100” of Rain a Year

 

Sitka, Alaska

September 14, 2022

Sitka gets 100” of rain a year and I’m pretty sure most of that fell on us today.

When we got up this morning it was still windy, rainy and rough. There were not too many people at breakfast. Another thing about real world re-entry, no concerned waiter to bring me toast and a pot of tea for breakfast. I’m fairly certain I was a princess in a previous life.

We got to Sitka around noon. For once it was coolish but not raining. Jim and I went out on the foredeck in just light jackets and watched seals frolic around as we drove past another Norwegian ship to anchor spot #1, closest to the tender dock. And again we didn’t anchor but the ship did that hover in place maneuver with thrusters and GPS. This is the Scenic Eclipse’s first visit to Sitka so smaller boats were zooming around to get a closer look.

By the time we boarded (so easy to do in calm waters) the tenders for shore it was really raining. Put the brakes on strolling around town and shopping but we did go out to the Raptor Center with a lot of other people from the Norwegian. Time to be polite and share. 

The Raptor Center takes in injured raptors, nurses them back to health and then releases them back into the wild. Some of the birds cannot regain the strength and skills to survive out there, so they become “teaching” birds both in Sitka and other similar centers across North America. Today we met Spirit, a mature bald eagle that had arrived at the center after being hit by a car while eating some roadkill in Juneau. She never regained the ability to fly straight and was always a second or two slow to do any tasks. She could never make it on her own. So she came out onto the stage with a young woman who told about raptors and the work at the Center. She was giving Spirit rat bites (as in bites of rat) as a treat. There were at least two eagles being rehabbed in the huge aviary/nursery. Fascinating place run by people passionate about their work.

Next we went to The Fortress of the Bear. In this case, the bears living there will never return to the wild. They are all orphans,  both brown and black bears. Jim and I were there three years ago just as a couple of cubs had arrived. They were small and adorable and tumbling all around. They are now four years old, big and not tumbling around so much. Needless to say, they receive excellent care so look magnificent. They also will ham it up for the humans snapping pictures by the dozens. A nice visitors center has been added since we last visited. Plans are now afoot to  make the bears’ habitat look more natural. 

Our final stop was a salmon fish hatchery. These fish are not “farmed,” rather the salmon from the hatchery return to it to spawn. The eggs are harvested, fertilized and then raised until large enough to be released into the bay and then out into the open ocean until they return to their birthplace to spawn and die. The pinks were going up the faux river to spawn. Just outside the net fence, Earl the sea lion was enjoying the salmon buffet. Ditto the eagles. We had another delightful guide. She’d visited Sitka on vacation with her parents, loved the place so went back to Boston, changed her major to marine biology  and returned to Sitka. That seems to be a common refrain among the young people we’ve met along the way. They come here on vacation and then stay for the adventure of it all. 

It’s still raining and getting close to last tender back to the ship, so once more, no shopping. I may leave Alaska with more money than I brought. 

Tomorrow, Kake. Yeah, had to Google that and still am not quite sure why it’s on the itinerary. Stay tuned.