It seems along time since an update was done, not helped by the non-availibity of the internet on account of the terrain.
After a flying call at Dutch Harbour in the Aleutians, to pick up US Immigration officials, another day was spent at sea, before our first stop in Alaska on 14th April.
Kodiak is the main town on a large island, to the south of the main Alaskan land mass. At first glance, it was not that prepossessing. Our arrival coincided with achange in thw eather, to slightly warmer(or so they told us!). It was snowing. A wet, miserable sort of snow, that turned to very cold rain, and stayed that way for the rest of the day.
We had not planned anything, which was just as well as it turned out. Those who had booked trips, did not see much on account of the weather.Instead, we did our own thing, by taking the shuttle bus into town. This let us off at the 'shopping mall', which consiosted of an off licence, pub/restaurant, three gift shops and a bank. We strolled slowly through, and up the hill to the museum. This was very interesting, charting the life and times of the native peoples of the island. Opposite was a pretty, little, Russian Orthodox church. This is the principal religion of the island, as it had been part of Russia until 1870. In that year, the United States bought Alaska and its islands off the Russians for seven million dollars, about two cents an acre! A gentle walk downhill found us on the quayside, and the tourist office. A few quick questions later, and we were on our way, still on foot, to lunch-about a five minute walk. This found us at the Channel Chowder House, which was a diner beside the water. After watching the sea lions and the fish eagles for a spell, we made our way inside. The special of the day was King Crab Legs, which Ian had. Sue had the assorted fish, and chips. Sue's portion consisited of several pieces of salmon, cod and halibut, all cooked in a light crispy batter. Very fresh and very tasty. Ian' crab legs had to be seen to be believed. They arrived on a tray, along with a pot of melted butter, and a pile of paper napkins. There were four legs, and abit of body. At best guess, the legs were each 16 inches long, and once opened, the meat inside was about one inch in diameter.
After such a meal, another walk was called for. One of the staff in the cafe told us we should go into the Wells Fargo bank, to see the mural about the crabs. We were viewing it, when a memeber of the staff suggested we should also visit the First National Bank to see the Kodiak Bear. This stood about ten feet tall. By repute, Kodiak bears are the largest in the world, and this one certainly made that seem true. It had met its end in 1996. Back downhill, and we decided that the weather had got so foul, we would return to the ship. It appeared that we were not alone in our decision making.
It was a pity that we had to see Kodiak on such an awful day, as we are sure that on a nice one it would have been really enjoyable.
The next port of call was to be Seward, on the mainland.