A beautiful sunny day with a temperature of about 5 degrees greeted us in Petropavlovsk. On the isolated Kamchatka peninsula (guarded by mountains and seas) Petropavlovsk was founded as a Russia fort in 1752 and soon became an important center of trade between Russia and Central Asia. This city was founded by Vitrus Bering in 1740 during his second Kamchatka expedition, yes the same Bering as named on the Bering Straight - side bar: Vitrus Bering was from Denmark and was commissioned by Czar Peter the Great to find out if Russia was connected by land to the Americas. With a group of approximately 580 they walked the 9000 kilometers from Moscow to the East coast where they built 2 ships then ventured out to find that there was not a continuous land mass.
During the Soviet era Petropavlovsk retained its military role and became a sizable Pacific Fleet submarine base. Its present prosperity is owed to the fishing industry, brining in a million tons of fish a year.
Petropavlovsk is part of the ring of fire and subject to seismic activity and is surrounded by hugh snow capped volcanoes some with visible active billowing smoke plumes. Yes skiing is big here both cross country and down hill.
After a painful immigration process in clearing the ship we were off to our excursion visiting with the Siberian huskies at a the Kamchatka sled dogs expedition lodge and kennels. They keep about 70 dogs at this camp used mainly for sled racing and tourism. We traveled by an ATV bus to this remote location and were offered vodka, caviar and smoked salmon along with a wonderful traditional folklore show, fun, especially after a few cold vodkas. Here are a few pictures of our days events, Jan just loved this little guy (don’t show Zydnea), he was very scared and timid (only 1 month old) but felt very comfortable in Jan’s arms - everyone was taking pictures when he put his rear paws way up in the air. A great day in this remote corner of the world, as our guide indicated that they are at the end of the known universe here in the very far east of Siberia, Russia and Asia.
We are currently at sea cruising in calm waters - a nice day.
Tip or Comment of the Day - when in a dog kennel as in life always check to make sure you watch where you path takes you because you never know where you may tread for you may venture into a mess and if you do do not be so concerned as you have at least you had the experience and all you really need to do is brush it off.
Until next time...
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