Sitka-End of the Cruise

Beginning of our last week in Alaska, on-our-own

Gail woke up about 2:30 am and looked out the window, expecting it to be “just dark” as on previous nights. NO! All kinds of lights on the shore. So she opened the door to get a better picture, and scared the be-j#%&$ out of 2 night crew member, getting ready to dock the boat in Sitka!

After a few more hours of sleep and breakfast, we bid farewell to the Admiralty Dream crew and disembarked for the last time. Then we loaded onto a bus for our last John Halls Alaska led tour, to visit Sitka highlights, about 45-60 minutes each:

Sitka National Historical Park (see below, as we also visited all afternoon)
Fortress of the Bear, an educational rescue center for orphaned bears, where we watched some black bears being fed raw chicken and sister brown bears, Nuka & Nikiska, play in the water
The Alaska Raptor Center, a healing and rehabilitation center for injured avian patients, which highlights the community’s unique relationship with nature. We visited the many birds there, mostly eagles, owls, and hawks and took a walk to the Eagle Swim Pool, filled with fish.

Last bus tour…everybody still going strong!!! (and most here have been touring 2.5 to 3 weeks)
Black Bears at the Bear Fortress, one standing to get another piece of raw chicken
Nuka & Nikiska playing in a Bear Fortress Pool
Raptors include Eagles, Falcons, Osprey, KitesOwls, Hawks,
An eagle in the Eagle Flight Training Center at the Raptor Center
Eagles living at the Raptor Center. Some can’t fly and won’t be released

Then we said goodbye to our fellow travelers. Half were shuttled straight to the Sitka Airport and the remainder (spending the night or on later flights) dispersed to do their own thing. We checked into our hotel and walked along the waterfront back to…

Finish Visit to 1 new National Park Site

Sitka National Historical Park (#307), on an island amid towering spruce and hemlock, it preserves the site of a battle between invading Russian traders and Indigenous Kiks.ádi Tlingit. Totem poles from Tlingit and Haida areas line the park’s scenic coastal trail, and the restored Russian Bishop’s House is a rare reminder of Russia’s colonial legacy in North America.

On our morning visit, we got our stamp and took the Russian Memorial Loop hike. In the afternoon we explored the Sitka NHP Visitor Center, hiked the Totem Pole Trail, and attended 2 Ranger talks, about the Russian-Tlingit Battle and about the Totem Poles. Then we walked back downtown to check out the Russian Bishop’s House, the Museum and a tour of the living quarters & chapel on the 2nd floor.