Abashiri Drift Ice

Fresh water from the Amur river lowers the salinity of the northern Sea of Okhotsk enough that its surface freezes, and the ice drifts south on the current until it reaches the Hokkaido coast around Abashiri in late January - the lowest latitude at which sea ice regularly forms anywhere in the northern hemisphere. The Aurora, a converted icebreaker, sails from Abashiri several times a day through the season and pushes into the floes, which crack and grind under the hull; from Monbetsu another vessel does the same. The ice is not a solid sheet but a shifting field, and whether the ships find it depends entirely on the wind - a day of offshore wind can push it out of reach and the cruise runs on open water instead. Steller's sea eagles and white-tailed eagles follow the ice south, and the drift ice walk in a dry suit is the other way to experience it.

What you actually see

• Ice at the lowest latitude - Okhotsk sea ice reaching Hokkaido each winter.
• The icebreaker - a converted ship pushing into and cracking the floes.
• Eagles on the ice - Steller's and white-tailed sea eagles following it south.
• A shifting field - not a sheet, and moved daily by the wind.

When to go

Late January to early March. A day. Book cruises ahead in February.

Honest expectations

Whether there is ice on any given day depends on wind and cannot be guaranteed - cruises sail regardless. The deck is brutally cold. February sailings fill and need booking. Some years the ice arrives late or thin.

Nearby

Shiretoko Peninsula is east; Lake Kussharo is south.