Dutch Harbor

Short cruise along the Aleutian Islands has brought us to Unalaska Island arriving early morning and where for the first time on the trip are actually tied up in port, although very much commercial with containers on the dockside and trawlers tied up beside us.
Dutch Harbour (think I probably should have used the American spelling for “Harbor” - in case you are trying to find it on another map). Apparently we are about a mile and a half from the small town of Unalaska which we have the most of the day ( ship leaves at 16:00) to explore. Karen thought we might walk but at briefing advised to use the shuttle buses that have been arranged as the road is “rough” and in constant use by lorries. Another good reason seems to be that throughout the night, in our normally very quiet cabin, a howling gale can be heard. This will no doubt test how water resistant the jackets we have been given are. More to follow after we have visited the tourist attractions in town, we will be going early as are in group 1 with our shuttle bus leaving at 08:20.
Very industrialised town, largest fishing port in the US, historically crab fishing but this is no longer allowed due to over-fishing. Now pollock and pacific cod are the main catch. 4 “places of interest “ or bus stopping points on the hop on / hop off circuit that has been set up for us today. Our first stop was downtown, the “must see” here is the Russian orthodox cathedral, built in the times when Alaska and these islands was the home of Russian fur trappers and traders. Next stop was the local museum which told the story of the local tribe established here several thousand years ago until a Dutch boat ( hence location name) visited and then was followed by the Russians, the local population decreased to just a few hundred. Some interesting art here, ink prints of the various fish that are caught in the area. We didn’t wait for the bus as the next stop was onlY a few hundred yards away. The town’s hotel seems out of place here, a local market had been set up in the foyer (presumably arranged for our visit) we quickly looked over the 6 stalls and then walked across the road to the Safeway. Back to the hotel to pick up the bus for our 4th and final stop, the WW2 museum. I hadn’t realised that Japan actually managed to capture these islands, it seems the island defences were designed for a sea invasion and the heavy artillery on the hills around the harbour were not manoeuvrable enough to defend against the fast moving aircraft that bombed the town for 2 days before the troops walked in. A larger joint US/ Canadian eventually retook the islands. After the museum we hopped into another bus and returned to the ship.
At several of the stops we were able to see eagles perched on top of lamp posts around the town, a man outside Safeway advised us to buy a bag of chicken wings, which he said would attract the bird to us so we would get better photographs. Whilst in Safeway a woman asked Karen who she was and where she was from, “ Not often we see strangers here” she said.
We are moored by “Bunker Hill”, last picture, the other optional expedition today is a hike to the top, I’m sure anyone doing this hike will end up rather wet, we decided not to go.
We left at 17:00 and just outside the harbour there was a pod of whales so we spent the next hour on deck trying to spot and photograph whales and sea lions. Whilst at dinner one surfaced and dived beside the ship where we were sitting, but unfortunately we were too slow to get the photo.Read more