Scenic Eclipse
38 Scenic°
Discover
Russian Arctic – Northeast Passage A
Traverse nine time zones across the top of Siberia and Russia, pushing through ice-laden waters to Arctic islands so remote few, if any humans have ever visited. Feast on wild landscapes along the planet’s greatest migration paths, where birds in their millions fly north to breed on lush river deltas and wind-swept sea cliffs. Step back in time to when woolly rhinoceros roamed the Great Arctic Plain and feel the weight of a mammoth tusk in your hands. Accept the challenge of Crossing the Legendary Northeast Passage and be rewarded with polar bear encounters and walrus crowding on ice floes. Meet Chukchi reindeer herders, Inuit fishermen and Russian scientists gathering high Arctic data from roughshod dwellings sometimes shared with wolverines, snowy owls and Arctic fox. Only in the past couple of decades has this region become accessible enough for nonicebreaker ships to make the crossing due to reduced Arctic Ocean pack ice. Purpose-built for high latitudes with a Polar Class 6 rating and the latest uncompromising standards of any ultra-luxury vessel, Scenic Eclipse is the perfect Discovery Yacht to do so. Embarking from Nome, Alaska, cross the International Date Line in the Bering Sea and enter the Northeast Passage at historic Cape Dezhnev,
the most easterly point of the Eurasian continent. Sail north to Wrangel Island, designated a ‘zapovednik’ during Soviet times, it continues to enjoy Russia’s highest degree of environmental protection and for good reason. Untouched by glaciers during the last Ice Age, its tundra boasts the Arctic’s greatest plant biodiversity, unchanged since mammoths made their last stand here 2000 years ago. Home to the largest population of Pacific walruses and surrounded by waters alive with bowhead, grey and beluga whales, Wrangel and nearby Herald islands host the planet’s highest concentration of polar bear dens. Over the next two weeks your Captain and Discovery Team leader will assess ice, weather and sea depth conditions to identify possible
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