Kodiak, Alaska

Tuesday, May 7, 2019     Kodiak, Alaska   USA

The Westerdam had a bit of a problem coming into Kodiak this morning with winds 35-40miles per hour. Larry and I were up bright and early, ready for an US immigration process. We were excited about our prearranged float plane flight into Katmi National Park in search of the infamous local Brown Bears. 

 From the forward ship cameras on our television, we watched the ship turn around and regroup….us not knowing about the high winds. Finally the ship managed to dock about an hour and half late from our 8:00am expected arrival. In the mean time we got a message that our float plane flight was canceled due to high winds. BUMMER!!!

                                                Alaskan King Crabbing is a big business.

We passed through immigration and boarded the school bus around 10:30am for a 5 minute ride into town. It was windy, cold, and spitting rain. Plan two got into place as Larry turned on his phone for the first time since February 1. He found a local car rental dealer. 

He luckily procured the last car available on Kodiak Island for us to use exploring the day away.

Back in 2008, we had taken a nine hour over night ferry from Homer, Alaska to see this remote area. You are probably asking why come here? Larry’s step father, DarrellEgnor had served two years running a radio program here and filled Larry’s mind with all kinds of wild tales about the Yukon. I guess Larry had to experience it for himself.

In July, 2008 we did take a float plane out to the Kodiak National Forest to experience the Kodiak Bears catching and eating fresh salmon swimming upstream. It was one of the most incredible experiences that I have ever had with wildlife. The baby bears were so cute. The bears sparred over fish and perhaps some female action. 

They even cleverly stole fish from the biologists who were doing a study of the local salmon. Fishermen were in the distant streams with bears moseying up behind them. Sitting on a bank taking this all in was one of those life time experiences that will never be forgotten.

                             Anyway, today was quite enjoyable. Snow was still on the mountains. 

Waterfalls were filled by the melting snow. There was a stiff wind blowing with a cold chill that left you a bit frozen when out and about. 

We took the car with the Martini’s and headed to the furtherest point south to capture some of the most remote beaches and mountain ranges in Alaska. 

We saw long horn cows, buffalo, deer, eagles….but no bears. 

Our morning bus driver told us that if we had come into town about 4:30am, we would have ran smack into the bears helping themselves to the local’s trash cans. Where could they be during the day? There is an estimated 3000 of them on this island alone. 

                                                                  The island has wind power!

The island has a population of 6,000. 35 percent of the locals are involved in the fish or seafood industry.

We pass a big coast guard station.

We passed a NASA station that we wondered about….were there missiles in the skinny, tall, tall buildings on the south part of the island?

The Facilites

We captured several nice shots of the grand scenery in the area before turning the car back into the dealer at 5:00pm. 

                                                               Yes....it was cold!

                             We walked around the town to get some pics of the Russian Church.

                         An interesting concept....turning an old vessel, the Star of Kodiak, into a cannery.

                                             The Kodiak Marina was full of fishing boats!

Couldn’t believe that there was a McDonald’s, Walmart, and Subway here on this little island. 

We made it back to the school bus to ride the last bus back to the ship at 6:00pm.

The sail away was AWESOME! We enjoyed some spectacular scenery as we headed to our next port, Icy Strait Point, gateway to Glacier National Park.

So long Kodiak, Alaska

Kushiro, Japan

Wednesday, May 1, 2019         Kushiro, Japan                         Our final day in Japan

The Westerdam arrived at 8:15am, an hour and 15 minutes later than our 7:00am scheduled arrival.  High winds caused the captain to take the Westerdam back out to sea. A second tug boat was ordered up to be tied as an anchor to the back of the ship.   

This was a first time that we had ever seen this happen. I’m sure the captain was feeling the pressure from Japanese immigration officials to have all passengers go through an exiting immigration process in the afternoon.

This morning it was pouring rain…and it lasted the whole day.  We crossed the bridge displaying the  four Japanese women  statues in four seasons.

 Larry and I canceled our plans to go to the Kushiro Shitsugen National Park to see the national bird, the Japanese Cranes. Instead we took the shuttle into town to go to Kushiro Fishermans Wharf Moo and Egg, a shopping area full of Japanese souvenirs and displays. 

Despite the rain, we had a fantastic time in this multi floored area.  The locals had many cultural experiences prepared for the visiting passengers on the second floor.

( Japanense Calligraphy, Flapping Crane Origami, Japanese Archery Performance,

                                                           Kimono Dressing experience,  

                                                       a classical Japanese Dance Performance, 

as well as all kinds of handicarfts made by the locals who gave us lessons on making the same items. This was the most friendly group of people that we have met on our whole Japan trip. They welcomed us with cups of green tea. It was down right nice.

Interesting displays were scattered amongst the activities.

       Because of the weather, this is as close as we got to the Japanese Crane, the national bird.

                    Across the waterway from the shopping area we could see various vessels.

Larry and I enjoyed the whole day here. Being a genuinely kind  group of folks, it was extremely thoughtful of them to provide so much entertainment for us. We really enjoyed talking with them most of the day…. but of course, we were whipping out our translators quite frequently.

                                                        A large windsock on display

Our ship pulled out of the harbor at 5:00pm. Larry and I had a bit of a sad heart, saying good-by to Japan.  We have six cruising days across the northern Pacific before arriving in Kodiak, Alaska. NNNNNice!