First days in the Aleutians

 Thursday August 20th and Friday August 21st 

We flew to Anchorage on Wednesday August 19th and on to Nome on the 20th, where we boarded our ship.  Nome has been inhabited by indigenous tribes for centuries, but the American city of Nome grew (explosively ) due to the 1898 Klondike gold rush, especially after gold was found along the shoreline. Today Nome is about 3700 people, over 70% of them Alaska native. It is courtesy of the native Alaskans that the city has a good medical center and other services. Gold dredging is still an important local industry, as is fishing. The houses are built on pylons to avoid melting the permafrost. There is a sea wall and protected harbor, with a plan to extend the sea wall and dredge a deeper port in support of increased US military presence in the Arctic. 

We headed south to St. Matthew Island, a volcanic island formed 80 million years ago, and located about 320 nautical miles south of Nome. Numerous sea birds accompanied us on our travel. When we arrived mid-afternoon Friday, the ship moored off shore, we suited up in waterproof gear and muck boots, and headed ashore.  We walked along a pebbled beach searching for wildlife.  Between the time at sea and the time ashore we saw 17 kinds of birds, 6 of them new to us. It was particularly fun to see a McKay’s Bunting during our walk. It is the only endemic bird in Alaska. 

St. Matthew Island has been uninhabited for most of its history. The exception was a brief period during WWII when the Coast Guard established a temporary radar station there. They also introduced reindeer as an emergency food source. As has happened on other islands, the original 29 reindeer grew to over 6,000 by 1963. However harsh winters and overpopulation caused the number of reindeer to drop to 42 by 1965  and by 1980 they reindeer were gone. 

Saint Matthew is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, so before we went ashore every piece of outerwear (including our backpacks) had to be checked and cleaned to prevent the introduction of non-native seeds or dirt (spores) into the environment. We also step into a biocide to clean our boots before leaving the ship. Upon returning we must scrub our boots and again step into the biocide. This will be the routine throughout our time in the Aleutians. 

Pictured: McKay’s Bunting, Parakeet Auklets, Rock Sandpiper, Nome waterfront, Tufted Puffin