Preparations /June 5, 2018 by Caroline Van Hemert

We're in Bellingham getting Chaika and all of our gear ready for the journey north. The boys are excited to be on the boat!

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I’m beyond delighted to share that I’ve found a home for UPWELLINGS, my current book-in-progress! Blending high latitude adventure⛵️, tales of resilience and creativity in the natural world, and inspiration from our wild neighbors so that

We’ve been lucky enough to catch the Bering Sea in a rare good mood! Old friends, new birds, swimming (of course!), and many reminders of home (bull kelp, moon jellies, once-upon-time field sites). Bonus: golden sunsets, silver moonrises, starr

Nome was good to us! Muskox, grandparents, gold dredgers, rainbows, and new friends. Next up: the Bering Sea!

I can see Russia from my window (porthole)! At the entrance to the Bering Strait, Little Diomede (Alaska) and Big Diomede (Russia) are separated by only 2 miles.

As we cross the Arctic Circle again, we toast the unofficial completion of the Northwe

Chukchi Sea magic. Walruses cavorting in the sunshine and a frenzy of shearwaters that went on for miles. (Watch the full video to appreciate the astounding number of birds.)

Day 5 of our passage from Herschel Island to Nome and we’re waiting

Rounding the top of Alaska and celebrating our halfway-around-the-world mark (180+ degrees of longitude since Greece!). We had a spectacular show of thousands of shearwaters grazing the water, Arctic terns circling the mast, and humpback and bowhead

Qikiqtaruk-Herschel Island, where sky and water meet. This was the first familiar view on our Northwest Passage journey. Pat & I stopped here 13 years ago after paddling down the Mackenzie River and hiking & packrafting along the Arctic Coast

What a difference a day makes! In the wake of the storm, which clocked 84 mph at our anchorage and resulted in a storm surge of >5 feet in the Northwest Territories community of Tuktoyatuk. The first photo shows some of the ice that smashed and cr