Friday, August 19, 2016
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We had calm sailing all night and arrived at Dutch Harbor,
Unalaska on schedule. It was still dark for the sail in and a good portion of the
docking. We docked! Always better than tendering. The other good news was no
rain. It was overcast all day but no rain! It was breezy and about 55F so
sometimes it felt cold and sometimes it felt warm. We were up around 6:30am. We
went to Lido Buffet breakfast around 7:30am and watched the very slow docking
process and watched birds. Clay had his usual and I had a bagel with light
cream cheese and a strawberry Greek yogurt with a mocha latte. The ship was probably
cleared around 9am and we were ashore and on a shuttle bus around 10am. We saw
a sea otter from the bus as we waited to cross the road at the end of the airport’s
runway. First stop was at the Grand Aleutian Hotel. It was walking distance to the
Museum of the Aleutians, Safeway, Alaska Ship Supply and the Post Office. We
went to the Ship Supply and got 30 bags of peppermint tea for $8.29 and Clay
got a t-shirt for $20.95. We continued on to the museum. We turned in our
tickets and a quick look through a crowded couple of exhibit rooms. It was nice
weather and we wanted to see animals so we set out walking. Our goal was the Russian
Orthodox Church across the bay. The church was closed today so we knew we
couldn’t actually visit it, we just hoped to have it as a turnaround point. We
walked along the water looking for more sea otters but what we mostly saw was
bald eagles! We saw over a dozen bald eagles and I think at least 6 juvenile
bald eagles. We walked as far as the bridge across the bay and saw the fishing
boat fleet docked and watched a sea otter drift out from the bridge through the
bay with the receding tide. We decided to go ahead and turn back since it would
have been at least another mile to the church. As we walked back we saw lots of
big starfish that we couldn’t see the first time we walked by as the water was
too high then. We saw an eagle nest with a pair of juveniles in it across the Post
Office’s parking lot. They had a warning sign out. We had walked on the water
side of the road the first time past and missed that. We stood in a long line
after using the hotel rest rooms and got on the 2nd shuttle to come.
We rode to the World War II Museum where we turned in our 2nd set of
tickets. It was even smaller and more crowded than the first museum! We watched
part of a film and learned that the Aleuts were rounded up, evacuated and
interned. They were racially identified and if they were a certain percentage
non-white, they were interned which separated families some of which were never
reunited. I can’t imagine what the point was. The Aleut survivors interviewed
in the film all had Asian-looking eyes so maybe they thought they would collaborate
with the Japanese invaders? It was something new to learn for us as neither had
heard about it before. We knew the Aleutians and Hawaiian Islands were some of the
only parts of the USA that the Japanese attacked, and we knew about the Japanese-Americans
being interned but not about the Aleuts. We decided to walk back hoping to get
a better look at the sea otter we had passed on the bus. It was gone, probably on
the same tide that carried away the one at the bridge. We saw more birds, eagles and starfish. It was
a long one mile back to the ship. We were back aboard before 2pm. About 2:10pm
we were sharing 3 dishes at Tastes. We had chicken & shrimp potstickers for
Clay, shared pork buns and a plate of chicken with veg and noodles. We had
drinks and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for dessert.
All aboard is 4:30pm. Sailaway is 5pm. There are 6 locations
both indoors and out where the expedition staff and naturalists are to be
available for a sailaway birding and wildlife watch from 5 to 6pm. One spot is
deck 7 aft. We might go there instead of the bigger and nicer and higher
forward viewing just to assume it will be less crowded. Also it is closer for
us. We have dinner reservations at 6pm tonight in Silk Road. The theater movie
at 8pm tonight is Mother’s Day which I don’t think we’ve seen.
I think I failed to note other bed gifts we’ve received. When
we checked in onboard we got a keycard with our photo printed on it and a hole
in one corner. When we got to the cabin, we found 2 olive-colored silk card
bifold wallets. We each used one. I found the wallet was about ½ inch longer
than the card and the corners bent. Well, that night green NWP 2016 printed
lanyards appeared and that is where I clipped my card and Bob. It has been very
convenient. The 2nd night we each got a nice knit cap with a polar
bear design around it and a NWP 2016 polar bear patch sewn on. They are acrylic
but feel warm. We haven’t worn ours, but saw a lot of them today.
Since we have a busy night, I will stop here and try to post
this entry. Anything else happens, I’ll write it up in the morning.
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