Dutch Harbor

Dutch Harbor, Alaska 

turned out to be bigger than I was expecting.

Dutch Harbor is out in the Aleutians, 796 miles from Anchorage

Dutch Harbor is actually only one of the harbors in Unalaska. The whole place really should be refereed to as Unalaska, but Dutch Harbor (or just "Dutch") is way more hip  (the name of the island Variations included “Ounalashka,” “Ounalaska,” “Oonalaska,” and “Oonalashka.”  These spellings all derived from the Russian spelling of a word which was itself a shortened version of an original Aleut word: “Agunalaksh.”  - how'z that for more information than you wanted?

I was expecting this:

Only crab fishermen are crazy enough to come out here in the winter (even the vaunted Alaskan Ferry doesn't service Dutch past September). Surprisingly, it doesn't get ridiculously cold.  Sure does storm though. Average yearly snowfall is 8 feet.

This is what it looks like in summer

Gorgeous

Notice the lack of trees. I'm not sure why there aren't any trees around.

There are a few, but apparently the Aleutians aren't great for growing trees. On Adak (a few islands further west in the chain) you can find the "Adak National Forest" (not recognized by the National Park Service). This "forest" was the brainchild of General Buckner in WW II.  The idea was to try to grow Christmas trees for the soldiers manning the big military base out in the middle of nowhere on Adak Island. Currently the "forest" consists of 30 lonely trees huddled together in misery.

My amateur theory about the lack of trees is that there isn't enough soil for the trees to take hold. 

To me, it looks like just thin sod (tundra?) covering rock. (Doubt I get an honorary PhD for this in-depth analysis).

The lack of trees doesn't seem to bother the eagles.  Dutch Harbor is lousy with them.

It's almost like the eagles are filling the ecological niche of both gulls and pigeons. I didn't see many birds trying to compete with them.

This is the post office. Note the top of the light pole (just to the left of the flag pole) in the background. A pair of eagles were busy nesting on the hill by the post office.

"Did I say you could park here?"

In my neighborhood, being "bounced" by a nesting, protective mockingbird or cactus wren is annoying.  In Dutch Harbor, it can be life threatening.

"Hang on a sec. I'll be right out"

"No trees, no problem.  I'll just nest in the bushes"

Dutch Harbor is, of course, famous these days for the long running show on the Discovery Channel - 'Deadliest Catch'.
I wrote about crab fishing back in 2015 - click here crab fishing in Alaska

During the summer months the crab boats are out doing other things (crab season is fall and winter).

No idea why this crab boat was still at the dock.

While I was walking on the docks admiring the few boats that were in,

 I heard a splash right next to me.

Sea otters in Dutch Harbor are like eagles - they aren't terribly hard to find (although they don't frequent the town dump like the eagles do).

This one was busy stuffing his face with mussels he had yanked off the underside of the floating dock.

I was only 12 feet away from the otter and he never even glanced at me. "Scared of humans?  Me?  Seriously, let me show you my federally protected species registration card."

Not the biggest museum you'll ever visit, but Dutch Harbor is full of interesting history.

The Aluet natives have lived on the island for thousands of years. At first, it was a decent existence for around 1,000 inhabitants - food was plentiful (even though timber for construction wasn't). Then  came the Russian fur traders/hunters in 1759. War ensued and the natives managed to kill 175 Russians. The victory was short-lived. The Russians came back in force and slaughtered nearly all the natives.  In 1778 James Cook wandered by on his world cruise.  10 years later this guy showed up:

The Spanish explorer Esteban Jose Martinez visited Unalaska in 1788 and promptly claimed it for Spain (naming it Puerto de Dona Marie Luisa Teresa.)

The Russians were unimpressed with the Spanish (by this time Unalaska was a permanent Russian fur trading post).  They promptly installed this guy as General Manager:

Alexander Andreyevich Baranov (referred to as 'Slap-head Barney' behind his back) headed up the Russian expansion into Alaska founding both Pavlovskaya (Kodiak) and New Archangel (Sitka).

In 1836, measles, whooping cough, and chickenpox further reduced the native population down to just a couple hundred wretched souls.  Along came the Americans in 1867 when they purchased Alaska.  And all was good.  Except that it wasn't. Gold was discovered in the area in the late 1800's. Along with the prospectors came the Spanish flu in 1900 and 1919 further reducing the population of the natives. Things started to look up..... then the Japanese attacked in 1942. The attack, for some unfathomable reason, made the US authorities decide to move the remaining natives to internment camps. The ones that survived the harsh war treatment returned home to find most of their possessions either missing of destroyed. It's a sad story well told by the museum.

Original AOL dial-up modem

The doodad behind the Plexiglas I'd never heard of before. It looks like some kinda screwy circuit breaker.  Swing and a miss.

Believe I'll just grow a beard, thank you very much.

"The Battle of Dutch Harbor took place on June 3–4, 1942, when the Imperial Japanese Navy launched two aircraft carrier raids on the Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Fort Mears at Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island, during the Aleutian Islands Campaign of World War II. The bombing marked the first aerial attack by an enemy on the continental United States."  Looking at the timeline, it's obvious the US suspected the Japanese would be coming.  Preparations for the defense of Dutch Harbor began 4 months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

I'm not sure why this bunker was so easy to spot.  Most installations were carefully camouflaged. Part of the artillery defense of Dutch  was provided by the Arkansas National Guard (they were woefully unprepared for winter in Alaska). 

The actual battle for Dutch Harbor in 1942 was a two day affair composed of two aircraft carriers and 34 Japanese attack aircraft pounding away.  Strategically, both sides thought that having a base of operations in the Aleutians would enable the Japanese to work their way up the chain of islands and eventually attack the continental US. In reality, neither side had much to worry about. The weather is so atrocious most of the year that it isn't practical as a route of attack for either us or the Japanese. Never-the-less, the Japanese managed to give it a go. It may have been a back water, no importance battle, but 43 Americans were killed and the Japanese lost a few planes. One of those planes, however, cost the Japanese dearly.

This is the famous Akutan Zero.  While attacking Dutch Harbor the plane was damaged by antiaircraft fire.  The pilot was forced to crash land on nearby Akutan Island.  The pilot was killed, however, the plane wan't destroyed. It was gleefully repaired and flown by US test pilots.  Those tests highlighted the weak points of the Zero and dog fighting tactics were modified to take advantage of the knowledge. "The Akutan Zero has been described as "a prize almost beyond value to the United States", "probably one of the greatest prizes of the Pacific War". Japanese historian Masatake Okumiya stated that the acquisition of the Akutan Zero "was no less serious" than the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway, and that it "did much to hasten Japan's final defeat".  That may be a bit of an overstatement, however, the US was thrilled to get their hands on the very deadly Japanese front line fighter.  The plane itself was wrecked (again) in 1945. Pieces of it can still be found scattered across air museums in the US. 

The Japanese deserve credit for their audacious attacks on American naval bases. But truthfully, they weren't all that good at it. The Japanese weren't great at identifying the right targets (in Pearl they missed the subs, sub tenders, carriers, and oil tanks). In the attack on Dutch Harbor they misidentified a beached barracks ship as a warship.

The "warship" on fire is actually just the Northwestern - a passenger ferry built in 1889 being used as barracks. By US Navy - Garfield, Brian (1969) The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA: University of Alaska Press ISBN: 0-912006-83-8., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17678898

The attack on Dutch Harbor was called off the second day as the two Japanese carriers were hurriedly withdrawn to support what was left of the Japanese fleet still floating back at Midway.

They don't get crowds of boaters from Seattle on the weekends. The boaters that do make it all the way out to Dutch are treated well.

Fishing is a big deal in Dutch. Crab fishermen get all the attention and glory. Bottom fishing is actually a larger part of the local economy than crabs. Until 2000, Dutch Harbor had been the largest fisheries port in the United States (in terms of volume of seafood caught).

Salmon fry on display in the small public aquarium.

This is the famous fish/crab processing factory docks (as seen on Deadliest Catch - this is the place where they haul out all the crab catch using big cargo nets). The fish plant has an interesting by product - fish oil. Fish oil isn't good for much (can't begin to imagine what that stuff smells like - probably worse than penguins). and is not worth shipping out.  The University of Alaska Fairbanks, however, devised pilot project that converts 3,500,000 gallons of fish oil into bio-diesel every year. 

"Stupid fleas"

No trip to Dutch Harbor would be complete without a beer at the Norwegian Rat Saloon (12" pizza - $22).

Again, much of photography is being at the right place at the right time.  If I'd been standing just a little to the left I would have gotten a picture of the whale vertebrae (on display behind the saloon) along with a whale blowing in the background.    sigh..... 

In case you were wondering

Cool anemone at the aquarium 

This is the famous runway at the Dutch airport.  In aviation circles it's well known difficult. Although the runway is only 4,100' long, 737's can service the airport. Doesn't mean it's a sure thing though.  1/5 of all flights trying to land at Dutch have to turn back due to weather (you don't plan on flying to Dutch with only a 40 minute fuel reserve)

This is one of the US Coast Guard's famous MH-65 Dolphin search and rescue helicopters. (crappy photo taken from a bus as we zipped by the end of the runway).

Better photo (taken by someone else)

Tsunami warning sirens (speakers)