Kodiak ....an Island and a Town

Our plan today is to explore on our own and find our young friend, Jerusha, who is working at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Information Center.  Yes, it's raining...real rain.

A shuttle takes us into town and we get off right across the street from where Jerusha is working!  

Yay!  We find her right off!  

Here is summer intern, Jerusha, hard at work.

Here is summer intern, Jerusha, goofing around....what else do you do with an octopus puppet?

The bonus is that the information center is fabulous!  There is a short film on Fish and Wildlife conservation efforts and the local wildlife, an incredible Grey whale skeleton, plus a wonderful exhibit on salmon, Kodiak bears and regional birds.

The Grey whale arm and pec fin is 7 feet long!  Who knew?

Kodiak bears are really, REALLY big!

Can Steve resist the berries?  Seems SIMPSON boys and Kodiak bears love the same food!

We have the good fortune to meet children's book author, Stacy Studebaker.  She taught high school biology in Kodiak and when she retired she wondered what was next?  First she stumbles across a stranded (and dead) Grey whale on a nearby beach, gets a plan together to save the skeleton, and 8 years later, it becomes an important display at the information center.  Then she starts writing books!  

We decide to follow Jershua's advice and head for the NOAA aquarium and touch tank on Near Island, but on our way the stairs to the Russian Orthodox Church invite us to walk up and in!  

The priest is hanging out and very happy to talk about the services and tradition of Russian Orothodox worship.  

The church is full of icons, a chandiler, various candle lighting stations, and a definite "front" area with a lofty dome.  He tells us that on any given Sunday there are between 90 and 120 people who come to the service.  One thing is obviously missing....there is NO seating.  A service lasts from two to three hours, the litergy is sung in Russian and everyone stands.  The whole time.  Wow.

From the church, across the bridge to Near Island is about a 30 minute walk, where we find the NOAA Research Facility.

There is a very cool glass sculpture outside depicting salmon swimming upstream.  

Downstairs is indeed, a circular glass aquarium chock full of Alaska residents.  The kind that live under the sea!

Some, like the sunstar above, we recognize as critters who have relatives that live in the water around San Juan Island.  

Some we don't!

This is a short shore leave day and All Aboard is 1:30 p.m.  Time to walk back to the ship. If you strain your evens, or use a magnifying glass, you can see the Maasdam way way down there on the right edge if the channel.  

Take a look at this cool trash can we notice along the way.  It's modeled after a can of salmon!

Our walk takes us past the commercial harbor and packing warehouses.

Yep, still raining.

We are underway by 2:00 p.m. heading east across the Gulf of Alaska.  The pilot boat meets us at theKodiak  Harbor entrance (and exit).  We watch as the pilot jumps from our ship to his pick up tug...and they speed away back to Kodiak.  We speed away toward the far shore of Alaska and the Hubbard Glacier.

We are thinking Kodiak Island is one of those places that calls you to come back and spend TIME.  After all, there are those special bears!  And hiking trails galore!  And...did I mention all the sea otters swimming in the bow wake of our ship as we left the harbor?