St Lawrence

Gambell
St Lawrence Island.
Sorry I didn’t get a chance to write yesterday, being that the sun never really sets, I lost a day, gained a day and then lost a few hours….I am a bit foggy at times out here on the sea. St Lawrence was quite a neat place, we arrived by zodiac boats from the ship and arrived on a rocky beach, that seemed to extend all the way through town. The whole place was nothing but smooth tiny pebbles, several feet deep and the best way to get around on these rocks, was Quads. It seems that every household there owns a Honda 450 quad, and a Suzuki Snowmobile! Interesting brand loyalty, but I saw nary a Quad that wasn’t a Honda, although it’s probably easier if everyone owns the same machine, because then it’s easier to swap parts!
So they cruise around on the ATV’s in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. They also have a world class marathon runner, who is from Gambell, the northern town on the island, and he has run many races around the world. He trains by running on these rocks…can you imagine the quad strength that that requires, and in fact they have a race there each year. Picture running on the beach times 100, the rocks soak up every bit of effort that you put into them.
We had a chance to toddle around town and see another cultural performance while we were there before hopping back on the quads for a ride back to the beach. I of course on the return trip encouraged my dirver to get it up to at least 40, but since there was him, me and the excursion director piled onto this motorcycle, he could only get it up to 38, but he assured me that he got it going much faster when he was without cargo.