The Dutch

 The Dutch

Dutch Harbor

September 8, 2022

Sometime on every cruise it seems you visit a port that didn’t sound that interesting on paper but somehow the planets align and you have a delightful time. Such was our morning in Dutch Harbor,  a vital seaport on the Aleutian Islands and home to the Deadliest Catch boats. 

We docked around 8:30 this morning, before the sun was up. (Getting used to the wacky doodle times of sunrise and sunset up here is a grin and a giggle.) The hale and hearty amongst us opted to brave the drizzly 40 F weather to hike to the top of Bunker Hill at the mouth of the harbor. For the majority of us a unique Hop On, Hop Off shuttle was arranged using school buses driven by local volunteers. The two buses (the scheduled third bus had some mechanical issues) crossed the bridge that connects Dutch Harbor and Unalaska and the landing strip of the airport (stop, look and listen for anything coming or going) stopped at the Russian Orthodox Church, the Museum of the Aleutians, WWII National Historic Park and the Grand Hotel, closed for remodeling, but next door to our favorite one-stop shopping spot, the Alaska Supply Co. 

On the way out to the Church of the Holy Ascension our driver told us about the eagles that are everywhere up here as well as the pink salmon currently swimming up the little river near the church to spawn and then die. It’s the eagle buffet. A juvenile eagle was perched on the street light in front of the churchyard. The church is small, made of wood and sitting at the harbor water’s edge. Inside it was quite beautiful with an elaborate chandelier and numerous icons on the walls. A Russian Orthodox priest was there as well as a parishioner and a naturalist from the ship’s Discovery Team to answer any questions about the church or the area.  We walked down the street (one car passed us) to the foot bridge over the creek where we could see hundreds of the small Pinks jumping and twisting their way up river. And then there were the floaters that had spawned and died and now would become food for the wildlife and fertilizer for the soil. The circle of life. 

The other bus driver was a chatty guy who told us that the locals were fish snobs and wouldn’t  eat Pink salmon but the roe was fantastic. He also told us that the king crab fishing had been halted for two years and now maybe a third. The warming waters and higher salinity coupled with fishing has reduced the crab population. So no US crab fishing + no trade with Russian fishermen = no king crab. They were still catching brown kings. We’ll, that explains the $129.00 price for king crab at the restaurant in Anchorage! We passed on the WWII park (Dutch Harbor was bombed by the Japanese in the early days of that war. Pill boxes and bunkers are dotted on the hills around the harbor.) and went instead to the Aleutian museum. It was small but showed how the indigenous people had made their hunting canoes and waterproof parkas ( take the intestines of a sea mammal, spend four days cleaning the blood off with human urine, then soak it in sea water for a few more days and finally blow the intestine up like a big long balloon. When it dries, cut it into strips and sew it into lightweight, waterproof outer wear. And to think I just went down the street to the REI to buy my raincoat. No effort, no skill involved or required.) as well as a wonderful exhibit of rubbings made of the various fish and other sea creatures in the Alaskan waters. Great gift shop, too. We ran into Jessica who had given a great lecture on Bering and the other ship captains who were the first Europeans in this area. She had a stack of children’s  books about the sea life, birds and animals of Alaska. Said she wanted them to know about something other than trains and trucks. The young woman at the entrance told us they would maybe get 15 visitors in a day but had already had 117 that

 morning. We told her the other 30 passengers from the Scenic were schlepping up the mountain. 

Our last stop was a short walk to the Alaska Supply Company. Jim and I remembered that place so well from our previous visit to The Dutch. Keep in mind that Dutch Harbor is hundreds of miles from the nearest “big city” so the ASC is like a general store crossed with a Costco. Need rugged waterproof pants, jackets and boots? Groceries? A child’s push car? Nail polish? Washing machine? They’ve got it! They also have Kirkland Decaf Keurig cups that I’ve never seen in the Kennesaw Costco. But the score of the day? Two 28 ounce bottles of authentic Huy Fong, rooster on the label Sriracha sauce. And only $7.29 a bottle. The last time I checked on Amazon it was way over $20 a bottle. Haven’t seen that in any store since last April. Jim is beside himself with joy and has 12 days to figure out how he’s going to pack it and get it home safely. 

Back on the Eclipse we watched the helicopters take off from the helipad aft on Deck 8. ($695 for a 30 minute ride.) Jim was taking pictures from the dock in the rain. Myrta and I watched on close circuit TV on the bridge. We also chit chatted with a couple of ship pilots from Anchorage who were working in Dutch Harbor for a month. This is our ship’s first time doing this itinerary and thus visiting any of these Alaskan ports. It’s definitely eye catching. The size, the design and that helipad are so different from the big, boxy cruise ships. The pilots wanted to kick the tires, so to speak, and test the coffee (their verdict—terrific) and definitely try the food for lunch!

(Hope they had the creamy tomato ginger soup with basil oil. Delicious. And the cinnamon gelato was ethereal. But I digress…)

Before we left the dock, a pick up truck from Alaska Supply arrived, full of boxes of provisions including, we hope, the apple juice Myrta asked for at lunch. A small army of crew members formed a human chain from the ship, down the gangway to the truck and then passed each box from man to man. From high tech on the bridge to low tech on the dock, there’s always something going on. 

Then the helicopter landed and we were off. We had barely left the harbor before the captain had slowed the boat to a crawl and then came over the PA to tell us to put on a jacket, grab your camera and/or binoculars and get to the observation deck on 5. There were multiple pods of humpback whales (the whale expert counted at least 50) spouting, fin slapping and fluke waving all around us. It was windy and cold but what an experience.  What a day! Eagles AND whales. 

Tonight we’re dining in the French restaurant. It’s 600 nautical miles to Kodiak so we’ll have a sea day to ruminate and recover. 

The Queen is dead. Long live the King.