Wrangel Island

Day 1: Anchorage

Arrive in Anchorage and transfer to our group hotel. Upon check-in, reception staff will provide you with your expeditions cabin tags. Please fill out the luggage tags clearly, showing your name and cabin number to allow us to deliver your luggage to your cabin. Enjoy a welcome drink and meet fellow expeditioners at our voyage briefing this evening.

Accommodation: Hilton Anchorage (or similar)

Day 2: Nome

Transfer to Anchorage airport, board our charter flight to Nome and embark the Sylvia Earle. After boarding, there’s time to settle into your cabin before our important safety briefings. This evening meet your expedition team and crew at the Captain’s Welcome Dinner. In the evening, meet the expedition team and crew at the Captain’s Welcome Dinner.

Day 3: Providenyia

Informative briefings prepare you for upcoming landings, and sightings of beluga and grey whales enchant as you cross Bering Strait to Chukotka. In Provideniya, the administrative centre, you’ll be cleared into Russia and if time allows, visit the museum of history and culture, and perhaps take in a traditional Yupik dance performance.

Day 4: Lorino Village, Cape Dezhnev

Chukchi villagers warmly-welcome you into Lorino with traditional dance, samples of local delicacies and the chance to observe life in this outpost of reindeer herders and marine mammal hunters. Weather and sea permitting, you land at Cape Dezhnev, Eurasia’s easternmost point, to explore the ancient Inuit settlement of Naukan, and remains of a Soviet-era research centre (both now abandoned). Note the massive whale bones, somehow brought up the cliffs for building material.

Day 5: At sea

Enjoy informative talks from our team of experts as your Captain navigates an approach to Wrangel Island. Although pack ice can block the way, it varies from year to year. Even if the way is clear, it’s likely you’ll delight in sea ice in upcoming days.

Day 6-9: Wrangel Island

Your exploration of Wrangel and Herald Islands depends on ice and weather conditions. Whether searching pack ice for polar bears, ringed seals and walrus, or Zodiac cruising beneath slopes dotted with polar bears (adults and cubs) and walrus haulouts, you’ll be joined by local rangers keen to share their knowledge and love of this special place. Follow them across a vast landscape in search of reindeer, musk oxen and Arctic fox. Search for fossilised remains of woolly mammoth, a kaleidoscope of wildflowers and listen to tales of Inuit and Chukchi hunters, the first European explorers and the survivors of the Karluk disaster.

Day 10: At sea

As you sail south, reflect on the wonders you’ve seen as you edit photos, enjoy entertaining talks or treat yourself to a gym workout and massage in the wellness centre.

Day 11: Kolyuchin Island, Kolyuchin Inlet

Weather permitting and with a wary eye for polar bears, you land on Kolyuchin Island, with its abandoned meteorological station and some of the Arctic’s most spectacular bird cliffs, where nesting puffins, guillemots and gulls are easily photographed. The tidal estuary of Kolyuchin Inlet offers wildflowers and a host of birds from yellowbilled loons to endemic emperor geese, as well as remains of dwelling mounds and graves of past inhabitants.

Day 12: Arakamchechen Island, Penkigngey Bay

Humpback, grey and bowhead whales feed in the waters around Arakamchechen Island, while on land is the chance to quietly approach a walrus haulout. Sea cliffs on nearby Nuneangan Island are home to guillemots, tufted puffins and crested auklets. Penkigngey Bay, a long fjord, offers tundra wildflower walks and a scenic dip in hot springs.

Day 13: Ytytygran Island, Provideniya

On Ytytygran Island, visit Whale Bone Alley, where bones are thickly strewn for half a kilometre along the beach, and ‘meat pits’ attest to a busy Chukchi whaling camp. Still standing, immense bowhead whale jawbones and ribs form a monumental, ceremonial archway, while just offshore grey whales are frequently seen feeding. In Provideniya, bid a fond farewell to Russia and begin the return voyage across the Bering Sea.

Day 14: King Island

As we pass through Bering Strait, separating Russia and North America by only 100 kilometres / 60 miles, we hope to see beluga and grey whales. Conditions permitting, we land at King Island and explore the eerie, ancient village Ukivok, now abandoned after a tragic run of events. Murres and kittiwakes frequent the surrounding sea cliffs. As we depart, we celebrate the voyage end with a farewell dinner.

Day 15: Nome & Anchorage

Disembark in Nome, transfer to the airport and board our charter flight to Anchorage, where we spend the night. Accommodation: Hilton Anchorage (or similar)

Day 16: Depart Anchorage

Enjoy free time until check-out before continuing your journey.

• Transfer from airport to hotel on day 1 & 16
• One night’s hotel accommodation in Anchorage including breakfast
• Transfer from hotel to airport on day 2 & 17
• Charter flights: Anchorage-Nome-Anchorage
• One night’s hotel accommodation in Anchorage including breakfast on day 1 & 16
• Onboard accommodation during voyage including daily cabin service
• All meals, snacks, tea and coffee during voyage
• Beer, house wine and soft drinks with dinner
• Captain’s Welcome and Farewell reception including four-course dinner, house cocktails, house beer and wine, non-alcoholic beverages 
• All shore excursions and Zodiac cruises
• Educational lectures and guiding services from expedition team
• Complimentary access to onboard expedition doctor and medical clinic
• A 3-in-1 waterproof polar expedition jacket
• Complimentary use of muck boots during the voyage
• Comprehensive pre-departure information
• Port surcharges, permits and landing fees
• Gratuities for ship crew

• International or domestic flights not mentioned in the itinerary
• Transfers not mentioned in the itinerary
• Airport arrival or departure taxes
• Passport, visa, and vaccination charges
• Travel insurance or emergency evacuation charges
• Hotels and meals not included in itinerary
• Optional excursions not included in the itinerary
• Optional activity surcharges
• All items of a personal nature including but not limited to: alcoholic beverages and soft drinks (outside of dinner service), laundry services, personal clothing, medical expenses, gratuities, Wi-Fi, email or phone charges.