Aurora breaks the ice in North West Passage
Australian expedition-cruise company, Aurora Expeditions, has become one the few companies to complete Russia’s North East Passage in an ice-strengthened passenger vessel. 
 

On board Russian vessel, Akademik Shokalskiy, the 50 passengers, 10 staff and 23 crew, departing Murmansk, took 26 days to traverse Siberia’s vast north coast to Anadyr, crossing nine time zones. 
 

Aurora Expeditions passengers had the chance to visit military restricted Novaya Zemlya, to name peaks on mountainous Severnaya Zemlya, midnight cruise around the Novosibirskie Islands, and tour polar bear haven and World-Heritage listed, Wrangel Island. 
 

The voyage offered attractions such as abandoned Russian polar stations and working meteorological huts, 10,000 year-old fossils of mammoth tusks and teeth, and thousands of birds, hundreds of walrus, whales and polar bears. 
 

Lisa Bolton, Aurora Expeditions CEO, said that the voyage was a real modern-day exploration and adventure.
“We will continue to push the boundaries, creating itinerates to stimulate the senses and open up some of the most far-flung parts of our planets,†she said.

Aurora Expeditions 2012 Across the North East Passage has already sold out. Enquiries are now being handled for the 2013 programme.
The company has two new 2012 Russian voyages ‘Arctic Ocean Discoverer – Wrangel Island’ and ‘Treasures of the Russian Far East’ at www.auroraexpeditions.com.au 

Ian Jarrett
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