Kodiak AK

Ships berth at Kodiak's City Dock II, about 1½ miles south of the downtown area. The most direct pedestrian route into the centre follows Shelikof Street past Kodiak's fish-processing plants. Most cruise lines provide their passengers with a shuttle between the berth and downtown.

View the webcam.

Sightseeing suggestions include:

Kodiak Island is known for enormous Kodiak brown bears, world-class sport fishing, one of the country's largest commercial fishing ports and the vivid green of summer, which gives it the affectionate name USA's Emerald Isle.

Kodiak Island Borough has 13,900 residents and encompasses The City of Kodiak, seven villages, the U.S. Coast Guard Base and several remote lodges and camps.

Kodiak's strong Alutiiq culture, traditions and history are presented at the Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository and the Baranov Museum.

Many Kodiak residents still gather subsistence food. Common summer and autumn activities include fishing, particularly for halibut and salmon; hunting black-tailed deer, elk and goats; and picking salmonberry, blueberry, and high- and low-bush cranberry.

Hire a car in advance, share a cab or reserve a tour. Watching playful otters is a favourite pastime, and taxi prices are reasonable.

The United States dollar, marked with $, is the official U.S. currency. ATMs are common.

Visa, MasterCard and other leading credit cards are accepted broadly, including for purchases worth just a few dollars, and can occasionally be the only way to pay. Visitors from abroad should allow for taxes and tips that are seldom included in apparently low displayed prices.

State sales taxes range from 2.9% to nearly 10% of retail cost, with 4-6% typical. These charges are almost always calculated when paying rather than shown in the price. Exceptions cover gasoline and, in most states, alcoholic beverages consumed on-premises.

The U.S. has no federally designated official language, although English overwhelmingly dominates daily life and several states have made it their official state language. Spanish is also official and widely spoken in New Mexico; French has official status in Louisiana and Hawaiian in Hawaii. Neither is used as extensively as English, and both statuses are primarily historical.

Kodiak has a McDonald's with WiFi.

Call 911 in an emergency.

Large metropolitan areas such as New York and Los Angeles have many drugstores and supermarkets operating 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Department stores, shopping centres and most major retailers generally open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Sunday hours are usually shorter, from 11 a.m. or noon to 5 or 6 p.m. Businesses tend to open on holidays, except major dates such as Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, when shops generally close.