Coming to a Harbor Near You: Guided Cell Phone Tours

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT

St. Paul Harbor may take another step into the digital world this spring by offering 24/7 guided cell phone tours. For years the downtown harbor has offered walking tours when cruise ships were in town, but members of the Kodiak Maritime Museum are pushing to make those tours available to anyone at anytime, as long as they have a smart phone. Toby Sullivan is the executive director of the museum and presented the project to the borough assembly during Thursday’s work session.

— (Marine Grant 1 :37 “This harbor mobile website…running, by this spring.”)

The tour will feature stories and information about people and events related to the harbor or Kodiak’s waterfront. Sullivan said the website will use personal accounts, maps and photographs to also share information about the 1964 earthquake and tsunami. He said the museum hopes to work with the company Guide by Cell to implement the project.

— (Marine Grant 2 :33 “While it has been offering…king crab fishery exhibit.”)

Sullivan asked the assembly if they would be willing to help the museum with the initial $1,500, and said the hope is for the program to be self-sustaining in the future.

— (Marine Grant 3 :26 “With user fees and…of the dynamics of the tour.”)

After Sullivan’s presentation on Thursday, Assemblywoman Carol Austerman said the assembly should be consistent in its nonprofit funding.

— (Marine Grant 4 :26 “I’m in no way saying I’m…wait until budget time.”)

Sullivan was requesting the $1,500 come from the assembly’s bed tax fund, an account created to aid the tourism industry in Kodiak. Assemblyman Aaron Griffin said he understood Austerman’s concerns, but wondered if an exception could be made for this project.

— (Marine Grant 5 :33 “That I agree that as…for the next regular meeting.”)

In the end, the assembly decided to include the project as an agenda item for a future meeting, and put the question of funding to a vote.