Overview - Northeast Passage Expedition Cruise

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(July 10 - August 6, 2011) Beginning in Anchorage, Alaska, and ending in Helsinki, Finland, this 28-day expedition takes you through the exotic Siberian and Russian Arctic. You'll visit four separate groups of islands, enjoying both shore landings and helicopter sightseeing.  See polar bears, walrus and musk oxen in the wild, add many rare and endangered seabirds to your birding notebook, and pay a visit to a traditional reindeer-hearding camp. Your ship, the Russian polar-class icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, will be making its final transit of the Northeast Passage as an expedition vessel.

Northeast Passage Expedition Cruise Route Map

Northeast Passage Expedition Cruise Interactive Map
Severnaya Zemlya - First noted in 1913 and charted in 1933, making it the last archipelago on Earth to be discovered.
Novaya Zemlya - With two major islands and many small ones, this was a sensitive military area during the Cold War.
North Pole, 90 Degrees North - Located in the middle of the ocean amidst shifting sea ice, from here all directions point south.
New Siberian Islands - Low-lying archipelago where fossil ivory, along with mammoth and other bones, can be found.
Murmansk, Russia - City and port in extreme NW Russia, home to the world's only fleet of nuclear powered icebreakers.
Laptev Sea - Navigable for only a few months a year, it was discovered by and named after Russian explorers.
Kara Sea - Important fishing ground, although the sea is ice-bound for all but two months of the year.
Franz Josef Land - 191 ice-covered islands discovered in 1873 by Austro-Hungarians, taken over by the Soviets in 1926.
East Siberian Sea - 70% of it is no deeper than 50 meters. Its coast is flat in the West and mountainous in the East.
Wrangel Island - A breeding ground for polar bears (the highest density of dens in the world), seals, and lemmings.
Anadyr, Russia - The easternmost town in Russia and an important sea port for the Bering Sea.
Bering Strait - It’s speculated that humans walked from Asia to North America across a land bridge in the strait.
Chukchi Sea - Named after the Chukchi people, who traditionally engaged in fishing, whaling and walrus hunting.
Severnaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya North Pole, 90 Degrees North New Siberian Islands Murmansk, Russia Laptev Sea Kara Sea Franz Josef Land East Siberian Sea Wrangel Island Anadyr, Russia Bering Strait Chukchi Sea

Northeast Passage Expedition Cruise Reviews