Fewer people visit Saint Matthew Island every year than climb Mount Everest! We’re in an elite group.

Saint Matthew Island in the Bering Sea has never been inhabited by humans, at least not for any extended period. A Russian expedition landed here in the early nineteenth century and named some geographical features. During WWII the U.S. Coast Guard set up a manned LORAN station and moved a couple dozen reindeer here to provide food. The reindeer population eventually grew to 6000, but there was a great die-off in 1963 due to extreme winter weather and lack of food. The last reindeer died in 1981. The geology is not the same as on Saint Paul Island, consisting of Cretaceous and early Cenozoic calc-alkaline volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks.

We never imagined walking along a beautiful beach on a perfect sunny day in the middle of the Bering Sea. The crew exclaimed how rare this day was — none had been here when it was this sunny. We were too warm in our Arctic gear, but no one complained. How could we?

We learned from our guide Lancy, an ornithologist, that we might see two rare birds on this island, a sandpiper and a bunting. We saw both!

A beautiful last excursion. It is predicted that the weather in Nome will also be dry and sunny when we arrive the day after tomorrow.

When we awoke to thick fog, the ship had already anchored near St Paul Island, population 417, in the middle of the Bering Sea. The ship had cruised through the night. We are closer to the international date line than we had realized.

We Sea Otters were called to take the tender boats to the dock early.

The volcanic island was covered with dense green foliage and wildflowers. No trees.

The town was small, but nice, with good gravel and sand roads. We did wish to see street name signs.

We wandered around lost for a while, but finally found the correct road.

Our goal was the Zolotoi Seal Sanctuary, and we were not disappointed.

Another goal was the bird cliffs.

In the Explorer Lounge, after dinner, some of the crew performed in a makeshift band, featuring electric guitars and an electronic drum kit. Clare and others danced to a few familiar tunes.

We are in the Bering Sea, and the rocking of the ship has increased. It’s like in exercise class, when strengthening your balance, except with both feet under you. Good core exercise?

This compass, made of stone from Norway, is on the floor of the fourth deck of the ship at the base of the atrium adjacent to the aft elevators, a comfort to us all.

Since it’s a sea day, the crew have lots of presentations. The first one was about all the natural stone used on the ship. Somehow, this was also woven into an explanation of geologic time, using the vertical stairwell as an approximate scale for time. For example, deck 3 was Precambrian. So were decks 4-6. Deck 7, the Cambrian, was the first sign of complex life. The speaker got into all the major extinctions, and overall was entertaining.

What we enjoyed was the identification of the stones used on various surfaces.

Of course we had already noticed the natural looking floors; we asked an officer about it. He confirmed the tiles were natural but didn’t know the name of the rock type in English.

We watched a lecture about sea otters and nuclear bomb testing in the Aleutian Islands in the 1950s. Strange combination, but it made sense.

Then cake for all in the lounge on deck 10 to celebrate July 4th.

Last Aleutian Island of this trip as our ship now heads north into the Bering Sea. The ship pulled up to the dock in the area called Dutch Harbor, which is actually on Amaknak Island, allowing us to walk off on the gangplank rather than take a boat. It stayed docked until early evening. They set up a series of small buses to get people to particular points of interest, but honestly, most of the passengers could walk everywhere.

This island is different from others we’ve seen because it has no native trees. The few scraggly trees here were planted by the Russians when they occupied the area, beginning in the late eighteenth century. Lots of grasses and wildflowers are here, most dominant being lupines.

Both of us took a van to the Museum of the Aleutians where we learned about the native Unangan people, then to the WWII museum. Then we went back to the ship for lunch. In the afternoon, Brian left with a group to go on a hike while Clare went to a Russian Orthodox Church, then a library and finally the post office. We sent postcards to each of our moms, wanting the Unalaska postmark on the cards.

Like yesterday, we saw tons of wildflowers.

So many bald eagles! They were everywhere, posing for our cameras. The ship photographer found several nests with his telephoto lens.

Today, Unalaska is an important place for processing fish. We were told that McDonalds Filet-o-Fish patties are made here from Pollock, but the main product is processed fish used for making Surimi, or fake crab meat. Also, fish oil for nutritional supplements is processed here.