As the year comes to a close, the buzz of fireworks spreads through the population of Dutch Harbor and Unalaska as quickly as... well... fire.
Today is December 30, 2009, and as we speak the fireworks display is being set up. Every year, many people come to watch the beautiful bright colors and designs light up the sky. In some previous years, clouds have eerily crawled their way across the mountains and into Front Beach where the display is held every year, and the colors have been blanketed and even exaggerated by the mist.
Tomorrow night at 12:00, the fireworks will go off in an annual celebration of a year done well.
How is this possible, in such a small town? The city decides to order a large set of fireworks and then volunteers set them up on the far side of the bay. Many people are greatful for this, not only as entertainment but also for relaxation and refreshment.
When the year ends and the new decade begins, we'll all look back with a cup of coffee from the coffee hut and smile just thinking about it.
On 28 April 1789 a group of sailors led by Fletcher Christian seized control of HMS Bounty. Seeking to escape the inevitable British punishment, Christian and eight mutineers, along with 12 women (whom they took as wives) and six men from Tahiti, settled Pitcairn, a volcanic island first sighted in 1767. Every Eden has its serpents, however, and all the Tahitian men and nearly all the mutineers died when the Tahitians revolted. Other mutineers died from alcohol, internecine violence, and disease until only John Adams remained. Under his stewardship, peace returned, and the surviving 10 women and 23 children persevered. Today, Pitcairn remains isolated and rarely visited, inhabited by roughly 60 direct descendants of the Bounty mutineers.
More than 60 years earlier, and thousands of miles north of Pitcairn, Danish sea captain Vitus Bering undertook two voyages of geopolitical and scientific significance. Tsar Peter the Great commissioned Bering to explore the Siberian Far East and Alaska, to determine if Asia and America were separate continents, and to map the American west coast. During his explorations Bering discovered the southern route around Kamchatka; founded the town of Petropavlosk; built two ships, the St. Peter and St. Paul; and sighted the Alaskan mainland.
Returning to Russia, the St. Peter wrecked on an uninhabited island Bering. He, along with almost half the crew, died of scurvy and was interred on the island. Although Bering perished, his explorations had a lasting and profound impact on the exploration and settlement of the Russian Far East and the west coast of North America - the sea, strait, and island named for him reflecting his importance
where the fresh water meets the ocean, the snow covers the land like a soft crisp coat. The days are shorter and the air has the delight of the holidays.
