Cordova: An Alaskan Revelation (… and paradise for single women)

Wednesday, June 23

Off the beaten path, but considered the fishing capital of Prince William Sound, Cordova took us by surprise.

Seven hours after pulling anchor from Montague Island, we arrived in this unique community, the eastern most town in the Sound located on Orca Inlet.

The harbor is as picturesque as you’ll find, nestled against a backdrop of mountains veiled in snow and an entrance marked by a convergence of seagulls looking for leftovers from the adjacent fisheries. We were charmed by Cordova before even stepping foot on the docks.

Adding sweetness to our fondness for this dramatic setting, the harbor master informed us our yacht club membership earned us free docking space … which is just one of many reasons we ended up spending four days in Cordova.

We immediately were impressed that this was easily the most active, hard-working harbor we’d seen since entering Alaska. The docks were filled with a broad assortment of purse seiners, gill-netters, bow pickers and tenders… all part of a very successful commercial fishing community that never slept. Boats were coming and going at all hours. Walk the docks and you see men at work cleaning their boats, repairing nets or working on engines. In fact, it’s a town where the men out number women at least 20 to 1! A potential gold mine for single girls.

Alaskans have impressed us with their open, honest congeniality … and Cordova was no exception. A plumber we hired to add Freon to our fridge loaned us a book on cruising Prince William Sound and said “just drop it in the mail to me when you’re done cruising here.” We had a good time talking with the crew of the Independence, a larger tender that ferries fish from the fishing boats to the fisheries, who gave us a jar of homemade smoked salmon. They smoke it themselves in birch on their boat and pack it in a “secret recipe” from an Alaskan native mixing brine, olive oil, jalapeños and maple syrup.

Walking through town that day we stumbled upon Copper River Fleece, a very cool outdoor clothing store that was started by a 15-year-old girl in her garage in Cordova in 1995. The garments are all 100% American made with woven trims that feature Tlingit designs created by an Alaskan Native artist. Inspired by both the quality of the apparel and the entrepreneurial spirit of the founder, I bought a matching vest and hat in periwinkle blue.

And to top it all off, we found a fabulous restaurant … the Reluctant Fisherman … overlooking the harbor where our red Engelenbak surely stood out from the crowd. The chef was from Chicago and created an amazing halibut sashimi. Finally, I got my sashimi fix ... Alaskan style.