We saw several boats with seine circle nets out, and a fleet heading out with their seine boats, and 440 hp engines, towing behind. The housing of Sitka appears to be built long and narrow, extending only a couple blocks. Most are on the water or, if not, built up high enough to see the water. I did see the Sitka mobile home park! There is a big boat moored here, the "Blue Moon" out of George Town, carrying a British flag. I saw several landslide scars and wonder if they worry about being swept away?
We ate breakfast with a couple from Australia and the woman was wearing a sweater of possum and merino! It was very soft, like cashmere. They use possum fur in garments there. I don't recall ever seeing it used here, or people proudly saying "feel my possum sweater!" Maybe possum is the great overlooked resource!
Sitka is incredible! We got a later start to the day, debarking at 10. Every time you leave the ship you have to move your room number over and upon return you must show your photo ID to re board the ship, and move your number back. Jokingly, I mentioned TSA's fascination with my suitcases and so KC teases me every time I board! I'm getting paranoid, thinking I must be on their watch list or something! I was checked both directions on my flight to Germany, and on two legs of my journey here! Next time, I am going to lay out some giant, stinky underwear on top for them to sort through! Take that!
Arriving in Sitka was interesting, watching the fishing vessels unloading. The first thing we did was to watch a Native dance presentation. They were very good and I was happy that there were no warnings against taking photos or video. However, at the end they announced that we were asked not to publish them on the internet! The last dance invited people from the audience to go down to the floor and participate with the dancers. Well, I couldn't pass that by! It was great fun! Tom stayed in his seat, preferring to be the photographer. I did learn a valuable new phrase in Tlingit: it is pronounced "E shawn" and you drop your voice on the shawn part. It means "poor baby".
The historic walk was filled so we opted to stay in town and wander around. Sitka is a nice place to shop. There are many little shops, not kitschy, and they are locally owned. There were more places to visit than we had time for. We shopped and then had lunch at Victoria's, which, we were told, is where the fishermen go when they come in to eat. We had the halibut fish n chips dinner for $18.95. Nothing is cheap here, though you would expect the fish would be. On the other hand, maybe they recognize that the way to earn a living is to pay what their product is truly worth.
I walked up the hill to the Russian Cemetery while Tom scooted back to the ship with our bags. The Russian cemetery was eerie. It was up the hill where the street dead-ends but with no formal entrance, just a sign listing cemetery rules and a Russian cross leaning against it. I didn't go far as we didn't have time. The graves were old and covered in moss, untended. I felt like an interloper.
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