Dutch Harbor
After Seward we stopped in Kodiak for the better part of the day but I did not do much, preferring to simply walk into town and wander around before walking back to the ship. My friends had chartered a seaplane to take them flying over the interior of the island in search of bears and other wildlife so they were off on that adventure for most of the day. They came back with glowing tales of bears and eagles, completely satisfied with their trip. I, also, was completely satisfied having spent the better part of the day walking (either in town or around the ship) and listening to music. It was totally relaxing.
We departed Kodiak for Dutch Harbor, our last stop before our journey across the ocean to Japan. The berth for the ship was several miles from the downtown area of Dutch Harbor so the cruise and the community arranged for the loan of the city’s school buses as transport to and from the city center. The buses had a circuit that they ran from the ship, to the visitor center/WW2 museum, the old orthodox church and a museum of the Alute peoples. The buses were running every 30 minutes. Our group decided that we wanted some more flexibility so arrangements were made to rent a car allowing us to strike out on our own and be independent. The car would be waiting for us when we disembarked at 9am and we would return it around 3:30 in time for our re-embarkation deadline of 4pm.
One of the reasons we wanted to be more mobile is that several of us were interested in searching for eagles and being limited to the three stops that the buses serviced was not optimal for that plan. Some research revealed that the local dump (believe it or not) was a good place to find eagles so that highlight was on our prospective itinerary. We also had plans to stop by the Safeway to pick up a few needed items. In addition, there was a local saloon that looked enticing. All in all we had a busy day planned.
We got off the ship and had a bit of a wait to hunt down the car, which it turned out, was parked at the city port, not the place where our ship had tied up. But it was the work of a moment for the rental agency to bring the four door pickup truck to our spot (Dutch Harbor is not that big…). We climbed in and drove off as the bus was still loading our fellow passengers and headed to the airport, where the rental company was located, to finish the paperwork. The Dutch Harbor airport, consisting of a tower, a small terminal and a single runway whose threshold abuts the main road, was only a few miles from the ship and on the way into town. The runway threshold is so close to the road, by the way, that when planes are landing (which is not often), there is an arm that rotates down, as they do at train crossings, to keep traffic from interfering with the landing pattern. Apparently a while back a local decided to ignore the barrier and caused an accident when the airplane on the approach to land hit the top of the truck!
Colorful vegetation in Dutch Harbor lining the shore.
After getting the paperwork in order we headed first to the Safeway to get the necessary shopping out of the way. Dutch Harbor is located on the island of Unalaska and the total population of the island is about 4500(ish), most of which I suspect are in the main town of Dutch Harbor. Nonetheless it is not a large town. One main road snakes through the town, itself separated by a small channel, with a bridge spanning the narrow gap. The bridge called “Bridge to the Other side” (I am not making this up) wins for my all time favorite name. I took a picture of it in honor of the name! Dutch Harbor is small but very well-known; the show “Dangerous Catch” is filmed here and we were told the film crew is arriving in a few weeks to set up for the next season’s filming. We were also informed that the population of the town can grow to as many as 27000 during one of the many fishing seasons, including fishing fleets from around the world. I really found the town, it’s history and it’s story fascinating!
I had to take a picture of the “Bridge to the Other Side” bridge- best name for a bridge ever!
After the Safeway we doubled back on the main road to go to the World War 2 museum, which was located just outside of the airport. The museum is small but incredibly interesting. It describes the events that took place in the Aleutian islands during WW2 and the subsequent displacement of many of the natives. I had read a lot about WW2 activities in Europe and in the Pacific, but the story of how the Japanese invaded a few of the Aleutian Islands, removed and transported some of the residents to prison camps, and how the U.S. government dealt with (or rather, did not) resettling people after the war is poignant and interesting. I highly recommend a visit for those in the area. We spent quite some time there reading through all of the material and looking at the rich display of pictures, before it was time for our next stop (and the bus people were coming and going around us the whole time, too.)
Our next stop was the old Orthodox church, which also happened to be the second bus stop, so we followed the bus over to the church. Another rich history that is not well known outside the local area, is the story of the Russian settlers, their relationships with the native people and the massive fur trade that was thriving well before Seward purchased the territory from Russia. Similarly to the stories of the pilgrims landing on the east coast of the U.S. and engaging with the Indians, Alaska has stories of the Russians moving in from the west, but these are not stories that are commonly found in the standard history books we are exposed to in primary school. I enjoyed reading more about this during our tour of Dutch Harbor. With the Russian settlers came the Orthodox religion that is prevalent in that country and all around Alaska it is possible to find classical orthodox architecture. The church in Dutch Harbor was one of these, complete with a wall of icons reminding me of similar churches I had visited in Moscow. Even better, perched on the highest church dome was an eagle. There were a group of tourists (other people from the ship) pointing cameras at the eagle, waiting for it to do something. While we walked around the outside of the church to get a better angle on the eagle, we spotted another eagle across the road sitting in an embankment surrounded by tall grasses. It would have been impossible to spot but for the distinctive white crest. After pausing to get pictures, we decided to go check out the dump in our quest for more eagles.
The dump was out of town a mile or two off of the main road and we could see it across the bay from where we were at the church. We climbed into the truck and headed that way, everyone but the driver keeping an eye out for eagles. We saw one sitting on top of one of the streetlight poles and determined to come back to check that one out after trying our luck at the dump. We were not sure what to expect at the dump and actually drove by it, all heads (but the drivers) on swizzle sticks trying to spot the large birds. We realized when we got to the end of the paved road that somehow we had missed the opportunity. Turning around we were on our way back when we saw an eagle sitting on the slim bank of land as it fell away into the bay and then two others who were sitting on top of the outbuilding in the dump- we had found our eagles. The one on the bank watched us approach and apparently deciding that we were too close for comfort, took flight to join the others on the top of the building. After hanging out and watching them for a while and trying to get the best pictures possible, we got back in the truck and headed back into town to try to get a shot of the eagle on the light pole we had seen earlier.
A raft of sea otters living life large in Dutch Harbor.
Crossing over the “Bridge to the Other side” once more, we took a detour to the left on a small side road that led to a protected inlet where a marina hosting large, commercial fishing ships was located. More importantly, someone had spotted motion in the water and we decided to go check it out. Sure enough as we got closer we recognized a large group of sea otters floating around as a group (which is apparently called a “raft”). While the group was photographing the sea otters I noticed that one of the large commercial fishing vessels was heading into the marina. As I watched, fascinated he came into the protected marina and gracefully did a complete 180 pirouette with the ship then backed up to a berth adjacent to another, similar ship. I am sure the maneuver was not as simple as the captain made it out to be!
As it was lunch time and we were all feeling a bit hungry, by now our stomachs having been trained to expect three meals regularly, we decided to check out the Norwegian Rat Saloon for lunch. It was just down the road from the Safeway (which I am sure is some kind of local landmark for directions) and sat on the water. The building was fairly nondescript on the outside, but the inside had a lot of character and we enjoyed a fish and chips lunch before heading out to our last stop of the day– the Museum of the Alute.
Our lunch spot in Dutch Harbor.
The weather had been fairly reasonable all day and as we roamed around town in our vehicle we saw many of the ship’s passengers out walking from place to place, but as we headed over to the museum, it began to drizzle and mist a bit. I was very happy to not have to deal with either walking or standing in the cold. The museum was small but really interesting and discussed the traditional way of life found in the Aleutian islands. There was also a remarkable display of metal art by a local artist. We spent a reasonable amount of time there before realizing it was time to work our way back to the ship.
The homes are built into and on the hillside where the ground is somewhat level. It all looks very organic.
Next up: Japan
Enjoying your beautiful pictures and wonderful stories! No word on how Rat Saloon received its name? Hoping not as literal as the bridge! Safe travels.