Craig, west coast Prince of Wales Island. July 24-26, 2013.
31 July 2013 | posted at Metlakatla, Ak
Elsie Hulsizer
Photo: A heron with a fish processing plant in the background at Craig.
After almost three weeks of cruising, we were ready for a port. We needed a grocery store, laundromat, fuel, freshwater and wifi access. Craig has all of those plus an opportunity to visit Richard Trojan and Jan Storbakken whom we’d met at Tokeen on Marble Island in 2008.
Craig is a working town of logging and fishing. Pickup trucks are the vehicle of choice and Carhartts and Xtratufs the preferred clothing. In the marina parking lot I saw both a bumper sticker that said, “Friends don’t let friends eat farmed salmon” and “Hug a logger, you’ll forget about the trees.” Although the Wards Cove cannery shut down years ago, it’s been replaced with several fish processing plants and fishing boats come and go in the marina at all hours of day and night.
Craig also has some pleasant surprises. On our first night in town we ate at the Shelter Cove Resort restaurant. The salmon was cooked to perfection, the service excellent and the atmosphere delightful. On our third night we ate at Zats Pizza, an attractive building in an industrial park surrounded by containers and construction equipment. (In between we had a very pleasant evening with Jan and Richard). On previous visits here we had good dinners at Ruth Ann’s in an old Victorian hotel. That‘s more good restaurants then anywhere else in SE Alaska, including the much larger Juneau and Kethikan. Craig is worth a visit.