kodiak to dutch...6 sand point

the church with the green roof. i love green...this one was built in 1936 and is a russian orthodox church. the russians were the first to meet and mix with the natives on these lands. the russian influence is seen throughout the aleutians.
below is a boat in the harbor at sand point.

more boats above is disrepair obviously. there was a beach of old boats. would actually be a fun place to get back to have have more time to explore. we had such a short dock here, especially considering it's size and economic importance in the region. below is the ferry docked from town.

and the picture of a boat with the sand point name on it. you could tell the community was much larger than what we saw from the dock...perhaps one day i can return there. my brain bounces back and forth...like stay in anchorage for another 5-8 years then move to kodiak or some other more remote place again. i do enjoy the smaller communities. anchorage is a great place to live as well though with many conviences. as you get older it's sometimes good to be closer to medical facilities..of course another part of me thinks if you aren't close you may be able to spare yourself being treated and kept alive beyond reason.

sand point is located in the shumagin islands. these run beside the alaska peninsula. sand point is on popof island. the group of islands were named after a crew member who perished of scurvy in or about 1741 with explorer vitus bering. this town is quite large for the area,just under 1000 people live on the island and fishing is the biggest industry. there were lots of wonderful old boats to photograph. we didn't have much time in town and the dock was long so we hustled in to town and back, getting as far as a green church. i hadn't realized but apparently gold was discovered on the beaches in the early 1900's.

more whale activity. not sure if this is a humpback or fin. i think fin whale. we did have several sightings. i spent the afternoon between chignik and sand point sitting out on the front deck observing the sights and scenery. the weather was quite nice.

we did enjoy the downtime between ports. i introduced maria (on bunk) to cheese in a can on ritz crackers. this treat is controversial as both tanya and sandra believe it horrid that anyone would eat processed cheese that gets squeezed out of a can...we forced tanya to lighten up and eat one cracker. so above are my ship mates, tanya, sandra and maria.

i'm realizing now that i didn't take many pictures on the boat of the boat. oh well. we played nertz a few nights on borrowed tables and that is always a event i like to have a picture of...nertz on the bering sea.

above is leaving chignik and below is an otter, one of many sightings, as we cruised about.

had an enjoyable 3 nights work. last night worked with a few new moms with sick babies. they are so emotional with the hormones and with sick babies. i just felt so badly for them. the one thought she should go in, but sounds like her mom convinced her not to worry. the lactation nazi's had been rough with her i guess and she felt so horribly guilty over her baby being so ill and dehydrated. not sure her milk is coming in and that baby was very dry...hopefully all will be okay. poor lady though. i told her that guilt comes with each placenta as a mother and never goes away. also that you can't dwell on yesterday, but can only look forward to tomorrow. the other mom with her 10 day old had kept taking her baby in knowing something was wrong and they kept sending her off thinking she was just a paranoid first time mom. her pku test came back abnormal and she was called back in...baby ended really having a medical issue. he's getting treated and doing better. way too much stress and responsibility for me. eek.

today we just hit the dog park and costco. never shop when you are totally sleepy. i had to buy more pepcid for the dog...have no idea where hers went. i may find the pills in the freezer later like the emergency credit card. that sitter keeps me laughing. i was wondering where that emergency note went and thinking i'd have to call, it had my credit card info, but i went to get ice cream last night and there it was with the popicles. rio seems to limp mostly when she first wakes up...she's doing well.