Dutch Harbor: Home of Famous and Not-So-Famous Fishing Vessels

Day 10, 2024 Majestic Japan

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024; Dutch Harbor, Alaska

We should have known that a 53-day cruise without a single tender port was too good to be true. A U.S. navy ship pulled rank and bumped us from today’s assigned pier in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, so we tendered in from Illuliuk Bay to the Carl E Moses Boat Harbor. I started to say we anchored, but in these modern days the ship is likely to hold its position using GPS dynamic positioning via its azipods and bow thrusters. (Detailed review for the ship propulsion nerds.)

Most cruisers would prefer not to tender, as you have to wait your turn to board the ship’s tender boats to travel to shore. It can be slow and more difficult for persons with mobility issues. However, by using four or five tenders and two boarding platforms, the process is usually pretty efficient. It all depends on the distance from the ship to shore. In some ports, such as Sitka, the tender pier is right in town, while the cruise ship pier is about five miles away and requires shuttles to get there.

Unalaska, the town that encompasses Dutch Harbor, is more complicated as it doesn’t exactly have a center of town. Instead, places of interest stretch over a few of miles of coastline. I wrote about my visits in 2018 and again earlier this summer when many of us chose to walk the two miles from pier to the Museum of the Aleutians, Safeway and curiously-named Norwegian Rat Saloon.

Today the tenders took us to a marina that didn’t put us much closer to either those destinations or another part of town with picturesque churches and residences. Shuttles were free, but as there were just six 14-passenger vans, the lines to board them could be long. (It looked like once again a number of taxis augmented the shuttles.)

I waited until late morning to tender ashore to avoid early rain and opted to walk rather than wait for a shuttle. As I had visited the museum, grocery store and saloon on my earlier visits, today my destination was in the opposite direction. I thought the Holy Ascension of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Cathedral, with its two copulas topped with onion domes, would make an ideal subject for a watercolor painting.

I never made it to the cathedral – that will have to wait for another trip. The photo I took with my zoom camera from back on the ship, even though a bit grainy under the heavy clouds, will tempt me to return some day.

On the way to the cathedral, the wreck of the Nirvana caught my attention. It was the last wooden crabber in the area and apparently sank years ago after being struck by another vessel.

I’ve always loved abandoned things, so I decided to sketch it. Painting was less than ideal in the damp air, so I put final touches on it later.

Today Dutch Harbor probably is best known as home port for the large commercial fishing vessels featured in the Discovery Channel’s popular Deadliest Catch television series. Today the F/V Northwestern (the only vessel featured in every season of Deadliest Catch) was docked in Dutch Harbor. Fourteen years ago, I saw another fan favorite, F/V Time Bandit, in Kodiak.

For more than 30 years the town has been the largest fisheries port in the United States. I believe it, as dozens of large refrigerated semis passed by me as I stood on the road shoulder painting the Nirvana.

During the three sea days cruising to Dutch Harbor from Haines, we paused for a couple of hours in front of Hubbard Glacier. The sun managed to peak through the clouds and reflect off the six-mile-long face of this giant glacier.

I don’t know if that extra bit of warmth helped, but we were treated to some stunning calving – the phenomenon by which pieces of the forward edge of a glacier fall into the water. Because sound travels slower than light, the glacial ice has fallen by the time you hear the accompanying loud crack.

Some passengers got amazing video, but I’m hesitant to post any videos without permission. Here’s a brief series I took, and my friend Rich posted a great series on his Postcards from the Perimeter blog.

We now have six sea days before we arrive in Kushiro, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. During this transit, we will cross the International Date Line, skipping Friday the 13^th (good choice, Holland America!).

We also will cross seven time zones, setting our clocks backward an hour every night and two hours on Sept. 14. When you are this far north, you don’t have to go far to cross into the next zone. Going west is easier than east, as you get an extra hour of sleep, but I’ll be waking up earlier and earlier.