Sitka
Just got back from a four day trip to Sitka. I went down to help the folks at Sector Juneau with their "Operation Herring Thunder," an effort to get on as many of the commercial fishing vessels participating in the Sitka Sound herring sac-roe fishery as we could. Seems that every year in late March, several hundred thousand tons of the oily little guys show up to do their reproductive thing. About 130 vessels also show up, with the goal of sending as much of the fish eggs (in skeins called sac-roe) to the Japanese, to satisfy their appetite for this raw delicacy. I'm not impressed with the taste, but then, I'm not the target consumer...
This bald eagle perched atop a cargo boom on a tender that we examined. For the second shot, I was able to climb atop the pilothouse without disturbing him, getting about 40 feet away but still wishing the camera had more zoom... 
Sitka is a wonderful community; another island with about 8000 (?) people, and surrounded by breath-taking mountains. Sitka was a longstanding Tlingit and Haida native center of commerce, and became the Russian capital of Alaska before the United States purchased the Great Land. The Russians were drawn by the fur seals, and never really learned to play well with the Natives. After they killed nearly all the seals and quite a few Natives in the process, they were happy to be bought out by the Americans. They did leave a rich, lasting Orthodox heritage in all of coastal Alaska, as still evidenced by the churches and architecture. I will get back to Sitka this summer and take some more pictures...
We were checking the boats for liferaft installations, EPIRBs, their survival suits, and asking a few questions aimed at gathering info about the fishery. It snowed, it rained, it blew sideways, it was cold. As a result, I took mostly boring photos of screwed up liferafts (for training at work). However, I did take a couple that turned out pretty well...
The view is from New Thompson Harbor, Japonica Island to the left, and volcanic Mount Edgecumbe in the background.
This bald eagle perched atop a cargo boom on a tender that we examined. For the second shot, I was able to climb atop the pilothouse without disturbing him, getting about 40 feet away but still wishing the camera had more zoom...
Sitka is a wonderful community; another island with about 8000 (?) people, and surrounded by breath-taking mountains. Sitka was a longstanding Tlingit and Haida native center of commerce, and became the Russian capital of Alaska before the United States purchased the Great Land. The Russians were drawn by the fur seals, and never really learned to play well with the Natives. After they killed nearly all the seals and quite a few Natives in the process, they were happy to be bought out by the Americans. They did leave a rich, lasting Orthodox heritage in all of coastal Alaska, as still evidenced by the churches and architecture. I will get back to Sitka this summer and take some more pictures...
KML
posted by Ken at 12:17 AM
2 Comments:
Great story again - we love learning all about Alaska and seeing all these great photos - without having to shovel or freeze our tushes off!!
Hi guys,
congrats on the new addition to your family! He is beautiful, a very graceful looking dog. My only wonder is, how are his feline siblings taking his arrival? Are they jealous of Ken's affections? I can't imagine that Ken would love the cats half as much as he will love his dog...hugs, May
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