Your first time in Dutch?

Your first time in Dutch?

Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Alaska

July 19,2019

“Your first time in Dutch?” That was the question the nice young man in the clothing department at Alaska Ship Supply asked me. Oh, you betcha. 

Dutch Harbor is the port of the city of Unalaska, Alaska. It used to be the home port of the Deadliest Catch boats, but they dock in Kodiak now, which would explain the towering stacks of enormous crab traps on the pier there. Dutch was the site of a WWII battle, with museum and various concrete bunkers available to tour.

19 ships will call into Dutch this summer, most with 200-500 passengers, It’s about midway out in the Aleutian chain, not exactly on the way to anywhere.

Once again the town provided school buses to shuttle us to the WWII museum and the Safeway. One could walk the 2.3 miles into town or take a cab there or one could walk across the parking lot of the Safeway, past the Grand Aleutian Hotel to Alaska Ship Supply: Groceries-Hardware-Clothing-Liquor. What a place! You name it, they’ve got it! Talenti Gelato? Yessir. Foul weather gear? Un-huh. From toiletries to refrigerators, you want it, they’ve got it. It was the modern version of the small-town general store. Jim found a Dutch Harbor T-shirt while I continued to price check Nexium. On Amazon, under $20; in Ketchikan, $37 and change; in Dutch Harbor, $57! Holy moly. However, the Talenti was $6.21 and the Horizon organic milk, $5.79, neither of which I thought outrageous considering where we are. Just as we were saying it seemed to be an Alaskan Costco we came upon a pallet of Kirkland water! And they had the Kirkland Decaf K cups that the Kennesaw Costco no longer carries. I was tempted but at $103 for the box, I passed.

HUGE Safeway. I scored a Tide stain stick (Remember the Yakima cherries from Ketchikan? Of course the very last one squirted on my new blouse.)

Another good weather day, in the high 50s, low 60s. The lovely young woman who gave us a brief overview of the area as we rode the bus pointed to a bay where whales gather and then said, “But they prefer cloudy days.” Didn’t see the sea otters who supposedly live in the water behind the hotel. Eagles are everywhere, the mottled juveniles and mature birds with the white heads. 

My marine life losing streak was broken that night as we were having our pre-dinner cocktail. Out the window I spotted a pod of Dall’s porpoises racing through the water. Found only in the North Pacific they don’t gracefully move up and down like other porpoises, rather they barely break the surface with their noses, almost like a swimmer doing a fast breast stroke across a pool. 

Dinner with Phil and Genevieve from Canberra, Australia. She spent her career working for the UN refugee department in some very scary spots around the globe. We told her we thought she had been a spy. We’re not totally convinced that she wasn’t! One of those days when everyone else’s life seems a lot more glamorous than your own.

The showroom entertainment was Mark Hussey, a guitarist who played everything from Pacobel to Clapton. He told us he got a PhD from Oxford, worked as a virologist for four years and then quit to become a professional musician. He was an excellent guitarist.

Now we’re on to Nome, the farthest north we’ll be on this trip. We have to tender in, but besides touring and shopping, the fine citizens of Nome are putting on a Blueberry Festival just for us so we’re all anticipating a fun day. Plus the weather, while grey, is still a relatively balmy 54. More than once on this trip we’ve seen and heard about the changing climate. The life cycle of the animals is attuned to the availability of different food sources. The berries ripen after the salmon spawn, providing food after the fish are gone. Now the berries are ripening earlier while the salmon are still running. It was 80 degrees in Nome last week. We saw pictures of the local kids swimming in the Bering Sea!