Baranof Castle State Historic Site

New-to-us Port #63.

On a cool, overcast day that later turned into a cool, blue-sky day, we tendered into Sitka instead of docking as planned. Better for us IMHO than having to take a shuttle into town from a distant berth. Insignia managed to get so close to town that our tender ride was no more than 5 minutes long. Later, when the wind picked up, the ship had to reposition further out. But even then, the tender ride was not long.

First up for us was a quick walk to the visitor center to get tickets for the Tribal shuttle that goes out to the Fortress of the Bear, with stops at a few other attractions. It operates like a hop-on/hop-off bus. The earliest shuttle with seat availability was at 12:30p. With an hour to kill, we wandered into downtown to see what we could see.

The road was closed to vehicle traffic, making it easy to stroll. The shops lining the street were doing brisk business. At the far end of the street, we found a bunch of food tents. Mui picked up a reindeer dog topped with a mound of grilled onions. I found the sausage quite gamy, but Mui liked it.

St Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral is a church from the time when Sitka was known as Nova Arkhangelsk and was considered the capital of Russian Alaska. It was only open for two hours today — from noon to 2:00p. Our 12:30p shuttle reservation meant that we had just enough time to go in for a quick look-see when it opened.

The original cathedral was completed in 1848, but it was destroyed in a fire in 1966. Happily, the townspeople saved almost everything from inside the burning building by forming a bucket brigade. But instead of passing water to douse the flames, they handed out liturgical treasures from one person to another. The church was replaced in 1976 and the rescued icons were once again put in place.

It is those icons that we saw today. A bonus was that the “Royal Doors” in the iconostasis that separates the sanctuary from the nave were open for us to peek through to a part of the church that only ordained clergy can enter.

Returning to the Visitor Center shortly before 12:30p, soon we were on our way to the Fortress of the Bear. The mission of the facility is to rescue, protect, and care for orphaned cubs. Some of the rehabilitated bears have gone to zoos, but the goal is to work with the Alaska Fish & Game Department to release rehabbed bears back into the wild where possible.

The bears — there are eight of them now — live at the old pulp mill tanks, which have been renovated as a habitat for them. Visitors view the bears from overhead platforms. We saw seven of the eight bears … two black bears; the remaining ones were brown bears. They seemed active and happy enough in their protected surrounding.

Our next stop was at the Alaska Raptor Center, the largest of its kind in North America.
It is a sanctuary and hospital for birds of prey. The primary goal of the facility is to provide medical treatment for injured birds for release back into the wild. Avian patients that do not fully recover join the center’s “Raptor-in-Residence Team,” and are used as ambassadors to teach the public about the various species and the importance of conserving them.

It was at the Raptor Center that we deviated from our plan. Instead of riding the shuttle back into town, we decided to hike through the forest that is part of National Park Service land. The day was simply too lovely not to spend it outdoors.

A pleasant, quiet walk through the forest led us to the beach along the waterfront. We played a bit on the rocky shoreline, watching the tide come in. Then, we moved on to the Sitka National Historical Park, with totems standing here and there along the Totem Loop Trail. The facility preserves and interprets the site of a Tlingit Fort and their battle in 1804 with the Russians. Amongst the various exhibits, are Haida and Tlingit totem poles, which always delight us with their colorful, fanciful characters and the stories they tell.

Following the Sea Walk from the park, we walked back into downtown. It was amazing to see how much quieter it was. Apparently, in our absence, the three other ships had left, taking practically everyone with them. There was no sign of the food tents … and many of the shops were in the process of closing down.

As we strolled down the street, we saw an arrow pointing to the Baranov Castle State Historic Site, so we made a detour. No castle per se, but as it turns out, the transfer ceremony after the Russians sold Alaska to the US took place on this hill in 1867. Also, it was here that one of the first 49-star American flags flew when Alaska became the 49th state of the Union.

From the hill, we continued to “beak,” a restaurant housed in the Cable House of 1908 … now home to Raven Radio KCAW. I have to admit that it took me a minute to realize that the name of the restaurant was not “beak.” Rather, it was “be ak” … which I interpreted as Be Alaska … right or wrong, I’m sticking to that story. Anyway, the restaurant is a semi finalist in the 2023 James Beard Foundation Best Chef Award in the Pacific Northwest Region … a good sign that the food would be good. And it was.

To start, we ordered a delicious butter board, that consisted of the house focaccia, sweet-cream butter, fireweed honey, toasted pine nuts, and sea salt. We split an order of “massaged” kale salad (served with apple rosemary cider dressing, candied pecans, and macerated berries) and a halibut Olympia … the fish baked in a creamy white sauce and served atop caramelized onions and brown rice, and corn and roasted red pepper. It was all delicious … the portions plentiful enough that we had to pass on dessert.

With Insignia not scheduled to leave until 8:00p, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful evening and went for another stroll around the city, re-taking some of the photos from this morning … with a blue-sky background this time. It was a lovely way to wrap up our day in Sitka.Read more