Sunday, March 22, 2020

Saint Paul island

The island of Saint Paul is in the middle of the Bering Sea, and it's probably the most remote place that I've ever been to. It's got one of the highest zip codes in the USA!

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The permanent population is less than 500 people, mostly fishermen.
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It's got interesting demographics, a relic of of how it was exploited throughout history. The majority of the population is Native American - Aleutian, to be exact - but the main religion is Christian Orthodox. This is because the Aleuts were first brought there by Russian fur traders in 1788. After Alaska was sold to the USA, the Russians left, but they left the Aleuts and their religion behind.
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And this is our restaurant. Its entrance is up the staircase in the middle:
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Actually, it was a cafeteria of the seafood processing plant - the only industry on the island. (If you watched "Deadliest Catch", this is where the captains took all their crabs to be processed.) It doesn't look like much, but the food was delicious, and the seafood was absolutely fresh!
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I've been to jungles of Asia, Central America, and Manhattan, but only in Saint Paul I truly understood the law of the jungle:
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The one and only gas station on the island:
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Crab traps fill the space near the main road:
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Believe it or not, they are also birding hotspots. They make perfect hiding places. Some of the birds found there in the past included things like Asian owls. (We didn't find anything on our visit, though...)
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The placard of our hotel...
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... which also serves as the island's airport:
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The island is services by Ravn airline, with flights every two days.
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Space on the plane is limited... especially since one row is taken by the life rafts.
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