Day 29 - Sitka

Russian Orthodox Church downtown Sitka

Seiner heading out to work

Eagle "In memorium" totem

Sitka Harbour at Sunset

A Tugboat that had a shorter life than expected

Frog Button Blanket worn by one of the protesters

Celebrating the Salmon on a hat

Halibut Fishing hook - Tlinget

Sitka is a lovely Alaskan town. The Russian influence is evident in their architecture and named streets. We went out to the Native Cultural center to view the totems and some of the items such as Sea Otter Pelts, button blankets, masks, woven bowls and fishing implements from the Haida and Tlinget. While there, a group of about 20 natives are having a peaceful protest. The majority of the Cultural center is about carvings, totems and historical artifacts donated by the Haida and Tlinget, the natives have apparently been shown the door and are not wanting to leave. There are armed park rangers all over the place and it’s a shame to see them at logger heads! Hopefully they sort it out, for now it’s a peaceful protest. The totems in the forest at the Cultural center are worth seeing and there are some great reading boards that explain the different style of totems and the meanings on the poles. Be it an “In Memorium” pole or a “Clan” pole.
At the Eliason Harbour marina that we are docked at, we run into fellow BYC member “Up Spirits” as they are dropping a guest off at the airport. It’s a very clean town and the people are so friendly and helpful. There aren’t many places we have visited that the folks haven’t been both forthcoming in local knowledge and very friendly. Because Sitka is a fishing town, “Ladner Lass” became a center of attention for most folks walking down the dock. Tours and questions about the origins of this lovely seine boat converted to a pleasure boat are asked all hours of the day and night. Oceanaire’s velvet ropes for tour line ups have been moved over to Ladner Lass for the duration of our stay and Jamie has had a wet cloth in her hand to wipe off the drool on her side deck from all those fisherman that are in awe of the Ladner Lass!
The ladies spent the afternoon, doing laundry and reprovisioning. The town has 2 grocery stores and3 Laundromats, we obviously picked the wrong Laundromat as half the machines are not working. Dining out in any new place can be both entertaining and satisfying or it can be a bad experience not to be repeated. We enjoyed both sides of the epicurean coin here. We had a disastrous meal the first night at the “Dockside” café – recently opened (that should have been a dead giveaway!) --- over charged meals and under rated food! Shame on the manager for not coming over to make it right! Cold lumpy fish tacos and warm salad with waterlogged greens small bits of bad tasting seafood. On the flipside, we went to the Chinese food restaurant and picked up Chinese food the second night. It was hot and yummy and reasonable!! We highly recommend Bayswater Café(Lunch Stop)and the Chinese food place in town for restaurant dining in Sitka. Don’t bother with the Dockside Café until there is a management change! The wait staff are good but spend too much time being apologetic for things not in their control.
We are good to go with food and booze and clean laundry and will depart at 5:00 to head up on the outside of the open ocean and head over to a little town north called Pelican.