The Pacific Ring of Fire: Answering the Call of the Wild

Zegrahm Cofounders Peter and Shirley have traveled on many of our expeditions to the far northern lands that make up the Pacific Ring of Fire. Each time, they have returned with stories of such superlative experiences that we asked them to share some of them with you.

There are few regions on our planet as exciting as The Ring of Firea name known to many but a region visited by very few. This remote northern Pacific realm is a wild, primordial expanse on the map, where pieces of two continents, Asia and North America, sit on opposite sides of a single sea, bracketing dramatic volcanic islands, encompassing the deepest subterranean ocean trenches on the planet, and sheltering a mesmerizing array of marine and bird life.

Even today, in our time of easy global accessibility, this is one of the planet's least explored regions, yet it boasts superb untouched forests, pristine tundra, indigenous cultures, and a staggering abundance of marine mammals. It was on one of these Pacific Rim voyages, sailing toward the Aleutians, that we were privileged to witness the largest pod of orca that we had ever seenmore than 100 strong. And on another trip, hundreds of northern fur seals surrounded our Zodiacs, swimming among the kelp in the cold clear water; as curiosity bested their fears they would pop up and down to examine us and, with our cameras at the ready, we'd get shot after wonderful shot.

As we sailed among a myriad of uninhabited islands, greeted only by a multitude of seabirds, we realized that nowhere in our day-to-day lives do we have the sounds of nature like this, so pure and unadulterated, just the cacophony of birds and the barking of sea mammals, and the sound of the water on the stones on the beaches.

Visits to the Aleutians have brought us face to face with history, too There is the opportunity to walk through the tussock grass and across airfields that are littered with rusted artillery and equipment, which brings a tangible, and often startling, realization that the Japanese had, indeed, been on American soil in these very isolated islands and that the war had come very close to the mainland. Travelers often expressed how poignant their visit to this windswept outpost was and how the passage of time, along with the elements, has made it feel like a ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

Our journeys in the Russian Far East are filled with scenic wonders and wildife highlights. Among them is astounding Tyuleniy Island, off the coast of Russia's Sakhalin Islandhere, the sheer mass of Steller's sea lions and northern fur seals is just mind-boggling. The first time we visited, many of us climbed up to blinds built years ago for research and observation, and spent hours watching this epic wildlife scene at close range, including witnessing sea lions birthing pups on the beach.

The Kuril Islandsa Russian-controlled chain that spans 800 miles of ocean and separates the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacificis surely among our favorite wild places in the world. Cruising in this region has such a quintessential expeditionary feel to itspontaneous and exciting. The stark beauty of these islands is almost impossible to describea string of 160 volcanoes, most of them snowcapped, and about 30 of them actively sending forth plumes of smoke, rise from these far-flung islands like a magnificent stage set, 90 million years in the making.

Especially impressive is Yankicha Island, a slowly sinking volcanic caldera. On one of our visits, Zodiacs deposited us on shore to walk along the beach where an Arctic fox trotted right in front of us, ever so curious about our sudden appearance on his turf! And just off the coast, sea otters frolicked among the kelp beds. Our hikes to the peak of the caldera are always rewarded with a multitude of Kodak momentsastounding views of the steaming fumaroles; the calm, dark water within the caldera reflecting the green of the surrounding hills; and the sea reaching to the horizon behind us.

One particular occasion stands out from a voyage through the Kurils: After a full day of exploring Yankicha, we had returned to the ship to settle in for the eveningor so we thought. But just after dinner the Zodiacs once again returned to the water and we hurried to get on board. As we gently rocked in the low swells, whiskered auklets gathered in the distance, building in numbershundreds of thousands of themuntil it was finally dark enough for them to begin circling in their great gathering ritual, preparing to go to their roosts for the night. As we watched what is surely one of the great spectacles of nature, the sheer numbers of the birds turned the evening sky to a hazewith only us, sitting in silent awe, in our tiny rubber boats as witnesses.

If you haven't traveled to this part of the world, we hope you will join us next summer for what we can only describe as a once-in-a-lifetime experience in a land of unparalleled grandeur. From Japan to the Kurils and Kamchatka, from the Aleutians and Pribilofs to Katmai, these two voyages are an ultimately soul-satisfying reward for those of us whose dreams of adventure run big.