Sitka

Sitka is the former capital of Alaska. The capital was moved to Juneau in 1906 following the discovery of gold in the Juneau area.  

Sitka is situated on a collection of small islands.  It reminds me a bit  of the 1000 Islands area in the St Lawrence.

Denise and I were booked on the sea otter wildlife quest, which involved sailing around the islands in a catamaran, looking out for wildlife.   We saw one humpback whale,  a large number of stellar sea lions, several sea otters and quite a few bald eagles,  sitting on their nests.  The weather was dry for a change and we were able to stay on deck and watch the wildlife.   Unforunately,  due to the rules that the catamaran  has to stay at least 100 yards away from the animals so as not to disturb them, and the fact that I don't have a fancy camera with a telephoto lens,  my photo are less stellar than the sea lions. See if you can play spot the bald eagle in its nest in the photo below.

If you figured out it was the white blob at the top of the dead tree on the centre left of the photo,  you get a prize.

We managed to win the trivia this afternoon and then went to the Hot Rocks restaurant again for dinner.  After dinner we went for drinks in the Observation lounge and watched the sunset. I think this is the first time we've seen the sun since Vancouver!