Hello everyone, we are taking a break for the christmas season. It should only be about a week off while we use the constant daylight to explore as much terrain and bathymetry as possible, so don’t expect too many updates. Thanks!

Cheers to a cheerful Christmas and a new year!

These Russian islands are very distant and very cold. There is virtually no information to be found about them other than a few expedition photographs from naturalists and geologists, and what gems they are. The islands are caused by a sub-ducting tectonic plate creating an oceanic fault. The resulting deep ocean trench right off shore serves to magnify incoming swells. Will you join me in looking at these images?

Below is a picture taken during the summer when the ice has melted and the landscape is noticeably greener.

Pictures from the Bering Sea.

Photos of this coastline show a left point break.

Photos by Cyril Szakolczai.

The perfect left point break below is located on a highly volcanic island. As you can see, the waves look to be extremely large and powerful. Located in the southern ocean, this island receives some of the most consistently massive swells.

Somewhere in the Commander Islands of Russia: This island is desolate and rocky, it has no trees, it is prone to earthquakes, and it is sometimes called ‘Floating Island’. Occasionally scientists visit here to study the land, the ocean, and the seal rookeries.

The image above shows waves breaking on the rocky headland.

Sean Moffatt is one of a few surfers in the Falkland Islands and has found several new and un-surfed waves down there. He was kind enough to talk about surf exploration in this far region, and share some photos from his discoveries.

What is the general landscape and weather of the places you are exploring?

The landscape here is pretty bleak and baron.  There are no trees, just mountains, rivers and open countryside.  The coastline is mostly rocky, with large amounts of kelp around the Islands. However, there are a good number of sand beaches scattered about.

Do you have any unique methods of doing things in the cold?

The water temperature goes down to 3 or 4 degrees in the winter, so 5mm hooded suits, 7mm booties, and 5mm gloves are a must.  We don’t have any method as such to keep warm, any suggestions would be greatly received.  We just keep surfs down to a maximum of 3 hours in the middle of winter.

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From an island that formerly was a part of Russia.

The red arrow below indicates a point that corresponds with the following satellite image.