Boxes of food, mail and late Christmas presents arrived by plane to the small Southeast Alaska fishing town of Pelican on New Year’s Day. The goods came after the isolated town went more than a month without access to outside services.
From late November till New Year’s Day, the Chichigof Island town of Pelican relied completely on itself. Extreme weather this winter prevented any seaplanes or ferries from visiting during that period, leaving its roughly 90 residents cut off from the rest of the region and the services many rely on.
That all changed on New Year’s Day, when Alaska Seaplanes sent five planes loaded with goods.
“We have kind of like a shot in our arm, just like to make it,” said Heather Bryant, a Pelican resident and cowner of the Pelican General Store, the town’s only grocery store.
Bryant said the flights on New Year’s Day were a lifeline.
“But definitely more and more people have been just coming into the store, just because they’re mining their pantries, and I think are running out of stuff,” she said.
Pelican is off the road system and relies exclusively on planes and boats visiting from Juneau and other parts of Southeast to bring outside resources and services. But in recent weeks, Southeast Alaska has been pummeled with record snow and cold temperatures.
An Allen Marine catamaran that was supposed to head from Juneau to Pelican on Tuesday was cancelled due to hazardous conditions. Another flight from Alaska Seaplanes made the trip instead. Bryant said the deliveries — which included milk and eggs, produce and mail — will help them make it by for the time being.
“We’ll be okay for a little bit, and hopefully long enough to make it to the next plane or the next catamaran I hope — I’m just trying to stay positive,” she said.
In the meantime, Bryant said the town is resilient despite all the cancellations.
“The one thing I really like about out here is just people are just, they just keep going,” she said.
Carl Ramseth is the general manager of Alaska Seaplanes. He said the recent weather has prevented many flights from visiting Pelican and other float plane destinations in Southeast Alaska like Angoon, Elfin Cove and Tenakee Springs. But pilots and operators fly when they can, like on New Years Day, when the company typically doesn’t operate.
“As long as we have the minimum temperature that we need to do that with float planes and good visibility, we’ll be operating,” he said. “We’re just kind of at the mercy of Mother Nature at this point.”
Another Allen Marine vessel is slated to arrive at the end of the month.