Here are our recommendations. You ve got to go there on purpose, and once you get there, you won t see hordes of vacationers.
Tourism takes a back seat to the area s main occupation, commercial fishing.
Bounty from the sea has been the chief source of prosperity for the island since its earliest days as home to the indigenous Koniags. When the first Russian traders arrived in the 1760s, they also used the island as a base for fishing, whaling and fur trading. These days, the 700 locally owned boats are joined by up to 2,000 vessels from the Lower 48 each summer. They provide a steady stream of salmon, halibut, herring, sablefish, cod and shellfish, keeping 13 canneries busy processing and shipping se afood around the world. It s fun to walk the docks at St. Paul Harbor and take in the sights, sounds and yes, even the smells of fishing boats.