June 17, 2021

Korabel.RU

The first passenger cruise ship of this year, “Professor Khromov”, entered the seaport of Magadan on June 17. The ship departed the port of Korsakov (Sakhalin Island) on June 5 for a cruise in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Passing along the coast of Sakhalin past Tyuleniy Island, where a huge rookery of sea lions and fur seals is located, the ship then proceeded to the islands of the Shantar archipelago. The archipelago consists of 15 islands, including 4 large ones. Arctic whales come to the shores of the islands at the end of June and stay here until mid-September. During this period, they change their “skin” (molt, rubbing themselves against rocky stones), and their mating games take place here. Before arriving in Magadan, the tourists got acquainted with the Yamskie Islands, which are part of the Magadan State Nature Reserve. There is a sea lion rookery and the largest seabird colony in the North Pacific on these rocky islands in the middle of the Okhotsk Sea.

 According to information from Mr. Maksim Serkalev, the ship’s master, 29 Russian passengers and 22 crewmembers embarked the ship for the final leg of the cruise. On the way from Sakhalin, researchers from the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences landed at Tyuleniy Island. Upon arrival at the Magadan port, passengers on buses went to the city for sightseeing. Upon completion of the cruise, some of the passengers will fly home from Magadan airport, and some will return by motor ship back to Sakhalin.

The ship was built by order of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Finland in 1984, later it was completely re-equipped for comfortable cruises. The motor vessel was designed for navigating the Arctic and sub-Arctic waters and has a reinforced Arc 5 ice class hull, which allows it to operate in the harsh hydro-meteorological conditions of the North – East of Russia.

The ship-owner “DVNIGMI” has leased the vessel for a long period to the New Zealand company “Heritage-Expeditions”, which together with a partner – “Northern Expedition” LLC will organize sea cruise programs in the Far East for foreign and Russian tourists. The vessel is sailing under the Russian flag with a Russian crew, port of registry Vladivostok. Five “Zodiac” motor boats are used to ensure comfortable and safe disembarkation of passengers on the unequipped coast. The Korsakov – Magadan cruise voyage is the first this year for “Professor Khromov“, the next cruise will be to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the Kuril Islands.