SITKA, ALASKA

The city and borough of Sitka is located on Baranof Island about midway between Vancouver and Anchorage in Sitka Sound part of the Gulf of Alaska.  Its 2010 population was nearly 8900.  This area was originally inhabited over 10,000 years ago by the Tlingit people.  In 1799 Russians settled here in Old Sitka.  In 1802 Tlingit warriors destroyed the Russian settlement and ransomed the survivors.  But in 1804 the Russians returned with a force of 850 fighting men and a war ship finally forcing the Tlingits out in what is called the Battle of Sitka.  Sitka was designated the capital of Russian America in 1808. 

Russia, after its loss of the Crimean War, decided to sell Alaska.  Secretary of State William Seward under Presidents Lincoln and Andrew Johnson saw this purchase as part of America’s “Manifest Destiny”.  (Can you remember high school America history class?)  So on October 18, 1867, America bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million which equated to 2 cents per acre.  The port city for Anchorage, Seward, was named after William Seward.

In the early 1900’s gold mining and fish canning spurred the economy.  Sitka was the capital of Alaska until 1906 but was moved to Juneau then due to declining whale and fur trade.  With the advent of WWII, the US Navy built an airbase nearby on Japonski Island bringing with it 30,000 GI’s.  Today, 18% of the work force still makes a living from fishing and fish processing.  Other large employers are a health care company and the school district.  There is also a US Coast Guard base here.  An interesting note is a Texas company in 2010 announced it was planning to ship 3 to 9 billion gallons of fresh lake water from Sitka (Blue Lake) to India.  This deal represented the world’s first regular bulk water export via tanker ships.  It was to make $90 million per year for Sitka.  Well, as my daddy always said, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is!”  As of 2013 the project ended in failure.

Sitka is only accessible by either boat or plane.  You really don’t need a car here as the road from one end of the island to the other is only 14 miles long.  There is no public transportation as most everything is within walking distance of the town.  There is a ferry that operates to Juneau, Ketchikan, and other towns for $49 per ticket.  

WHAT WE ARE DOING

                                     First two photos taken last night at Seven Seas Society party.

  The most traveled person on this cruise has 4400 nights on Regent.  He lives on their ships 11                                                    months out of the year.  Everyone calls him "Captain".

          We are now on Alaska time which is 3 hours earlier than Dallas time.  As I figured, last night's production show was postponed until tonight.  The show last night was one of the ship's pianists.  I'm sure he was good but we passed on the piano concert.  

          We were up and working out in fitness center early.  At 11:00 am we attended a reception for Titanium, Platinum, and Gold members of the Seven Seas Society.  We are Platinum now but will become Titanium (highest level) on our January 2016 Circle South America cruise.  As I mentioned yesterday, there was a cocktail party for all members last evening.

                                                     Where we are today.

                                        Below taken as we sailed into Sitka Bay

                                                   This is where we will be docking.

                                                   fishing boats in dry dock

          The ship docked in Sitka at noon.  We are lucky as it is a beautifully sunny day with temperatures in 50's.  The ship will not depart here until 9:00 pm.  Our tour today, "HISTORIC SITKA AND NATURE WALK" departed at 12:30.  We were taken by motor coach to the Alaska Raptor Center.  This swamp-like muskeg soil and alpine meadow is where most of Alaska's bird, plant, and wild berries thrive.  It home bald eagles, owls, hawks, and other birds of prey.  Next we did a guided walk into Sitka National Historic Park.  These walking trails were lined with authentic totem poles as we walked through Tongrass National Forest.  We crossed the Indian River, where in late summer, salmon spawn.  Continuing our 3 mile walk, we visited St Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral.  Along the way we saw many Victorian style homes and saw where James Michener wrote his book, "Alaska".

This is the the Raptor Rehab Center.  They try to get injured birds flying again.  They do return about 200 birds each year back to nature.  Some birds are too injured to ever fly again so some are in cages here for visitors to see.

                                       We rode this bus here but walked back to town.

                                           This bald eagle cannot fly any more.

                           Place where they teach them to fly after repairing their wings.

                                         This white owl came from Illinois.

                                                           Horned owl

                                                   Two bald eagles

                                                          Horned owl

 Our guide had a small horn to scare brown bears away if we happened to run into one.

                                                           Love this sign

                                          We did a 3 mile walk through this park

                        Indian River where salmon will be spawning later this summer.

                                                This trash can is bear proof

 I spotted several bald eagles on our walk.  Used my telephoto lens to get shot of this one.

                                               There were several totem poles on one trail.

                                 Caught this bald eagle flying overhead as we entered town

                                         St Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral

          Tonight we are dining with Goran.  He has arranged a veal Parmesan dinner in Compass Rose dining room for us.  After dinner we will be going to the production show that was cancelled last night.  The show is "Dawning of Aquarius".  Last night we talked with Rye, one of the dancers.  We first met Rye in 2012 on our South America cruise.  Time to get ready for cocktail hour and dinner.
Tomorrow we will be viewing Hubbard Glacier.  Hope the weather is as good as it was today.