20230925 AAAA Trip - Kodiak, Alaska - Finally, bears!

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 10/105 - Kodiak, Alaska 

Kodiak is our second-to-last stop in Alaska.  What is Alaska famous for?  Bears!  What have we yet to see?  Bears!  That ended today.

Kodiak is a port city with a large fish processing industry.  Parking areas along the main roadways have hundreds of stacked, refrigerated shipping containers.  Millions and millions of pounds of processed fish are loaded into these containers and sent worldwide. Kodiak also has an active tourism industry with plenty of sport fishing and general outdoor activities available.

Our excursion today was Kodiak by Foot - a self-guided tour.  Our shuttle bus took us to the Kodiak Visitor's Center.  There is a Trident Seafoods processing plant next to the Visitor's Center - generally an unremarkable thing.   In 1964, the earthquake that all but wiped out Sitka also produced a tsunami that impacted Kodiak.  The ship, Star of Kodiak, was carried up on shore by the wave and deposited so far inland that there was no way to refloat her.  Rather than cut her apart for scrap, they decided to repurpose her.  They dug around her and righted her and refurbished her into the plant you see here.

The plan was to just walk around and perhaps stop in a museum.  When we got to the Visitor's Center, they explained that there was an available bear tour.  Thirteen of us decided to do that.  We had a few minutes before the tour was to begin so we walked up the hill to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.  It is a big name for a fairly small facility.  It looked like they opened just for us.

They had a few interesting displays and more importantly, restrooms.  They did have this gray whale skeleton hanging and it was impressive.

We finished our visit and headed back where we piled into the 15-passenger  tour van and headed out in search of bear.

Don't worry - not a real bear

There are about 5,500 people in Kodiak and 3,500 bears.  Bears regularly are found around homes and especially around garbage dumps.  Our guide, Casey, had a bear tear off the entry door to his garage and a neighbor had one break into their home, destroying the kitchen.  So, there are bears.

We headed out with the 100% guarantee that there was a chance that we could potentially see bears.  So many people expect to see things without taking into regard that these are wild animals that do what they want.  So with high hopes, we were off.  After a short ride down the road, success - bears!  A momma bear and her perhaps two-year-old cub were fishing and wandering.  Did I mention that we were just planning to walk around Kodiak?  What was the one thing I didn't bring with me as I wouldn't need it?  My camera.  Doh!  Of well, the trusty, albeit vastly inferior, cellphone camera will have to step up, even with its shortcomings.

Casey explained that once cubs are born, the boar (male) leaves, and the sow (female) cares for the cubs for about three years.  She is fiercely protective of the cubs because even the bores will attack and eat the young.

We moved to another spot where we saw one more bear, but there was no good photo opportunity with that one.  Casey tried a couple of more places but our luck had run out.  We did get to see some nice scenery.

Arlona got her fix in by touching Alaskan waters

When you are hiking, rangers advise wearing small bells on your shoes and carrying pepper spray.  The bells tend to scare the bears and the pepper spray is for defence.  They also advise watching for bear scat (poop).  You can identify bear scat versus other scat because it usually contains bells and smells like pepper.

All too soon, our tour was over and Casey dropped passengers either at the ship or back at the Visitor's Center.  We were impressed with how Casey ran the tour and his obvious passion for what he does and the area.  Given that, I'll drop a plug for his business, Kodiak Survival School.  They offer training as well as a suite of hunting, fishing, and backcountry experiences.

If you're going to be in Kodiak and want a great outdoor experience, check them out.

We wandered a bit, on a mission.  Shortly after getting on the ship, I tweaked my knee.  This is something that happens from time to time and usually works itself out in a day or two.  Well, it’s been a week and my knee is killing me.  Our mission was to find a brace and see if that would help.  We figured that Walmart would have one, but that was a couple of miles away and we didn’t feel like getting an Uber to go to Walmart.  Someone suggested Big Ray’s Sport Shop as a possible source.  It was a short walk so we went.  It was a very interesting outdoor supply store, but alas, they didn’t sell knee braces.  They did have a stuffed bear, so that was cool.

We have booked two cruises – our Viking Homelands cruise at the end of our world cruise, and this cruise, which were supposed to have stops in Russia.  For obvious political reasons, cruises aren’t going to Russia anytime in the foreseeable future.  Still, ever since planning them, Arlona has been interested in getting a set of genuine Russian nesting dolls.  We saw some in Valdez but they didn’t get her excited.  But…what does she find in Big Ray’s Sport Shop?  A hand-painted, Santa-themed set of “Made in Russia” nesting dolls.  Score!

As we headed back, we walked past a gas station.  Ouch!

Gas at home in Florida is $3.49 today - what a difference - 50% more here

On the way back to the Visitor’s Center, we passed by a ready-care clinic.  On a whim, we popped in to see if they had knee braces.  About 15 minutes later, I walked out, still in pain, but less pain, with a shiny new knee brace.  Score again!

As we made our way to the shuttle bus, we caught a glimpse of what looked like stereotypical Russian architecture. 

It turned out to be the Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Cathedral.  You sometimes forget how close Russia is to Alaska and how much influence is still here.

We caught the shuttle bus back to the ship, had a nice lunch, and enjoyed the view from our balcony.

We got lucky once again with the weather.  Even with a thin overcast, it was still in the low-fifties, or as the Kodiak residents call it - shorts weather.

I haven’t written much about the entertainment on Orion.  There is a reason.  Generally, it is not our cup of tea.  Viking is not known for its strong entertainment portfolio.  Royal Caribbean has Broadway-caliber play productions, and ice skating and diving productions.  Carnival has live comedy and a piano bar.  Celebrity has production shows.  Viking has…four singers and a band.  I don’t want it to sound like the performers aren’t talented – they most certainly are.  But duets with the resident singers, London West End musical numbers, and such just are not our preferred entertainment.  Tomorrow, they are bringing on a comedy magician – that’s more in line with our tastes and we're looking forward to it.

Most evenings, we return to our room where we tune into the nightly entertainment on the TV as background noise – they live stream it on the Viking Today channel.  We do this while I work on this blog and Arlona reads.  Tomorrow, we’ll be in the Star Theater, watching the show.

As for tonight, we hit up the Explorers’ Bar for a pre-dinner drink and then enjoyed dinner in the World Café.  We wound up sharing a table with a nice couple from Houston and spent a couple of hours in lively conversation.  After dinner, we met other friends back in the Explorers’ Bar for a nightcap before coming to the room to catch tonight’s performance (songs from Mary Poppins and Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang, Rent, Cats, Les Mis, and other musicals) on the TV as I write these last few paragraphs.

Tomorrow, we will be at sea as we make our way to our last Alaskan stop in Dutch Harbor.