Kodiak Island subject of slide show

HOLDEN – When Diana Collins talks about her seven-month stay in 2004 on Kodiak Island in Alaska, her high sense of adventure is infectious. A Maine native and mother of two grown sons, Collins fulfilled a dream by quitting her secure position as a diagnostic medical sonographer, pulling up roots, and lighting out for Alaska’s “Emerald Isle,” a lush, temperate island east of the Alaskan Peninsula.

She took a temporary position at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center and fell in love with the island, the people and the way of life. Collins will show her slides of Kodiak Island and talk about her once-in-a-lifetime adventures at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, at Fields Pond Nature Center in Holden.

Among her most compelling tales are several bear viewing trips she took by bush plane, the best way to get a look at the famed Kodiak bear. The Kodiak, cousin to the smaller grizzly, is the world’s largest brown bear. A big male can weigh up to 1,500 pounds. On all fours, it can stand 5 feet tall; on hind legs it can tower 10 feet tall.

Bear viewing takes courage – and good manners – but the rewards are great. Collins photographed bears gorging themselves on salmon, skirmishing over fish, basking in rivers and strolling across pristine, mountain-shrouded sand beaches. She tells how the sight of a sow and three cubs moved her to tears and how being surrounded by 18 bears exhilarated her. Collins’ slides capture the grandeur of Alaskan wilderness.

“The whole of Kodiak is like being in National Geographic magazine,” Collins said. Orcas and sea lions swim in the harbor, waterfalls and wildflower meadows grace the interior, and mountains, rainforests, and glaciers all combine to create a landscape of astonishing beauty. Plus, the island is long on history – ancient indigenous cultures, 18th century Russian colonization, a large military buildup during WWII and a long tradition of commercial fishing.

“You could live there for 10 years and never see it all,” Collins said.

To visit Kodiak is to step back in time. The residents move to a beat more primal than the drum of hourly schedules. Most of the island has no roads, so people depend on boats and planes to get around. They are apt to gauge the weather by glancing up at Barometer Mountain, so named because it perfectly predicts the weather. One minute the mountain is clearly visible and the next it’s eclipsed by fog and rain.

When Collins first worked at the hospital, she was puzzled, during one rainy stretch, when her patients failed to show up for their scheduled appointments. She soon learned why. If the fog rolls in or the seas build, planes can’t fly and ships can’t sail, so everything comes to a halt. Collins said,

“People just accept that. They don’t go by the clock. It’s the rhythm of the land out there,” she said. When the sun finally came out, still no patients. They had taken advantage of the fine weather to go fishing.

For directions to Fields Pond Nature Center or for more information about the presentation, call 989-2591. Admission, which supports the center, is $5 for Audubon members and $6 for others.