Sitka

Sitka occupies the Pacific side of Baranof Island and was the capital of Russian America until the 1867 purchase — a history visible in the onion-domed St. Michael's Cathedral that still anchors downtown. Because the harbor is shallow, most ships anchor offshore and tender passengers ashore, so plan for a bit of extra logistics time. The Sitka National Historical Park preserves a Tlingit totem-pole trail along the battle site where the Tlingit resisted Russian expansion, and the Alaska Raptor Center next door rehabilitates injured bald eagles in flight-training enclosures passengers can walk among. Wildlife tours out to the outer coast regularly turn up sea otters, humpback whales, and brown bears on adjacent Kruzof Island.