Day 14 - 26 July - Petropavlovsk Kamchatka Russia

What a fabulous day! Great weather, a sneak peek at the commemorative plaque, bears, sled dogs, volcanoes spewing and others remaining dormant, a cultural show, statues, the 3 Brothers, and Russian Nuclear submarines! Is your appetite whetted?

Just before 6am, the Maasdam pretty silently slid into its berth in this remote port of Petropavlovsk on the SE part of the Kamchatka peninsula. The area has only been open to outsiders for the past ten years or so and is home to the Russian eastern region nuclear submarine fleet. Would we see one?

After a leisurely breakfast we picked up our passports and happened to run into Florian, our hotel director. He indicated that the Russian immigration authorities worked with them and first processed the passports of the independent guests and those who didn't need a Visa. That really helped! He also indicated that they would not let the crew off and that the port agent alerted them that the immigration process in Korsakov on the next leg might be challenging and Vladivostok should be easy.

Our little independent group of 10 met at 10am in the 6th floor atrium and left the ship together. Russian immigration authorities examined our passports for our picture and presence of the immigration stamp which for us was on the bear page. They didn't care to see our tour voucher. We could have skipped the tour and wandered around but it was a fair hike out of the port area to anything significant.

There was a nice gift shop in the terminal where we purchased a few things and got a sneak peek at the commemorative plaque that is presented to the ship when it first visits a port. We then met our guide, Sasha, and boarded our Mercedes van where everyone had a window seat. It was about an hour drive out and we stopped at a monument that marks the peninsula as 'where Russia begins'. This refers to the fact that the Kamchatka peninsula is the most eastern time zone in Russia.

Our destination turned out to be a farm which raises dogs for dog sled teams. They also have a pet brown bear that is ten years old and was orphaned at an early age. It was quite playful with its handler.

We also watched and participated in a cultural show. It was impressive how the Kamchatkan native peoples and their dress are so similar to the Alaskan natives and their dress. After the show, we were treated to a traditional soup and bread lunch before spending time being friendly with some of the dogs and viewing a pet eagle. It, too, was injured and couldn't be put back into the wild. All too soon, we reboarded our van for the trip back to the ship.

Along the way back we stopped at a beverage store where local beer in a soda sized bottle was $1.08. And it was good.

We were also able to stop at a collection of monuments to Peter and Paul (the city's namesakes), Lenin, and the first governor. But the real treat was to be able to photograph two Russian nuclear submarines that were in port for a Naval festival. Very cool!

We were back on the ship right at 4pm and got nice seats in the Crow's Nest for the sailaway which didn't occur until after 7pm as we had to wait for a tour group. The Maasdam quietly slipped sideways into the channel and headed out of the harbor. Many people were outside on deck to see the submarines, but our earlier view was much better. In the sail out of the harbor we passed by a rock formation called the 3 brothers and they were well photographed by the passengers. We also observed many people camping on the beaches on our port side.

We skipped the early entertainment at 7:30 but really enjoyed Jennifer Singer, a soloist from California, perform at the 9:30pm show. Afterwards we stayed up to watch the Indonesian crew show which was once again excellent.

All in all, it was a very nice day. We have two sea days ahead of us with tomorrow's schedule being pretty light due to Mariner events and the Celebrity Chef's dinner. Stay tuned!