After a successfultrip to the Omolon river and a visit to Duvannyi Yar (see the post “mud, muddy, muddiest” by Elise) it was now time to go north. This time we drove the 60 hp boat with comfortable seats in the front and a bright new windshield. Nikita, Sam, Elise, Claire and me brought all the layers of clothing we could possibly imagine, but the weather was nice and the Kolyma was as flat as a mirror.

The flat water surface gave us beautiful reflections of the changing river shorelines; from spruce forest, to sparse groups of trees, seaports (interestingly named “Green Cape” or “Little Roosters”) to, eventually, a landscape without trees: the tundra! I have seen it before, but it keeps amazing me with its far views and the deserted impression.

Just before we looped into the entrance of the Sukharnaya River it got quite shallow, about 0.5 m deep.We slowly moved around to maneuver into the river mouth, where the water suddenly turned from muddy Kolyma waters into crystal clear Sukharnaya water. Far cleaner than the water we drink back at the science station! We drove up a few 100 meters into the river and docked the boat (with an oar as there were no trees!).Lying in the sun, with a small fire to heat us up, we enjoyed a lovely lunch with sausages, eggs, bread and sweet buns, chocolate and cookies. 

After a short nap we walked through the shrubs, moss, dwarf birch and hummocks towards a further bend of the Sukharnaya to go fishing. Quite successful with three grayling! Happy, a bit sunburnt and well-rested, we walked back to the boat, took an aquatic survey sample, and set off back towards the Kolyma.

But the surface was not flat anymore! The ride back was bumpy and the wind had picked up so we got a chance to finally put on some more layers. As we also did on our way out, we made a small stop at the mini-barge that was docked against a “zombie ship” (according to British ornithologists that stayed at the mini-barge for a few days while looking for peregrine falcons). 

We drank some tea and left the grayling for them before we set off on our last stretch towards home. A bit shaken-up but glad and safe we arrived back in the Orbita – sauna time!