Brown or Grizzly bear

Another early ferry had us up at 5am to be lined up at the ferry at 6 for a sailing at 8. It gets very wearing to have to hurry up and wait. You have to check in 2 hours before sailing then sit in line waiting to board for at least 1.5 hours. If you don’t check in your reservation goes to standby which you don’t want at this time of year. Only 4 more ferry rides to go.

Our ride, the Fairweather, a fast catamaran which will get to Sitka in 4.5 hours. The trip back on another boat will be 9hours. Note the very low tide and the amount of rise.

Enough bitching for the day. We had blue sky poking through by the time we eventually boarded and bright but cool sunshine when we arrived at Sitka. Similar trip as previous, plenty of steep wooded mountains and gorgeous bays and inlets. Still not much wildlife.

We missed breakfast so lunch was first order of priority. Found a lovely picnic spot overlooking the bay with salmon jumping and fishing boats coming and going.

The lunch view

Next check out the lodgings for the night. Nicky had booked an expensive place with expansive water views over Sitka Bay. What they didn’t tell her was that both double beds were in the same room so it’s going to be a cosy night. Not Nicky’s fault as everything is expensive in Sitka at this time of year. The view was pretty good though.

Our view

The sunshine persevered so we decided to get the outdoor sightseeing out of the way before it rains tomorrow. The first visit was to the Alaska Raptor Center where they take injured raptors from all over Alaska and try to rehabilitate them to go back into the wild. This is a privately funded venture that has been running since the 1980’s and is doing a fantastic job. There are birds that are too injured to be released so they are kept at the center. They are quite spectacular close up.

The bald eagle flight training area where eagles learn to fly again after being injured

A juvenile bald eagle, unable to fly, now the mascot for the center. They are much larger than expected, about the size of a King Charles Spaniel.

Falcon

American Kestrel

Western Screech Owl

Great Horned Owl

A bit further down the road is the Fortress of the Bear, a safe place for orphaned bears to grow up naturally. We were able to get very close to several male grizzlies who are about 4 years old and 500kg. The place is again privately funded and run by a young British couple, doing a great job.

Then some time in town for the girls to check out the first of the quilt stores and for me to take some photos.

Sitka was first settled in 1799 by the Russian fur traders and it was the capital of the Russian territory until the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867. There is still a lot of Russian influence in the town and some of the old buildings are still around.

It really is a very pretty town and I look forward to bringing you more tomorrow.