After overnighting in Anchorage, I flew to Dutch Harbor which is about 700 miles west of Anchorage in the Aleutian Islands. After picking up my car, I drove to my VRBO studio which is lovely. Dutch Harbor is the largest fishing port in the United States and is a lively small town.
In the morning, I hiked up to the Aleutian WWII National Historic Area with a young earth sciences graduate student at Columbia University. The views were spectacular; the mountains are almost an electric green, the ocean a deep turquoise, with views of long extinct volcanos and volcanic cones.
On the way down, we met a crew member from USCG Healy, the icebreaker that will be my home for the 55-day trip to the North Pole and back. It’s a large ship and I’m very excited about being aboard it. Back at the Grand Aleutian Hotel, I met several of the scientists who will be on the Healy. At the hotel tonight is the all-you-can-eat king crab fest. I’ll also meet the chief scientists and others who will be on the Healy.
