Teacher at Sea: May 14, 2004 Log

A NOAA and Norwegian Welcome to Petersburg, AK

Curtis Watkins, NOAA Teacher at Sea

Aerial view of Petersburg, a town of about 3,000 residents, on Mitkof Island in southeast Alaska. The town is also located on Wrangell Narrows, a waterway where tides can range nearly 20 feet.

I had great weather for the flight from Fairbanks to Petersburg where I was met at the airport by NOAA employees, Jennifer Ewald of the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services and John Kermond, Office of Global Programs. Since the Little Norway Festival was going on this weekend, women dressed in Norwegian costume and playing traditional Norwegian music also met new arrivals at the airport.

After checking into the hotel, we went into town to enjoy the festivities where we happened to meet Bill Cronk, geologist and project leader for a commercial mining venture. He and his crew have been working at the Woewodski Island Camp to determine the economic potential of the metals referred to as platinum group elements (PGE) that have been found during recent surface exploration. He and his crew members Chris and Shawn invited us to join them the next day to see the camp and nearby sites and we eagerly accepted their invitation.