By Paul Bryers, September 8, 2025

• Cruising through Bering Strait, Alaska, USA and Crossing The International Date Line.

The Bering Strait is a narrow waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean’s Bering Sea with the Arctic Ocean’s Chukchi Sea, separating the Russian Chukotka Peninsula from the Seward Peninsula in Alaska, USA. This shallow strait, approximately 85 km wide at its narrowest point, is renowned for its rich marine life and serves as a vital migration corridor for whales and birds.

Our cruise took us through the Diomede Islands, comprising the uninhabited Russian Big Diomede (Tomorrow Island) and the inhabited (~80 souls) American Little Diomede (Yesterday Island), situated in the middle of the Strait, with the International Date Line passing between them.

As we navigate the Islands, the Russian border lies in close proximity, yet remains elusive as the dense fog that pervades this area approximately 90% of the time comes and goes. However, it did lift long enough for us to catch a glimpse of both Tomorrow and Yesterday Islands as well as a yatch that was stalking us.

We crossed the International Date Line for the first time on September 8, 2025, at 12:00 pm, and immediately transitioned to September 9, 2025, at 12:00 pm. Subsequently, we recrossed the Date Line on September 9, 2025 and reverted to September 8, 2025, effectively engaging in ‘time travel’ thanks to HX.

In the second we crossed the Line I managed to get a photo of myself taking a photo of myself – Tomorrow and Yesterday Paul – freaked me out! Must say, I looked pretty good..

We saw a number of birds including my favorite, puffins.

We now head for Nome – hopefully the mist will lift for our final evening at sea.