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A crater’s narrow pass opened into a nearly hidden harbour — Broutona Bay. We were soon on our way to a Soviet military base where 2,000 occupants lived from 1978 to 1991. Because no one lives here any longer, there was a ghost town atmosphere to the empty buildings, workshops and vehicles. After returning to the ship, then, carefully working our way out of the crater we were surrounded by swarms of birds — short-tailed & Laysan albatross, Northern Fulmars, Slaty-backed Gulls and more as our ship made its way to Yankicha.

At Yankicha, a sinking volcanic caldera offers access during high tides. Inside the magnificent lagoon, we witnessed the ongoing volcanic activity. Grassy and rocky slopes are nesting grounds for crested auklets, and common and thick-billed murres make their home in the ledges of the vertical cliffs. A colony of whiskered auklets feeds offshore in the mingling tides and nests in the cliffs of the caldera.

Joan followed the birders, I explored on my own. We both captured the Arctic fox in our lens. I visited a former fox hunting station then climbing through the grass I reached another magnificent view of the caldera — a veritable Shangri-la. Returning to the ship we made a detour to the hole in the wall.

Our supper was interrupted with the report of even larger swarms of birds in the area. Joan boarded a Zodiac to get up close. I was content to capture the scene from our cabins's window.

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