Kodiak Island, Alaska: Monks, Music and Magical Weather

---

Kodiak Island, Alaska: Monks, Music and Magical Weather



Well we’ve been at sea for 3 ½ days and everyone is definitely ready to get off the ship. We have some lovely people at our dining table. A couple from Long Island, New York, another from Del Rey Beach, Florida and an amazing 84 years old woman who spends half her time in Seattle by the Ballard Locks and the winters in a trailer, 700 miles south of the border toward the end of Baja del Sur on the Gulf of California. They have all been around the world many times and have stories to regale us each night. One couple cruises over 200 days per year!!!!



Our waiters are the nicest ever but… each night I feel like I’m in a Marx Bros. movie. Not once, have they brought the correct order to anyone at the table. They are quite loveable but totally unorganized. Dinner ends up being about 2 ½ hours!! Think we will be going to the buffet more often ;-)



We’ve had a comedian who was priceless, an opera singer who sang beautiful arias and also Elvis Pressley songs ;-) We were entertained by a folk group from Alaska and a dance troupe from New York. We have had lecturers from a retired Coast Guard Admiral responsible for all of Alaska, the usual shore excursion talks, and some interesting history of the Aleutian Island chain and WWII.



Days have been spent in computer /camera class with a wonderful instructor, the library has seen us many times, afternoon tea in the Crows Nest has been a treat, of course we sucked at music trivia from the 50’s (I’m sure I was alive then but…)and smile at each new “towel animal” on our bed. Wonder how many different animals the stewards can make ;-) We’ve had things like monkeys, fish and frogs so far.



Although the weather was quite rocky coming up, when we arrived in Kodiak, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the weather was about 55 and beautiful! Clearly not your average day in Kodiak, from what the natives said, but we were grateful for it. We could see fishing boats packing the docks and harbor, high on a hill the Russian Orthodox Church and nestled around the harbor the town of Kodiak. We docked at 8am and the sun came up at 8:01 am.



We let everyone get off the ship while we lingered over breakfast and got ready to go ashore. There was a shuttle waiting to take us into town. The shuttles are school busses and the school bus drivers ;-) After a 10 minute shuttle into town we headed for Monks Rock Coffee House. We found it on the internet and it was supposed to have the best coffee in Kodiak. For those of you who have been on cruise ships and love coffee, you’ll understand why we headed straight there for a caffeine fix! ;-) So with our trusty map in hand we turned up the hill and in about 3 minutes were at Monks.



A very nice place run by, of course, Monks from the Russian Orthodox Church. They help young people who perhaps have wandered off the straight and narrow to find their way back. These young people work in the café. A barista took our order and we found a table. While we waited a Monk came over and asked us how we were doing and told us that the people working there were going to sing to all of the guests. I got out my camera and moved across the room so I could take a video of the performance. Oh my heavens… 4 young men and 2 young women came out from behind the counter and began to sing in the clearest most amazing voices I have ever heard. They sang 2 religious songs I didn’t know and then one Irish ballad. It was so beautiful I had tears in my eyes. When I went back to the table I found that Cope was crying too. I can’t imagine hearing anything like that again. We were so lucky to have been there at the right time.



Back out on the street, we headed to the post office to mail some letters, stopped at the high water marker for the 1964 Tsunami and a quick stop to use the Wi-Fi at McDonald’s ;-). Yes, Kodiak may be remote and small but they have McDonalds and Subway in town and further out (we didn’t see it) a Walmart and Safeway. What can I say?



We then wandered to the Department of Interior’s museum to see the exhibits and a 12 minute film about the history of Kodiak then over to the Baranov Museum which is a Russian home that was built in the 1700’s and the beautiful Russian Orthodox Church. What hardships the early settlers endured here at 56 degrees north.



Around 2:30 we were back on the school bus headed for the ship which was leaving at 3 pm. This port was so special with the impromptu concert and the amazing weather. We were so lucky, everyone says it rains all the time this time of year, and today was soooo beautiful-we loved it! Keep your fingers crossed for continuing fair weather.



Next Stop: Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, USA

---

Comments

[Elaine]

Great to hear from you!
We are really happy to hear of your travels. Ben is trying to follow your course on his map. Keep names of places coming! Glad to hear you're having fun and found some good coffee!