Seeing Sitka Through the Eyes of Friends Makes Visit Special

Day 4, 2024 Ultimate Alaska

Wednesday, June 12, 2024; Sitka, Alaska

When asked what I’m looking forward to most on a cruise, it’s not exploring new places or returning to favorite ports (although I enjoy both immensely). I reply that I’m most looking forward to seeing friends I’ve made on previous cruises.

Today I checked off that objective. A small group of us spent the day with Sitka residents Rich and Suzi, frequent grand and world cruisers whom we haven’t seen since early 2023. They took the day off work at the local radio station to give us a tour of their favorite places, most of which Rich has made famous in his blog, Postcards from the Transition.

Making the day even more special was the sunny crisp sky, much different than yesterday’s rainy day in Ketchikan. The two other cruise ships in Sitka today docked at the pier a few miles north of town, but the Westerdam anchored right in the town’s back yard, as Rich says, and we tendered the short distance to the town dock. They shuttled us in two vans the scant mile to the Sitka National Historic Park (easily walkable for most on a paved path along the waterfront).

The park preserves the site of the 1804 battle between the indigenous Tlingits and Russians, but it might be best known for the 20 or so totem poles along its paths. For years Rich has reported the progress of Tommy Joseph in his carving shed as he creates new totems and restores older ones. Today we met Tommy as he demonstrated Tlingit mask-making in the park visitor’s center and admired works in progress in the shed.

As we walked along the coastal path beneath towering spruce, Rich told us about the various totem poles we passed.

He has walked this path for many years and even “adopted” a large fallen log, studying and photographing it through the seasons, as snow comes and goes, various plants and mosses take hold, and the wood slowly deteriorates. Had I not been reading about this log for years, I might have walked right past it.

At times while walking along the path we saw bald eagles flying overhead or resting in the tree tops. Because it’s too early for salmon, there aren’t as many eagles or bears as we might see later in the summer.

We headed to another park on the edge of town for a picnic of local foods, including local beers, kelp salsa and Suzi’s own salmon spread. Our final stop was over the O’Connell bridge to a nearby island for a different view of Sitka than few cruise visitors see.

Back in town, Rich and Suzi provided a tour of the local radio station, Raven Radio KCAW. They have worked around the world for non-government organizations that provide radio news services.

As we left our friends behind, several of us knew the goodbye would be brief, as Rich and Suzi will join us on the Majestic Japan cruise in September.

Before tendering back to the ship, I returned to the town center, now devoid of the huge crowds from the other two ships, which already had set sail. The Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel dominates a small square and is the earliest orthodox cathedral in the new world (although a fire destroyed the original building). It is a reflection of Sitka’s Russian past, when Sitka was the oldest town on the West Coast and much larger than San Francisco.

Russian explorers settled here, and despite the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, the Russian influence remains, in architecture, in the active Orthodox congregation and in the Russian souvenir shops (with Ukrainian flags in the windows).

I couldn’t resist sketching the cathedral, with its green domes and gold crosses, from two different angles. When we have a string of sea days heading to Nome, I’ll make time for adding watercolor.