Kodiak

Another new port for us. We docked in Kodiak early morning, 7:00. We had no specific plans, so we took our time and didn’t leave the ship until about 10:00. The shuttle from the ship dropped us off in front of a little museum, so we decided to take a look at it. 

Built around 1810, the building is the oldest of four surviving buildings constructed by the Russians when Alaska was a Russian territory. Kodiak was the first permanent Russian settlement in North America, and served as its territorial capital until 1808. This building as a storage facility (or "magazine") by the Russian American Company. When Alaska came under American control, the building was purchased by the Alaska Commercial Company, which continued the business operations previously engaged in by the Russians. In 1911 the building was sold to W. J. Erskine, who used the building as a private residence, constructing a new stone foundation for the building and enclosing its porch. He sold it in 1948 to a company which rented it out. After the 1964 Alaska earthquake and tsunami damaged the city, the building was acquired by a government redevelopment authority. Ownership was eventually transferred to the city, which leased it in 1967 to the Kodiak Historical Society. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

It was small, but an interesting little museum. We looked around, bought a few postcards and a Christmas ornament. Then, we moved across the street to the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. This also was a small attraction, but we found it to be very interesting. There was a lot of information about the area’s wildlife including birds, salmon, and of course the Kodiak Brown Bear. ‘Kodiak Refuge’ is comprised of many little islands, the main island being Kodiak Island. The town of Kodiak is the largest town on these islands (which isn’t saying much!). There are 3500 square miles of land and 3500 Kodiak brown bear inhabiting these islands. The Kodiak bear lives no where other than Kodiak. They are the largest species of brown bear, often as big as grizzly in size. 

From the visitor center, we wandered the town a little bit. It’s pretty small and there really isn’t a lot to be seen. Most activities of the town revolve around fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, kayaking, etc. 

Back to the ship by noon, we had a quick lunch at the Dive-In, a little place on the ship that makes the yummiest hamburgers and hot dogs. We enjoyed some time on the Lido deck, then headed off for our afternoon naps. LOL We are going to miss this when we get home!

Tomorrow—cruising Hubbard Glacier (basically a sea day—-Yay!!)