Day 5 - Sitka!
Sitka brought us our first experience with Tendering to shore, which is where you are anchored out in the bay somewhere and you have to take these little glorified lifeboats in order to get to shore. Good fun!
Our excursion didn't start until later in the afternoon, so Craig, Jackie, Stacy, Heather and I wandered around downtown Sitka for a while. We ran into Cameron and Kyra who were out for a walk for the Grandparents in a park down by the Marina. Cameron got to show off some of his climbing skills.
We also saw the old fort, a totem pole, and an old persons home disguised as a tourist attraction. Very tricky. We all had hot dogs from a street vendor, and we lost Heather into a book store for a while, but eventually it was time for our excursion - Dry Suit Snorkeling!
That's right - Snorkeling in Alaska. They bussed us all over to the other side of Sitka, then dressed us up in dry suits, which are really hot to wear when you're not in the water, especially when you put on the fleece body suit over your normal clothes. Then, once everyone was suited up, it was back into the bus for a trip to the Snorkeling area - Magic Island. By the time we got to the island we were all dying of the heat and couldn't wait to get into the water.
Once in the water, it was wonderful. The water wasn't too cold, and there was tons of cool stuff to look at - fish, crabs, sea stars, sea cucumbers, jellyfish, kelp, eel grass... It was beautiful. hopefully there will be pictures of cool underwater stuff if I ever manage to get the camera developed.
Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time for snorkeling, as we had to get back to the ship before it left without us.
As always, thanks for looking.
Jim
Posted on 09-11-2006
