Kodiak

Kodiak

July 17, 2019

Happy birthday, Jim!

Sunshine and blue skies for our day in Kodiak, home of the largest Coast Guard base in the country and an equally large fishing fleet, emphasis on crabs. We’re docked in the commercial area of the port, just a mile from the city. Kodiak has mustered all their school buses to ferry us either into town or to the Walmart. This is the last place the crew can buy supplies and snacks at a reasonable price so they are itching to get off and go shop.

We opted to go into town. Not many cruise ships stop here so we have the place to ourselves. The wildlife center is just steps from the visitors center with wonderful displays about bears and salmon and other critters. Kodiak is an island and wildlife refuge. It is home to about 3,000 Kodiak bears, a type of brown bear. Brown bears on the mainland are grizzlies. The Kodiaks are the big ones. The island is rich with fish, berries and plants that provide a diet for all the wildlife. The bear population is controlled by a closely monitored hunting season that allows only a certain number of permits, males only, no females or cubs.

Our other stop was at the beautiful new Alquiit Museum about the indigenous people of Kodiak Island, inventors of the precursor to the kayak. Then and now they rely on fishing and hunting for their subsistent lifestyle. There was an exhibit about medicinal plants and herbs the healers still use with a stern warning that the medicinal value of the plants has not been proven and many poisonous plants look like the safe ones. I guess we’ll stick with Tylenol and Neosporin.

This little place has a quilt shop and a yarn shop, both well stocked, especially the yarn shop. I bought a little sumpin sumpin at each to remind me of our time here. Everyone is so polite and congenial. Cars stop at each intersection if a pedestrian is remotely close to the crosswalk. There’s a big True Value (Marine, Commercial, Home) and a few casual restaurants but the major presence is the fish cannery built inside a huge fishing vessel run aground 50 years ago in the tsunami that followed the big Anchorage earthquake. The storm wiped out the existing cannery, so they converted the boat instead of building a new one.

A small Russian Orthodox cathedral is a reminder of the past when Alaska was home to Russians in the fur trade.

I’m writing this about 3:30 pm as I look out the window watching the town and Walmart shuttles coming and going. From the bags crew and passengers alike are dragging off the Walmart bus there couldn’t be much left on the shelves.

A nice, relaxing day in beautiful weather (it stopped raining just as we arrived in port). Tonight we’re spiffing up again for a special dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. They’re converting it to a pop up restaurant featuring the cuisine of the head chef of the cruise line. Guest services called this morning to ask Jim what kind of birthday cake he wanted and he said he didn’t want one! Could’ve smacked him.