Sitka, Alaska

What an early start to get to Sitka! The ferry itinerary we originally booked was changed three times before we got to Alaska leaving us with less desirable departure and arrival times. In their email, the ferry service cited 'budget cuts' as their reason for bumping us to less desirable sailings.

For this leg of our journey we got up bright and early at 4:30 am to sail at 6:30 am, arriving in Sitka a little before 11 am. I spent most of this sailing sleeping in my chair but Bill stayed awake for most of it and was rewarded with an whale sighting. He saw a whale jump right out of the water and splash back down on its back. Unfortunately, our cameras were not on hand, so you'll just have to believe us.

The Chenega was a high speed ferry and was much more light weight compared to our earlier journey on the LeConte. We got wise this time and brought our own snacks. Popcorn in the complementary microwave and hot tea with the free hot water. On board with us was 30 or so individuals in strange outfits. We later learned that they were part of a travelling circus called "The New Old Time Chautauqua" and they were preforming later that day in Sitka. They also had a parade planned and a free workshop, both of which we attended.

Arrived in Sitka!

St. Michael's Cathedral. Downtown Sitka

We explored the downtown area a little before the small parade began. While Sitka does host some cruise ships, it's nowhere near as common as a destination as Skagway or Juneau. Because of this there was a really local feel to the town.

Book depository at the local library is a giant pile of books

Russian dolls in a gift shop

Before Alaska was sold to the Americans in the 1800's, Sitka was the capital of the Russian colony. It was referred to as New Archangel back then and some aspects of that early Russian heritage remain in the town.

We were just in time to catch our circus friends from the ferry doing a parade through downtown Sitka. We followed them to the Arts Center and attended a few workshops including slack line, juggling, singing, fire starting and a lesson on how to fold a fitted sheet.

Parade!

 

First hour slack lining

Second hour trying the juggle

Third hour part one learning to make fire using sticks

Third hour part two learning how to fold a fitted bed sheet

Later in the evening we walked around town looking at all the historic sites. There are relics from when the Russians had a presence here. Tower forts and cannons on a hill that at the time were pointed right at the native village next to the town. Likely due to the uneasy relationship they had.

Last remaining fort tower

Cannons on the hill

Commanding view of the surrounding area

There are many totems in and around town

The next day we had a few things planned. First was a stop at the info center to find out where everything was. Once we knew where we were going we headed to the Sitka Science Center. They had interactive viewing tanks and hourly tours of their fish hatchery.

Open fish tanks where we were able to touch the fish

Star fish

Sea Urchin

???

Cool jellyfish

Fish hatchery tanks with thousands of fish growing up waiting for the release day

Boat collecting adult fish not needed for the hatchery

Next stop was to the Sitka National Historic Park. We went on a tour through the woods, in the woods there is a collection of totem poles. The tour guide told us the history, the methods and how they are preserving the ones them. There was a little history background of the Tlingit history.

Learning about the style in which these totems are made

Touring the totem collection

We headed a bit out of town to the Baranof Island Brewing Company. I got a flight of all their beers and Amy got a root beer float. Both our taste buds were pleased.

Root Beer Float

Baranof Island Brewing Company tasting flight

Last view of Sitka

Of the small inside passage communities we did get to see, we enjoyed Sitka the best.  Later that afternoon we packed up and headed to the ferry dock to catch the Colombia to Wrangell.

Just kidding our ferry got cancelled due to one of the Columbia's engines breaking down. We found that out when we went into the terminal ready to get our tickets. After some discussion with the terminal guys we were squeezed onto the Chenega the following day, heading back North to Juno. The next day sadly. They were hoping that by the time we got there the Columbia would be up and running. Our tent from the previous night was soaked and we both wanted a shower so we set out to find a place to stay inside for the night. The cheapest we could find was the super 8 and that still was 160 bucks. But we got a tip about a hostel and it was perfect. We made some pork chops and some mashed potatoes had a shower and a had nice sleep in a bed.

The next day we finally did manage to get on a ferry heading to Juno.