The expedition left Kronstadt, Russia on 30 June 1815, stopping at the Canary Islands in September and then crossing the Atlantic to Santa Catarina, Brazil. They passed Cape Horn in January 1816 and sailed north for several months to reach Kamchatka in July. From there they spent the rest of 1816 visiting the Aleutian Islands, California, and Hawaii. At each stop Eschscholtz collected specimens and recorded his observations of the local flora and fauna. Eschscholtz and Chamisso worked well together and became good friends. When Kotzebue became ill in 1817, they cut short a planned return to the Arctic and headed home, stopping again in Hawaii and then in the Philippines before ending their voyage at St. Petersburg in August 1818.