Russia

Ethnic Koreans collect shells near Aniva, Sakhalin Island.

Scientists from the Saknero Institute collect on the mudflats of Salmon Bay, Sakhalin Island.

Swimming crab (Portunidae sp.) on seagrass, Salmon Bay, Sakhalin Island.

A summer evening at Cape Juno, Sakhalin Island.

Simon collects chitons in soupy water off Cape Tokarevskaya, near Vladivostok.

Members of the DivePrim SCUBA club pose for a photo in between dives off Cape Tokarevskaya.

Simon relaxes after completing his drysuit certification at Cape Tokarevskaya. In the background is the destroyer “Admiral Vinogradov”.

This is the skeleton of an Asian Russian girl excavated from an ancient settlement and now in the Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok. She was buried wearing bracelets made from Spisula sibyllae (family Mactridae) and Anadara broughtonii (family Arcidae).

These ceremonial face masks are from an excavation in the Russian Far East and are now in the collection of the Institute of Marine Biology, Vladivostok. Left: Mizuhopecten yessoensis. Right: Magallana gigas.

Leading north from Magadan, this is the infamous “Road of Bones”. Yakutsk is 2012km away.

Simon looking for intertidal species in Gertner's Bay, near Magadan.

Simon is allowed on board one of the extended-range fishing vessels, which had just come into port at Magadan. These boats typically make just two trips each year.

Simon examines one of the ‘trubach’ traps on a fishing vessel in Magadan. These are the actual traps that catch the cold-water Buccinidae.

Simon (red jacket) sits with three Indonesian crewmen on an extended-range fishing vessel in port at Magadan. The immigration officials have not yet cleared the crewmen to disembark.

The tidal causeway to Vdovushka Island, east of Magadan.

A fisherman retrieves his crab trap, off Cape Harbiz, Sea of Okhotsk.

Simon collects intertidal shells in Found Bay, Sea of Okhotsk. This is early August but the distant mountains still have patches of snow.

Simon holds up two king crabs in Found Bay, Sea of Okhotsk. Left: Paralithodes platypus. Right: P. brevipes (family Lithodidae).

Simon shares a barbecued meal with Russian fishermen in Found Bay, Sea of Okhotsk. Left-to-right: Alex, Alex, Simon, Alex.

Phoebus Apollo (Parnassius phoebus), Found Bay, Sea of Okhotsk. Family Papilionidae.

The 'Sentinel Cliff' (Kekur Karaulny) off the Pacific side of Kamchatka. A pair of Steller's sea eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus) nest here.

Simon surfaces from a successful dive off Starichkov Island, Kamchatka. Photo by Tamara Safarova.

Simon displays two large Cryptochiton stelleri (Steller’s chiton, or the “gumboot chiton”), collected off Starchikov Island, Kamchatka. Photo by Tamara Safarova.

The water temperature off Kamchatka tops out at 7–8°C in mid-August. Here, Sergei pours hot tea inside Simon’s wetsuit in between dives. A drysuit is more appropriate for this water. Photo by Tamara Safarova.

Simon leaves the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka peninsula. Photo by Tamara Safarova.