Not being able to take our car to Sitka and just going as
walk on passengers due to the over-full ferries did have one advantage – we
only needed to be at the ferry terminal one hour before departure, and not 2
hours, so we got to “sleep in” !! Woke
up at 5 am, got up at 5.30, and it was cool – About 8 deg C. But blue skies yet again.
We managed to get out of the campsite by 6.15, and were
down at the ferry terminal by 6.30. And
it must be our day – There was just one parking spot available, and we got it
!! A quick banana for breakfast as we
walked across the car park to our hi-speed catamaran ferry, the
Fairweather. Much smaller than our other
ferries, but newer, so very nice inside.
We had met a family in the campsite yesterday who had come over for a
chat and to look at Troopie, and they live in Sitka and were going to be on the
same morning ferry to Sitka. So we saw
them as they drove onto the ferry with their van, and spent some time talking
to them on the ferry. Great meeting you
all and thanks for the information about Sitka, Carin, Bill and Ryan and Tim. Whenever I hear of Sitka now I will wonder
how you guys are doing !!
As we left Juneau we could see the Herbert Glacier
hanging in the valley above us. On the
ferry, we had a coffee and got chatting to Emily on the till, who was telling
us of some of Australian friends of hers who were coming to Alaska, and she was
looking forward to seeing them again.
She even gave Janet a little furry Orca whale key ring as a gift, and
once we were underway she arranged to take us up on to the Bridge to see how
everything works. All done with a mouse
and a joy stick nowadays ! But it was
great chatting with the crew and hearing about how it all works. Interestingly they also confirmed that the
ferry route up through the Inside Passage is much more dramatic than the route
followed by the cruise ships due to the narrower passes they can squeeze
through.
The ferry route to Sitka goes through some really narrow
passes with great names – Peril Strait, Dead Man’s Reach, Neva Strait,
Whitestone Narrows, and so on. Being a
high speed catamaran with minimal draft, it can get through some of these
channels fairly easily, where other bigger deeper draft vessels would not have
a hope. Bill, being ex Coast Guard and
now a local fisherman, knows the waters well and told me that there are a
surprising number of wrecks here on a regular basis ! At one point the narrows were so narrow that
the tide rushes through with such speed that the channel marker buoys were really
leaning over. We met a small (40 ft ?)
sailing yacht coming through one very narrow section, and he was having to run
with the tide to get through as he would never make it through if he tried to
go against the tide.
Approaching Sitka we could see the 3000 ft dormant
volcano Mt Edgecumbe. A fw years ago
apparently some locals hauled a bunch of old tyres up into the volcano and lit
them on April 1st, causing a bit of consternation that a dormant
volcano should suddenly be becoming active again !!!
A great ferry ride out to Sitka. Then just before we disembarked, Carin asked
if we would like to join them for dinner at their house this evening ! What a
wonderful and kind offer, and we were so happy to accept.
On disembarking, there was a shuttle bus to take us into
town for $5 and they overshot our hotel, so we ended up going all over Sitka on
a free tour while the driver dropped off all the other passengers ! Eventually we got back to our Hotel – The
Totem Square Inn. Nice rooms, comfy
beds, and a great shower and soft fluffy towels, with a heated light in the
ceiling ! Bliss after 2 weeks in Troopie !
We set off to walk through town. First stop was a local furrier where I tried
on a few more fur caps - $1200 for one of them !! Then I found the chinchilla – Oooooh that is
so very soft – Very expensive too !! We
managed not to buy anything though !
Then it was into a Russian shop where Janet wanted to buy
something for grand daughter Poppie – Mission accomplished, can say no more on
here. But it is interesting to see how almost
everything here is Russian – Logical really, since this was the Russian capital
in the early 1800’s until the sale to the US in 1867. We then wandered up the main street, past St
Michael’s Russian Orthodox Church in the middle of a small roundabout
(unfortunately locked up tight), and then we found the Russian Bishop’s House.
This was built in 1842 by the Russian American Company as a residence for the
bishop of the Orthodox church. It is the
oldest intact Russian building in Sitka, and Bishop Innocent, (Ivan Veniaminov)
was its first resident. We did a tour
of the building, which includes a chapel that is still consecrated and used for
services. Interestingly the local tribes
were welcomed into the church, with Bishop Innocent willing to leave their
tribal ways and customs intact, and today they are the priests and
congregation.
We then wandered over to the Sitka Historical Museum on
the waterfront, but unfortunately they
were trying to close at 4 pm, so we missed that. There was past a statue of Alexander Baranof,
the first Colonial Governor of Russian
America from 1790 to 1818, and then we walked back along the main street, passing
a few stuffed bears outside the tourist shops,
and a statue of a prospector outside the Pioneer Home - A State home for elderly Alaskans built in
1934.
We went to buy a bottle of wine to take for dinner and
found one in the Pioneer Inn, across the road from our Hotel. Primarily a seaman’s Inn, we had a glass of
local beer Baranof Brown while we waited, before going back to our hotel for a
shower.
We caught a taxi up to the Adickes ' family home for dinner, and had a
very pleasant evening with Carin and Bill, and Ryan and Tim. We had our first taste of Black Cod, which
was delicious, and Bill also did some salmon on the bbq, which was equally as
good. It was so kind of you guys to
invite us into your home, especially after you had just got back from your busy
trip to Juneau. We learned so much about
both Sitka and fishing from you all, and wish you all the best for the summer
ahead. Ryan, we wish you all the best
for your University study in Fairbanks, and when you want to come to Aus to go
surfing, let us know !! Thank you all
for your hospitality and friendship – Please stay in touch.
Ryan then kindly drove us back to our hotel where we were
soon asleep in our comfortable beds !!
Woke up in the morning and tried to get my blog up to
date while Janet slept. We then got up
and went to supposedly the best hotel in town for breakfast, but after 10
minutes without service, walked out in disgust. Walking back past St Michael’s,
some people came out, so we quickly went in for a look – Only to find a Russian
Orthodox service in full swing !! One of
the priests came up to us to welcome us, and then the chief priest (bishop ?)
in all his Orthodox regalia came out, swinging his incense thingy everywhere as
he worked his way round the church.
Finally he reached us, and welcomed us verbally while also giving a
swing of the incense towards each of us !
Soon after that we left as we still hadn’t had breakfast, and had a
shuttle bus to the ferry to catch. But
so pleased we not only got a chance to see the inside of St Michael’s, with its
many Russian Icons and sail cloth ceilings (for insulation and warmth), but
also to see a service underway.
We then walked on further, past an old round wooden
building which we later found out was a Russian watchtower, built for them to
keep an eye on the restless natives in town.
A little further down the road we past a couple of old wooden
fisherman’s houses, one of which was sliding out into the street as the wooden
stumps slowly collapsed underneath it – And someone was still living in it
!! Then we found a ship repair place
where we saw the most enormous starfish in the water, and where a fisherman
there told us there was a good place for breakfast just up the road at the Fly
In Fish Inn. He was right – coffee,
pancakes and blueberries for Janet, and a breakfast burrito for me, before we
had to rush back to the hotel to catch our shuttle bus which was already
waiting for us. Out to the ferry
terminal and an hour later we were on the same ferry as yesterday, back to
Juneau. With the crew all recognising
us, we are starting to feel like locals on the AMH ferry system !!
Very different day on the water today, with low cloud
blocking out the mountains, but still no rain, so we continue to enjoy it while
we can. About half way back to Juneau
the clouds started to lift and the sun even came back out ! Then in the distance behind the boat I saw
the distinctive tall dorsal fins of 3 or 4 orcas – My first ever sighting after
all this time ! They were some distance
away, but several of us saw them, so it wasn’t just in my imagination !!
A great 24 hours in Sitka. So glad we made it over there, and would love
to come back again. Sitka has a lot of
history, and a great community spirit in their population of 8000.
So back into Juneau, where we intend to have an early
night as we have to be down at the ferry terminal by 3.30 am tomorrow, with our
ferry leaving at 5.30 am.
But first we decided to do a couple of things.
We drove back out to the Mendenhall Glacier because we
had read that on cloudy days the glacier would appear bluer. When we got there it seemed a little bluer,
but on the photos it didn’t seem much different ! Seemed to be less water coming down the
Nugget Falls too – But as there were no cruiseship crowds there, maybe they had
turned the tap down a little to conserve water ? Then, as it was late afternoon, we decided
to go back to the beautiful lake campsite
and see if the beavers were out
playing – And when we got there, they were – All four of them !! So we parked
and watched them for a while, just enjoying peace and quiet watching them dive
and feed and slap the water with their tails. At one point 3 of them came right
out of the water and were feeding on the bank right in front of us, maybe 6
feet from us !! Absolutely magical. So we then decided to stay there for the
night, right beside the lake. Made a
quick cup of tea and had an apple for supper – Didn’t need any more as have
eaten FAR too much food recently !! We
didn’t set up camp properly – Just made up the beds and turned in, and set the
alarm for 3.00 am.
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