Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
Our first port of call was the town of Kodiak, Alaska. It’s a small town of around 5,500 people at the last census and is one of seven communities on Kodiak Island. Our ship anchored out in Saint Paul Harbor and we had to take tenders to reach the town. If you are mobility-challenged and cannot stand long enough to step from the ship’s dock to the tender, you will not be able to visit any port where tenders are required. We saw a number of people with rolling walkers, and that worked fine, but motorized scooters did not make it aboard the tender.
Our first stop was the Kodiak National Wildlife Visitors Center. You can start your visit there with a short film about the area and then visit the exhibits. The lower level has details about the brown bears in the area.
Meanwhile on the upper level, there’s this magnificent grey whale skeleton. The already-deceased whale was found on the beach by a retired high school science teacher (who was on-site during our visit!) and she realized what an opportunity this was for the area. They ended up burying the whale in the sand for four years and let nature take its course, with bacteria removing most of the non-skeletal material. Then the bones were cleaned up, assembled into four giant sections and the reconstructed skeleton now hangs in the center.
Fishing is a major industry on the island as it is in many port towns and there’s evidence of it everywhere.
We stopped by the Kodiak History Museum which is located in the oldest standing building in Alaska. The first European settlers in Alaska were from Russia and there’s some quite interesting history about how the Russians – mostly men – settled in and married the native people. This museum also has info about the tsunami of 1964 and its impact.
Next door to the history museum is the Holy Resurrection Church, a Russian Orthodox church. While the current building dates to 1945 (replacing a burned structure), the Russian Orthodox presence in Kodiak dates to 1794, not long after the settlement was founded.
The church grounds contain old bells as well as gravesites of former church leaders and members.
The town is quite small and if you’re not on a tour and don’t have access to a car, it won’t take long to explore. I was a bit surprised at the lack of tourist-type souvenir shops. There were some booths set up in the local mall with locally-made products. But if you’re looking for t-shirts or sweatshirts you’ll want to check out the Ace Hardware store where we found a wide selection!
In the end
Kodiak is a cute little town that can be seen in just a few hours. As it’s only accessible by plane or by boat/ferry, take advantage of the cruise stop while you can.
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