Petersburg & Frederick Sound, Alaska
Petersburg is a working Alaskan fishing town; no rows of t-shirt and curio shops here. It became Alaska’s leading fishing port in the early part of the twentieth century due to the fortuitous combination of a protected port for the fleet, water rich in salmon and halibut, and plenty of free ice coming from the face of the nearby LeConte Glacier. Many a fortune was made by packing local fish in glacial ice, putting them into wooden crates insulated with sawdust from the local lumber mill, and sending them by steamship to Seattle and from there by railroad to restaurants serving fresh Alaskan seafood in America’s cities.
A group of well-bundled hardies began the day early (it was 5:00 am) on the bow of the National Geographic Sea Lion for her passage to Petersburg through Wrangell Narrows. This treacherous channel is notorious for the strong currents that alternate direction as the tide ebbs and floods, and for the many red and green navigation markers and buoys that give it its nickname: Christmas tree alley. Just before breakfast Captain Sinclair deftly maneuvered the National Geographic Sea Lion into it’s mooring against a floating dock surrounded by Petersburg’s many fishing vessels that are resting in port waiting for the commercial fishing season to open so they can ply their trade. We dispersed in several directions. Some headed by Zodiac across to Kupreanof Island for a walk through the old-growth forest to reach a hanging bog. Others were taken to the floatplane dock for a sightseeing flight over the LeConte Glacier. Bicycles were provided to test the hypothesis that “you never forget …”. And others opted for a stroll through Petersburg (it doesn’t take long), with, perhaps, a visit to what is reputed to be Alaska’s favorite hardware store. It stocks everything needed to keep the fishing fleet in operation. For those in need of an extra layer or a pair of rubber boots there is no better place than where the fishers get theirs!
After stocking our galley stores with fresh and fresh-frozen Petersburg seafood we departed, heading north up Frederick Sound in search of critters… big critters: humpback whales recently returned to Alaskan waters after their winter in Hawaii. We found them. After spending their winter doing little or no feeding, and after the long migration (just how DO they find their way?), the whales are ready for an intensive summer feeding on krill and small fish in Alaska’s productive waters. Here they restore the thick blanket of blubber that is their energy store for the rest of the year. Many of the female whales are accompanied by young calves that were born last winter in warm water and are making their first northern sojourn. Other females are fattening to prepare themselves to give birth next season back in Hawaii. In either case, here in Alaska it is all about feeding.
We watched the humpback whales and then continued on. Sharp and attentive guest eyes spotted (before the Naturalists, thus earning a bottle of wine) a solitary black bear foraging on the beach in the intertidal zone. After a long winter in the den the bears emerge into a landscape that is not yet rich in food, and they must find it where they can. They scavenge winter-killed deer or sea mammals cast up on the shore, they search for edible invertebrate animals in the intertidal zone, and they feed on new growth vegetation. This bear might have been scraping barnacles on the rocks and licking up the resultant soup. We, too, feasted on food from the sea with our dinner of Alaskan king crab.
Petersburg is a working Alaskan fishing town; no rows of t-shirt and curio shops here. It became Alaska’s leading fishing port in the early part of the twentieth century due to the fortuitous combination of a protected port for the fleet, water rich in salmon and halibut, and plenty of free ice coming from the face of the nearby LeConte Glacier. Many a fortune was made by packing local fish in glacial ice, putting them into wooden crates insulated with sawdust from the local lumber mill, and sending them by steamship to Seattle and from there by railroad to restaurants serving fresh Alaskan seafood in America’s cities.
A group of well-bundled hardies began the day early (it was 5:00 am) on the bow of the National Geographic Sea Lion for her passage to Petersburg through Wrangell Narrows. This treacherous channel is notorious for the strong currents that alternate direction as the tide ebbs and floods, and for the many red and green navigation markers and buoys that give it its nickname: Christmas tree alley. Just before breakfast Captain Sinclair deftly maneuvered the National Geographic Sea Lion into it’s mooring against a floating dock surrounded by Petersburg’s many fishing vessels that are resting in port waiting for the commercial fishing season to open so they can ply their trade. We dispersed in several directions. Some headed by Zodiac across to Kupreanof Island for a walk through the old-growth forest to reach a hanging bog. Others were taken to the floatplane dock for a sightseeing flight over the LeConte Glacier. Bicycles were provided to test the hypothesis that “you never forget …”. And others opted for a stroll through Petersburg (it doesn’t take long), with, perhaps, a visit to what is reputed to be Alaska’s favorite hardware store. It stocks everything needed to keep the fishing fleet in operation. For those in need of an extra layer or a pair of rubber boots there is no better place than where the fishers get theirs!
After stocking our galley stores with fresh and fresh-frozen Petersburg seafood we departed, heading north up Frederick Sound in search of critters… big critters: humpback whales recently returned to Alaskan waters after their winter in Hawaii. We found them. After spending their winter doing little or no feeding, and after the long migration (just how DO they find their way?), the whales are ready for an intensive summer feeding on krill and small fish in Alaska’s productive waters. Here they restore the thick blanket of blubber that is their energy store for the rest of the year. Many of the female whales are accompanied by young calves that were born last winter in warm water and are making their first northern sojourn. Other females are fattening to prepare themselves to give birth next season back in Hawaii. In either case, here in Alaska it is all about feeding.
We watched the humpback whales and then continued on. Sharp and attentive guest eyes spotted (before the Naturalists, thus earning a bottle of wine) a solitary black bear foraging on the beach in the intertidal zone. After a long winter in the den the bears emerge into a landscape that is not yet rich in food, and they must find it where they can. They scavenge winter-killed deer or sea mammals cast up on the shore, they search for edible invertebrate animals in the intertidal zone, and they feed on new growth vegetation. This bear might have been scraping barnacles on the rocks and licking up the resultant soup. We, too, feasted on food from the sea with our dinner of Alaskan king crab.
