The expedition started at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy Russia as we boarded the Soviet Era Heritage Expedition Professor Khromov / Spirit of Enderby. We sailed north to the Zhupanova River is search of Stellar Sea Eagles and we were not disappointed. We loaded up in the zodiacs and departed the ship around 8a. It didn't take long to find our first Eagle but that was just the beginning. We had some great close encounters with an Eagle flying passed us and so close that I couldn't fit the Eagle in my frame, but what an image. The morning was overcast so I had to up the ISO to 800 and had to open the aperture fully to f/4 so I could shoot at a high shutter speed of 1/1250s to reduce camera shake as well as the rocking of the zodiac.
On day 3 and 4 of the Palouse Workshop with Nick Page we woke up about 2 hours before dawn or around 2 am. We would photography the sunrise and return to the hotel for breakfast an then a nap before heading out around 1500 to capture the sunset and made it to bed around 2300.
The third leg on my East Asia Trip was to Kamchatka Krai and we flew into Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy (PK) after spending a week in the Vladivostok area. During our 5 days in the area and on our return trip from Vilyuchinskiy Pereval, a Kamchatka Brown Bear ran across the dirt road and stop right next to us. We were so close that I couldn't get all the bear in the frame, at least for the first few images.
After spending a day in Inchon South Korea, we flew into Vladivostok Russia. We had great guides the Explore Primorye Tour Company run by Rada Sumach and Sergey Abarok and we even had with us ornithologist, Tatiana Svatko. One of our stops was to Sergey grandmother's home north of Valdivostok where we saw this Eurasian Nuthatch.
Went on a Heritage Expedition voyage organized by Shearwater Journeys and it was a wonderful adventure. I don't know how many parts this will required but I saw 137 new species, experienced a forgotten coast, encountered spectacular birds including the Stellar's Sea Eagle and the purpose of the expedition to find the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Hopefully, I will be able to share the experience through my photos and words.
