View over Sitka from Castle Hill, Sitka
Harbour, Sitka,
Aletski House, Sitka
Wild rose hip, Sitka
This was to be a lazy and generally rainy day spent in the township of Sitka. After breakfast we packed up our things and put them in storage at the hotel to be collected later in the day when we head to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry.
A short walk had us in the main street of Sitka (there’s really only one) and some retail therapy ensued prior to a coffee break. The town has many touristy shops specialising in wooden, stone and bone souvenirs. After much deliberation, some silver articles, 20,000 year old carved mammoth bone, books and a skein of super fine musk-oxen wool were purchased. The highly prized musk-oxen’s under hair called qiviut is incredibly soft and warm.
In the street adjacent to our hotel is the house where James A. Michener lived for two years during the time he was researching and writing his novel “Alaska”.
We then visited the docks where the “Sea Lion” (sister ship to the “Sea Bird”) was preparing to depart later this afternoon. We chatted with some of the crew who were keen to hear of our recent cruise and to know that we’d sighted whales, bears, orcas, puffins,….
In drizzling rain we climbed to the top of Castle Hill, an early stronghold of the native Kiksadi clan and later a succession of Russian buildings were erected on this site. It was the place where the formal ceremony for the transfer of Alaska to the USA occurred on October 18th 1867.
We visited the Sitka Historical Museum and saw a great deal of information relating to the role of the U.S. Coast Guard in both peace and wartime.
With our enthusiasm somewhat dampened by the drizzly rain, we headed for a local pub and had a mid-afternoon meal which was to serve as both lunch and dinner.
At around 1900 we gathered our luggage and caught a bus and headed for the ferry terminal which was about 8 km north of central Sitka.
With minimum fuss we boarded the ferry (the MV “Matanuska”) and found that there were very few fellow passengers (only 78 on a vessel that takes 500). The lounges and decks seemed quite empty so we chatted for a while until the ship left dock and then retired for the night.
Our marine highway travels tonight take us back through Peril Strait and then tomorrow we once again visit Petersburg on our way south to Prince Rupert.