Aleutians East

Next stop is Unga Island where we will visit Unga Village. The village originally founded to take advantage of the hunting and fishing on and around the island, after the hunting was exhausted during the Russian gold was found. For years was one of the most productive gold mines in Alaska and attracted numbers of new residents, mostly from Scandinavia, seeking their fortunes. The mine closed in 1905 after which the village declined and the last residents moved to another established Sand Bay village on the close by Arch Rock island. We should be watching some of the other islands in the chain, but the weather closed in shortly after our whales event yesterday evening and has been damp and misty ( visibility almost zero) ever since. Forecast for the visit, which will be another boot on, wet landing over the side of the zodiac, is mild with drizzle. We have a late visit time, we go about 16:00 this afternoon, so hopefully will have started improving by then. We have arrived, just manoeuvring in the bay to position the ship to launch the Zodiacs, mist clearing and drizzle seems to have stopped. Karen has spotted a cow grazing on the hillside, this is where the residents of Sand Bay keep their communal herd, as part of the pre briefing we have been warned to watch where we tread. The mist had virtually cleared when we went ashore ( and when we were back in the cabin it was a pleasant sunny evening! How quickly the weather changes here). A basic route around what was left of the village had been set out by the expedition team. We started on the heights near the landing point ( the guide positioned there kindly taking pictures of everyone who made their way up. Further on looking over the bay there was a seal swimming, managed to photograph its head. The buildings vary from being just a pile of wood to an intact ( but fragile) shell, the later ones being occupied up until the 1960s as apparently there was an earthquake here in 1964 which marked the end of the settlement. The pinkish flower is willow herb or also called fireweed, the theory is that the proportion of flowers open relates to the progress of summer, when fully flowering it is autumn. Not sure what the small blue ones were, but all over the island. Didn’t see any more cows, but this is the first island with trees that have visited. Waiting for the zodiac we spotted a small stoat playing in some abandoned logs at the top of the beach. The return trip to the ship included a detour to the cliffs with the island,s bird colony, mostly black legged kittiwakes and a few puffins swimming in the water. Now I have finished writing this the mist is starting to descend, we seem to have been lucky and seen the island during this short window.Read more