Day 6 — June 13
Onekotan and Ptichi Islands  This morning we landed on a black-sand beach flanked by high cliffs of volcanic tuffs capped by more massive horizontal lava flows. This is the island of Onekotan, which means "old settlement" in the language of the islands’ original human residents, the Ainu.
We made a smooth Zodiac beach landing near the mouth of a creek fed by snow runoff. High above us, sculpted into the rocky cliffs, we spied a WWII-era Japanese pill box, a concrete bunker looking like the front of Robocop’s helmet.
Before long the group was zigzagging up a path, climbing about 250 feet up to a stunning plateau. One passenger likened the trek to driving up a narrow high mountain road without guardrails! At the top we were rewarded with incredible views of snowcapped volcanoes on all sides from the endless expanse of soft mossy coastal tundra.
Some of the group made a long walk out to a magnificent freshwater crater lake that could only be described as fjord-like at first glimpse. Of the varied flora on the island, particularly attractive to naturalist Kevin Clement was the blooming white flowers of the Kamchatka white rhododendron, endemic to the region. This sight led well into Kevin’s witty pre-lunch lecture entitled: Grace Under Fire: Wildflowers of the North.
After lunch there was an interesting talk and slide presentation by the World Wildlife Fund representative on board, David Cline. David, a 30-year eco-veteran, spoke on Marine Conservation Issues in the Bering Sea. He shared WWF’s and his own views on the rich biodiversity of the Bering Sea (to which we are now en route), a vast eco-region covering over a million square miles, as well as the Kuril Islands.
Then it was back on the Zodiacs and into our first cloudy afternoon of the trip. As we discovered, however, the fog-filled atmosphere was perfect for this particular destination, a cruising tour around the Ptichi Islands. A compact group of sea stacks, caverns, and arches jutting up out of the sea, Ptichi means "bird" in the Russian language. Appropriately, Ptichi was a bird-watchers paradise! As we glided around the rock formations being spied upon by curious sea otters and harbor seals popping their heads up, tens of thousands of seabirds provided an unforgettable site.
Among the bird life was a thriving colony of slaty-backed gulls, legions of both thick-billed and common murres crowding every available ledge, nesting black-legged kittiwakes, red-faced cormorants at close range, and adorable tufted puffins galore. One birding highlight was spotting rarely seen ancient murrelets.
After dinner, the captain pulled up the anchor and blasted his horn, as we headed north in the dense fog through the Kuriliskiy Straits/
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