Sitka by the sea

From Juneau, we went on the Alaska Marine Highway fast ferry, M/V Fairweather, with Mollie & the camper to Sitka. On the way there & back to Juneau, we saw whales from the ferry. At Sitka, we spent 3 nights at Sealing Cove Marina & RV Park. It's on Japonski Island. Sitka has interesting weather. It is on the Pacific Ocean, not the Inside Passage. So it does get some bad storms. But has barrier islands to calm things a bit. Lots of clouds, fog, rain. Moderate Japan current. Summer temps up to 70-ish, winter temps down to 20-ish. Boats and islands everywhere. Mountains on lots of the islands, some snowy. And even an extinct volcano across the bay. Mt. Edgecumbe.
Alaska Pioneers Home for old codgers in the middle of the downtown area. Beautifully kept. Menu in the daily paper. Cruise ships stand off in the harbor and bring folks in by ship's tenders. Beautiful cable suspension bridge connecting Baranoff Island where Sitka is, and Japonski Island where the airport, hospital etc, are located.
We went on an Allen Marine wildlife tour; saw whales, sea otters, eagles, seals; went to a bird rookery at St Lazarius Island (puffins, cormorants, murres, nesting peregrine falcons). Saw a fledgling in an eagles' nest.
Had a good meal at Larkspur Cafe, and another at the very local Victoria Restaurant, next door to Vicroria's Pour House.
Went to the movies to see The Proposal, which is supposedly set in Sitka (but was probably filmed in Maine). They are civilized enough to have hot chocolate & cappucino in addition to popcorn at the movie.
There is a series of mysteries set in Sitka by John Straley. If you haven't read them, you've missed a good series.
Speaking of books, we went to Harbor Books, a favorite independent bookstore, where we made major efforts to boost the local economy (see above).
As usual, we drove around looking for bears, and didn't find any. Except at Fortress of the Bear, a relatively new facility whose mission is to rescue orphaned cubs and help transition them to zoos. Once a cub's mother is dead, the cub's chances of survival are about zero. There's no way to get them back in the wild, but at least this way some of them survive; which is better than just shooting them, which seems to be the Forest Service norm. They currently have 2 brothers, which seem healthy & well adjusted, looked after by staff including a professional zoo keeper specializing in bears.