Luckily, one of the passengers was a qualified surgeon and offered her services this also coincided with our arrival at the Russian military station, so she was taken off and a procedure undertaken onshore at the hospital. There is a doctor on board with a proper hospital for passengers and crew alike – on this trip, one of the crew suffered appendicitis and needed emergency surgery. Available for all is a gym, hot tub on deck for use in quieter sea conditions, library stocked with destination-specific material each passenger is also issued with a 10mb communications access card. All cabins have twin, king or double beds plus, in many cases, private balconies. On-board facilities include lounge and bars, dining room with silver-service dinners and lunches optional service for breakfast with buffet or waiters and afternoon tea on sea days.
It is a passenger – comfortable vessel with all facilities for safe and stable cruising through all sorts of sea conditions. It is not an icebreaker, but is ideal for pushing through sea ice and brash ice and finding appropriate mooring spots. As such, it has ice-strengthened hull and is equipped for sailing in all weather conditions. Our ship is Sea Spirit, a recently refurbished 1 st class ship built specifically for polar tourism. This is the only commercial operator with a licence to operate in these waters, apart from some in the Far East and one other, which shares with Poseidon operations to the North Pole – more about this vessel later. I was on board an American ship on charter to a Russian operator, Poseidon Travel, based in St Petersburg. And what a remarkable trip that was – totally different from anything I have experienced before. Nowadays, only scientific and tourist ships visit there and it was on one of these that I travelled a couple of years ago. It was designated a National Park in 2016 by the Russian Government, which protects the rare and diverse wildlife and other resources.Įxplorers have long travelled to and some have attempted to exploit this land, looking for furs and minerals however, none have stayed too long. It is a remote and windswept region well north of the Arctic Circle and a haven for birds and other polar wildlife. Consisting of over 190 islands, there is no indigenous population and the only human inhabitants are Russian military personnel and scientists.
This archipelago is located north of Russia in the Arctic Ocean and is the most northerly part of Russia.
0 kommentar(er)
