Stormy, fogy, yuk
Traversing the southern tip of Prince of Wales, we enter the
stormy waters of the Gulf of Alaska.
Being a fair weather boater, I am not a fan of these open waters but
luckily, we don’t get thrown around and are soon in the protected passage of
Cordova Bay. The west side of Prince of
Wales is comprised of beautiful, remote anchorages and some quirky towns. We sample it all – stopping one night in
Kassa Inlet where we forage for our dinner and catch 24 wonderful prawns. Shrimp
Scampi for dinner.
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| A Hydaburg House |
An afternoon stop in Hydaburg is on the agenda. This is a native Haida village (population
approximately 370) known for their extensive totem park. We meet Hagu, a native elder, who gives us a
tour of their carving shed and regales us with the “story” of his people and
the suffering they endured at the hands of “the white man.” He clearly relishes his unending presentation
and when we tell him we have to skedaddle, he thrusts a tomahawk into Jim’s
hands and has him beat the Indian drum as accompaniment to a native song he
sings for us. I think we’d still be
there if Jim had been able to carry the beat.
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| View from above Hydaburg house |
Craig is the largest town on Prince of Wales (population approximately 1,200) and is the service center for the island. There is a bank, fully stocked grocery store that serves the entire island, and more B&Bs and hotels than you’d see in a quaint New England town. Sport fishing is the draw here.
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| Craig Hotels |
My question: where
does everyone eat? There is a cafe and one restaurant/bar in town - Ruth
Ann’s– open Monday through Friday. The
bartender, a beautiful, buxom blond, explains that this is a real problem as
there is nowhere to go on date night – Saturday & Sunday nights. I see the dilemma but am much more interested
in the fact that this woman has her makeup so expertly applied it’s almost as
if she has a team of New York stylists stashed behind the Jamieson
whiskey. And where did she get the makeup? There is no place on Prince of Wales Island
that sells it, save for what she can scrounge up at the local pharmacy. In fact, there are no department stores,
Targets, or even a Walgreen in all of SE Alaska – well, there is a Fred Meyers
in Juneau but that is a boat or float plane away. And the pharmacies’ makeup
isles are usually a shelf or two of random products. At any rate – she looks great and I can see
why she worries about where to go on date night.
But there’s always the hardware store, and oh what a store!
There, Jim gets an espresso mocha - it's a full service hardware store. Now there’s an idea for a date night. |
| On the way to Craig |
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