Petropavlovsk Kamchatka

Since I last wrote, four days have passed.  We visited Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka, were delayed outrageously by the Russian authorities and ran from a typhoon.

We were almost three hours late reaching the Russian port of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka peninsula.  This is the easternmost city in Russia and a lonely outpost indeed.  We we arrived the captain was informed that we would have to wait an additional indeterminate time as the port was closed.  The Russian navy was conducting submarine exercises.  We were all rather skeptical, submarines – really!  That was until we saw a nuclear sub steaming out of the harbor followed  by two Russian naval mine sweepers and a small diesel sub.

By the time the ship was cleared to land, our all day tour to the volcanoes had been canceled.  Michael and I spent two hours in the theater waiting for our passports to be stamped by the Russian authorities just so we could take an abbreviated hour and a half tour of the town.

Petropavlovsk  is a very poor town.  Started as a fur trading outpost by Vitus Bearing, it limped along as a tiny out of the way settlement until the Soviet Union created a large naval base there in the 1960's.  The Soviet government brought in eastern European Russians and Ukrainians to support the base. They and their children are the primary inhabitants of the Kamchatka peninsula.  After the end of the Soviet Union the place suffered near total economic collapse.  The city is characterized by falling apart fifty year old Soviet style buildings mixed with newer construction occupied by the relatively wealthy, especially in the outskirts.

Our bus tour included a stop at the "Cultural Museum," an old fashioned collection of artifacts.  Exhibits featured the indigenous peoples, the Russian settlement starting in 1742 and exhibits of native plants, animals and geological features all crammed into the basement of an interesting old building.  The main floor, which we did not have time to see except in glimpses, appeared to be an art exhibit.  Something else was on the second floor but we didn't have time to see it.  We had a quick narration in Russian about the indigenous people, translated for us by our tour guide.  The guide later said she was normally a professor of English at the local university.  Her English was excellent.

The next stop was the local open air market.  We had 15 minutes to explore, hardly enough to scratch the surface.  We saw fresh produce and used household goods for sale by licensed vendors.  There was an excellent selection of local dried fish.  Our guide later told us that most of the fish was "poached," meaning that it had been caught illegally.  Two ladies on our bus found a man selling Russian rubles for American dollars from his car.  They bought enough rubles to purchase one kilogram of red caviar for the equivalent of $30 U.S. dollars.  I don't think they realized they were making an illegal currency transaction.

Our final stops were at two Russian  Orthodox churches.  The first was at a large cathedral not yet complete.  We observed a wedding party taking pictures in the parking lot.  Most of the party were feeling no pain.  We could see the vodka flowing freely.  At the second church were able to enter and admire the icons there.  There was another wedding party taking pictures at this church too.  They were also celebrating with liberal quantities of vodka.  Our tour guide said that weddings are often held on Fridays so the participants can have a long weekend to recover from the celebrations.  They must need it.  Even grandma appeared to have had a bit too much to drink.

We hurried back to the pier in order to reboard our ship for a 5 pm departure.  Michael and I had cocktails on the back deck of the Silver Shadow while watching a rainy sun set.  We had picked the best spot to watch the ship sail out of the harbor. Nothing happened. . .

Eventually the captain announced that there was a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Kamchatka.  We were going to overnight in Petroplavlovsk and depart at 5 pm Saturday after taking on fuel.  The plan was that we would cross  westward into the Sea of Irkutsk and proceed south keeping  the Kuril Islands between us and the storm.  The canceled tours would run Saturday.

Saturday was clear and cold.  We got to take the tour of the volcanoes after all.  The journey by ATV (really a converted Russian military troupe carrier) was more comfortable than I expected.  After we left the paved highway, we jounced along at nearly fifty mph on the gravel road that turned into a dry riverbed.  The riverbed, rocky and rutted in spots, served as the road to the volcanoes.  It was black volcanic silt studded with small rocks and boulders.  The going was much slower than on the road but not really uncomfortable.

It was fascinating to watch the countryside turn from green to Autumn yellow as we climbed.  The vegetation changed from mostly birch trees to brushy tundra.  We were headed toward the saddle  between two active volcanoes at about 3000 ft. above sea level.  The trip took about two hours.  We traveled about 25 miles from town.

When we arrived at our destination, the panorama was breathtaking.  The volcanoes, two active ones emitting fumaroles of steam, and four or five believed inactive were impressive as the clouds lifted to give us a good view.  We could see downhill to the bay in the other direction.

We had arrived at a kind of camp consisting of several wooden buildings with carved work along the eaves and around the windows.  One building was a large tank on its side, with a door and windows added, painted in the colors of the Russian flag.  We were directed to a row of very primitive outhouses.  These were lean-to A-frame buildings with a hole in the floor.  As I said, very primitive.  The tour escort from the ship passed around a lot of hand sanitizer.

Our chief Russian guide invited the goup of seventeen of us tourists to take a hike toward the volcanoes.  This was an interesting stroll really, over volcanic terrain layered with traces of an early snow.  After the walk, our group was treated to a Russian style meal in one of the buildings set up as a dining hall.  We were treated to a vodka aperatif, followed by Russian champagne and locally brewed beer.  We had borscht (without beets), fresh grilled salmon and a dessert of meat dumplings.  There was a side salad and lots of cookies and candies.  It was a memorable meal.  It was a happy group that journeyed back to the ship.

Once again we boarded the Silver Shadow and awaited departure from Kamchatka.  Once again, nothing. . .

As the sun set over Petropavlovsk for a second day, the captain informed us that the scheduled refueling had not yet taken place.  Michael and I speculated that the bribes hadn't been big enough.  Soon, though, we saw the bunkering boat (the fuel boat) pull alongside.  After dinner we went on deck to watch the anticipated departure.  We heard the anchor being raised.  A few minutes later the captain had the anchor dropped again.  He eventually announced that the Russians had closed the port again for more military maneuvers.  He had no idea when they would let us leave.  We went to bed not knowing if we would wake once again to see the seedy Petropavlovsk skyline.

Next morning we were at sea.  The day was dark and rainy.  In the afternoon the captain informed us that we would skip our scheduled landing at Hakodate, Japan.  We were heading west of the Kuril Islands to avoid the still threatening typhoon.  We passed 230 miles west of the eye of the storm at 7:00 pm.  The night was the roughest.  Everyone on the ship woke numerous times as the ship tossed in the rough seas.  Yesterday the seas calmed, we headed back east into the Pacific and we finally left Russian territory behind us.  I'm in no hurry to visit Russia again anytime soon.