Australian expedition-cruise company, Aurora Expeditions, has become one the first companies to ever complete Russia’s North East Passage in an ice-strengthened passenger vessel.
On board Russian vessel, Akademik Shokalskiy, the 50 passengers, 10 staff and 23 crew departed Murmansk on 10 August 2011, taking 26 days to traverse Siberia’s vast north coast and crossing nine time zones to arrive in Anadyr on 5 September 2011.
The inaugural voyage was Aurora Expeditions most adventurous in scope and duration, visiting places where few people have ever been before. Passengers had the chance to visit military restricted Novaya Zemlya, name peaks on mountainous Severnaya Zemlya, midnight cruise around the Novosibirskie Islands, and have a special tour of polar bear haven, and World-Heritage listed, Wrangel Island.
Reaching 80 degrees north, the voyage offered attractions such as abandoned Russian polar stations and working meteorological huts, 10,000 year-old fossils of mammoth tusks and teeth, and thousands of birds, hundreds of walrus, whales and polar bears.
Lisa Bolton, Aurora Expeditions CEO, said that the voyage was a real modern-day exploration and adventure. Aurora Expeditions is a leader in adventure cruising, having pioneered a range of adventure cruises and activities in some of the world’s wildest and remote places.
Aurora Expeditions 2012 ‘Across the North East Passage’ has already sold out.
For moe information on 2013 program or check out their two new 2012 Russian voyages ‘Arctic Ocean Discoverer – Wrangel Island’ and ‘Treasures of the Russian Far East’ at www.auroraexpeditions.com.au or in the UK The Cruise Line
Photo Micheal_Hart_Courtesy_of_Aurora_Expeditions
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.