When I last wrote, we were headed to Sitka for a little “community time”. At the Pioneer (old folks) home we watched a documentary movie “Tracing Roots” about a Haida basket weaver, Delores Churchill, and a spruce root hat found with the “long ago man”. The long ago man’s mummified body was found in 1999 by 3 hunters in northern British Columbia. A receding glacier exposed his body which was trapped in the glacier 300 – 500 years ago. Ellen Frankenstein, the producer of the movie, and Delores were in Sitka previewing the documentary. It was the weaving of the spruce root hat that interested Delores. She used her knowledge of weaving styles to help identify the man”s origin.
Sitka is a good place for injured or abandoned animals. The Raptor Center takes in injured birds and rehabs and releases as many as possible. At the center we learned about their work and saw the birds in rehab. On July 4th they released two eagles. What a great independence day for them. If you would like to see click the following link: https://youtu.be/ExF4me5_-ac
The national park’s totem path travels along the waterfront to the site where the 1804 battle between Tlingit natives Russians took place. Apparently a canoe filled with the native’s ammunition blew up and they had nothing left to fight with so in the night they withdrew from town. Sixteen years later the Russians invited them back hoping for a peaceful coexistence.
Our “trusty bikes” served us well in Sitka and provided the means to get to the Bear Fortress about 6 miles south of downtown. Rescued cubs that can’t be returned to the wild are kept there to live out their lives. They had both black and brown bears. Feeding time provides some activity as the eagles try to take advantage of the bears. The Fortress staff feed the bears well so that they are ready to hibernate in the fall.
Sitka Bear Fortress video: http://youtu.be/aoI2IQxoMp0
Our friends from Anacortes on Carlinda, Mosey and New Adventure were in town to enjoy a Sitka 4th of July. The fireworks actually are shot off at 11:30 pm on July 3rd. We all had great seats on the fly bridge of Carlinda. You will note from the photo that the temperatures up here aren’t so warm. It was probably in the 50’s. Typically each morning we are seeing temperatures in the low 60’s inside the boat and high 50’s outside. When the sun shines of course the mercury goes up into the 70’s.
The 4th of July parade is a true small town event. With a $1 bag of popcorn from the Lutheran Church cart in our hands we found a spot along the curb to watch. Masses of candy were thrown to the kids. As a local said, “You just saw most of the residents of Sitka march past”.
The highlight, at least for the kids, is the Coast Guard vs. Fire fighters water fight. A beer barrel is placed in the center of the street and each team tries to move it down behind the other team using their fire hose. They do this multiple times and spray the crowd between rounds. It appeared to me that the spraying of the crowds was the true attraction. This was the first year that we saw them “foam” the crowd. The kids loved it!
On the morning of July 6th we bid Sitka a final farewell and moved on to “wild” Alaskan anchorages. Twelve days on the anchor gave us plenty of waterfalls, bears, sea otters and whales. Occasionally we were the only boat which gave us a true sense of Alaskan solitude.
Baranof Warm Springs was a welcome spot because of the public baths – three tubs into which water from the warm springs feed. We were conserving the boat’s water and were tired of those wipe down “showers”. Boy did that soak feel good and the view of the waterfall while in the tub was amazing.
Red Bluff Bay has always been a favorite of ours . This year we didn’t see any bears (unusual). David tried his hand at fishing after seeing the sailboat anchored near us hook a good size salmon. David caught what you see – nothing.
Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof Islands are noted as brown (grizzly) bear habitat. As we moved south to Kuiu Island we entered black bear country. This whole trip I wanted to see a bear with cubs. In Shelter Cove, Tebenof Bay, that wish was granted. David spotted a black bear with three cubs. We hopped in the dinghy and paddled stealthily to shore with hopes of cute baby bear photos. Alas, mamma bear caught our scent. She looked and seemed to confirm that we were up to no good, then rushed the cubs up a tree. Her final act was to come back out and huff at us. We understood what she was saying and retreated back to Phase III.
Momma Bear looks…. Momma and cubs head for the trees
Trust me there were 3 cubs, but they were fast little devils. When momma said move, they moved!
Huff, Huff, don’t even think about bothering my cubs!
Whales were our next show stopper. Lots of humpbacks were feeding. Some fed alone and others in groups. We watched them from Phase III and we watched them from our kayaks. The whales are known to work in groups circling a school of herring with bubbles and then coming up with mouths open to swallow the herring and push the water out between their baleen. Come and watch with us: https://youtu.be/hBr26l59KEc
Point Baker, a little boardwalk town, with 20+ full time residents, felt like true civilization after all our anchorages. We took advantage of the laundry and then went to the café to have a burger. While in Pt. Baker we heard a fishing skiff was overturned by a whale the day before. The fisherman and his dog ended up in the drink, but were able to get the boat upright and back to shore safely.
Next stop is Wrangell and a rendezvous with some of the Anacortes gang. Stay tuned!
A recap of previous blog links:
Blog #1: http://witiak2015.blogspot.com/2015/05/april-22may-4-2015.html
Blog #2: http://witiak2015.blogspot.com/2015/05/may-5-may-13.html
Blog #3: http://witiak2015.blogspot.com/2015/06/alaskamay-14-26.html
Blog #4: http://witiak2015.blogspot.com/2015/06/may-27-june-9.html
Blog #5 http://witiak2015.blogspot.com/2015/06/may-27-june-9.html
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