{"id":774,"date":"2007-07-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=774"},"modified":"2009-04-15T08:55:44","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T13:55:44","slug":"s_logs-dashew-dashew401","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/s_logs-dashew-dashew401\/","title":{"rendered":"Sitka: A Unique Blend"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sitka: A unique blend of town dwellers, commercial fishermen, interesting boats on the dock, citified bald eagles, and a bit of tourism.<\/div>\n

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\"humpback<\/div>\n<\/h3>\n

Sitka is a unique blend of of Alaskan town dwellers, commercial fishermen, with a small segment of the economic order devoted to tourism. Unlike some of the towns in Alaska which have sold their souls at the alter of the tourist dollar, Sitka works hard at retaining its Alaskan charm. A good example is the wildlife. The photo above is one of the official humpback whale greeters, assigned to set the tone for your visit.<\/p>\n

\"bald<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

You will find the local airways busy with a variety of aircraft. You can watch the bald eagles dueling each other for territory,<\/p>\n

\"juvenile<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

or flaring to pick up a tasty morsel in the main channel.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

In most marinas we’d just as soon not have our personal watch keeper. But we’d make an exception for one of these elegant beasts.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Within a few minutes of the town proper you can find views like this…<\/p>\n

\"Mount<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

…while Mount Edgecumbe sits silently to the west (and no clouds around the peak for a change)<\/p>\n

Sitka has a summer music festival, which we were fortunate to learn about on the final night. They bring in world class musicians, whom you listen to while looking out into the wilds of Baronof Island through the floor-to-ceiling windows of their auditorium. Between the boats traversing the harbor, and eagles flying by, it is quite an experience.<\/p>\n

\"Fishing<\/div>\n

Sitka is home to a variety of interesting craft. This is a turn-of-the-19th century fishing vessel, still making her living from the sea.<\/p>\n

\"retractable<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

In the most up-to-date of fashions she carries a retractable bowsprit. We suspect this substantially predates the J-Boat sprit concept which started the modern version in the cruising\/racing fleet.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Sequoia<\/em> has a functional pilot house.<\/p>\n

\"aluminum<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

We noticed this interesting cruising yacht, built by a family from Juneau. She has a lovely, lean and quick hull shape, and we love the color scheme.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

She’s been down to the South Pacific – but prefers the more challenging environment in this part of the world.<\/p>\n

\"black<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

These are some of our neighbors from just down the dock. They are just back from fishing for black cod and halibut. Black cod, which they are preparing, will be sent to Japan. There is a section behind the head which is sold for a premium – helping to offset the imbalance in foreign exchange. Like many of the fishing boats, this is mainly a family operation (these are the folks who put us in touch with AMSEA for safety training).<\/p>\n

If you visit Sitka you will find a helpful staff at the harbormasters office. They do their best to find you a berth. It can take a bit of patience during the midsummer cruising season, but you can anchor just west of the harbor if waiting is required. There are markets, hardware stores, and a wonderful marine store all within walking distance.<\/p>\n

\"juvenile<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

With all Sitka has going for it, our favorite is the air show.<\/p>\n

\"bald<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

There are more eagles and ravens here than we’ve seen anywhere else. Being city birds, they are used to the distraction of boats and people, so you can get closer with camera and binoculars than is possible in the wild.<\/p>\n

And when you tire of the city lights, within 50 miles are a series of wonderful anchorages on the outside of Baranof Island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sitka: A unique blend of town dwellers, commercial fishermen, interesting boats on the dock, citified bald eagles, and a bit …Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}