sightseeing Tour

and this blog.