DUTCH HARBOUR, ALASKA

We anchored in Dutch Harbour early in the morning. You could feel the chill in the air whenever someone opened the door to the outside. It was 0 C and cold. We were used to nice tour buses in other ports but this day we had a long yellow school bus taking us around for the tour.

We managed to sit in these school bus seats all squashed as the knee room is minimal. On our drive into the city of Unalaska, we saw around 5 balded eagles flying around or sitting on the rocks next to the road. I couldn't catch a photo of one fast enough, but they were flying everywhere into the wind.

The US navy appropriated Dutch Harbour in 1940. It wasn't long after that the city was swept up in World War ll. The area was bombed heavily. This was one of the few places that the American's owned and was bombed in the 2nd World War. The city of Unalaska is remote and rugged. There are few trees and the wind blows here continuously.

We entered the city which has a large Safeway, a recreation building and a lovely school. Most of the inhabitants work in the fishing industry. There are 4 large fish processing plants with workers brought in from Mexico, the Philippines, and Guatemala. Dutch Harbour is now a thriving fishing and marine port, processing and exporting millions of pounds of king crab, salmon, halibut, cod and herring every year. But being that Dutch Harbour is so far north, the cost of living here is the highest then anywhere else in USA -150% above the national average.

We first of all visited the Holy Ascension Orthodox Cathedral (built by the Russians just after their invasion) which was built in the late 1800s. We were given a tour of the interior but were not allowed to take any photos. This cathedral housed hundreds of unique icons and gifts, some sent personally from Catherine the Great and the last Czar of Russia. The church had 697 icons, artifacts, and significant works of art making it one of the largest and richest remaining collections in Alaska.

We then proceeded to the Museum of the Aleutians. This museum gave the history and culture of the Aleutian people who lived here. It was very interesting to see the Russian artifacts and the Aluetians homemade clothes made of seal intestines etc.

We then visited the World War ll museum which showed how the Aleutian Islands and its people were involved the war. The US Armed forces were based here. Many soldiers could not handle the remoteness nor the severity of the climate. War depression continued until the 1950s.

The city of Unalaska and the Aleutian Islands make this part of the world very unique. It was an interesting place to visit and tour but we all said we wouldn't want to live here.

Onwards to Kodiak.