Lost At Sea

Day 6, Tuesday, May 20th Ahhhhh Sitka. Now you must read this with a Russian accent in order to get a full feeling of this story. Russia is like 29 miles across the Bering Strait, I don't know, but at one time it was close enough and the Strait was not water, it was a land bridge from one continent to the other. One theory states it is where the North and South Americans came from. Eventually the U. S. did purchase the Alaska Territory (Seward's Folly) from Russia. At $.49 an acre, it was quite a steal. Quite an influence of Russian culture in this area.

We were taken by the ship's tenders (otherwise called life boats in emergency situations) from the ship to the shore as the ships are required to anchor in the harbor. Makes for an awesome picture of the cruise ship. Isn't she lovely?

So into the tenders and on to the shore to meet up with the guides and gear up for our Sea Kayaking Adventure. This time, I chose a lovely little rubber jacket, blue, to beat the wind and of of course all of us got one of ugly Coast Guard regulated orange life jacket to complete our outfits.
When we arrived, we exchanged our life jackets for ski vests. Much more comfortable. Then we listened to the instructions. Two persons to a kayak. The person in the back is the captain, the person in the front is the navigator. The captain, must follow the navigator's paddling, the goal is to put the oars in the water at the same time on the same side of the boat. English translation, paddle in unison. The captain must follow the navigator. The navigator can see where they are headed. The captain must follow the navigator. So with the grace of an elephant we loaded up. Wayne was the captain of our kayak. Phil and Amelia were in another, and Jolene had to team up with another single guy there. Some how during the practice round in the little cove, we got separated and move out in two groups. Jolene was on her own. Luck of the draw, some call it. We started out slowly, out of the cove and into the bay. How beautiful it was. The water was so very clear. You could see starfish and jellyfish. Along the way, as the navigator, I found that paddling was becoming quite a challenge, often paddling but not necessarily going in the direction I thought we were to be headed. Seems as if the captain had forgotten to share the course he had plotted with either me.....or the guides for that matter. Then Amelia asked me to take a picture of her and Phil. My captain in an effort to help pass the camera to me dropped the camera. Amelia quietly asked, "Why?" as the four of us watched it sink to the bottom of the bay in the 50* water. We each took a few seconds to stare in disbelief at each other in complete silence and then returned to paddling. Well some did. The navigator of my kayak continued to struggle with the navigating the kayak in a calm, steady, balanced manner. It was later (a day and a half) when our silence was broken that it was explained to me by the captain of my kayak, that I had been paddling wrong. Hmmmmph.


Jolene's partner pulled a starfish up for a closer examination by all in their group. Luck of the draw if you ask me.

Lesson 3: DO NOT go two-man kayaking unless you KNOW and TRUST, LOVE and HONOR your captain and/or navigator at ALL times. Cause if you don't or can't or both of you think you are right, you ain't gonna go no where fast....and your camera will be lost at sea.





We returned to town a few hours later and headed over to the corner Electronics/Photo shop. Almost as if it were planned, it was right there waiting with open doors for us. Must say we got a good price on the replacement.





Then we hit all the curio shops as we headed to upt to the corner where the Russian Orthodox Church was located. But across the street is located a Lutheran Church ~ the first Lutheran Church established on the West Coast of North America (1840). The church also houses their original Kessler Ortan #45, built in 1844 in Estonia. It was the first pipe organ on the West Coast of North America.

We satisfied our visit to Sitka with the Lutheran Church when we found that it costs $2.00 a head to get into the Russian Orthodox Church. Go figure.

Our visit in Sitka ended with time spent at both local Fire and Police Stations by Jolene, Phil, and Amelia. They were very proud of their new fire truck.


Wayne and I missed it. We were busy chowing down a reindeer dog. Tasted like a chicken hot dog to me.