Martin Clunes: Islands of America

(gentle music) - Everyone has an image of America.

A land of big shops and bright lights, of asphalt highways stretching right across the continent.

But there's another America, and I'm going to find it.

Dotted around this nation's shores are many thousands of islands, that also fly the Stars and Stripes.

To discover them, I'm going on a 10,000 mile island-hopping journey looping around the USA from west to east.

Really beautiful.

From Hawaii's islands of fire to Alaska's islands of snow and ice.

From California's secret marine paradise.

This is unbelievable!

To the people playgrounds off the New England coast.

(Martin groaning) Along the way, I'll see nature at her most spectacular.

Woo hoo!

(water splashing) I'll encounter the animals that inhabit these far-flung places.

Oh, hello.

Oh, boy!

There's my first white shark.

And I'll be meeting people who live in their own sea-bound worlds.

(crowd cheers) (Martin laughs) I knew I was going to be good at this.

Each with their own identity.

- [Jen] I'll find the deep spots for you.

- [Martin] Thank you.

(singing in foreign language) - And their own unique story.

(fireworks booming) So if you wanna see a different USA, come with me and discover the Islands of America.

(gentle music) (waves crashing) (calm music) Way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the island chain of Hawaii is easily the most remote of America's 50 states.

(calm music) It's also the only one that's entirely made up of islands.. So it's the perfect place to begin my journey.

From America's West Coast, you fly across two and a half thousand miles of ocean to reach Hawaii's islands.

And my starting point is the island of Oahu, home to the state capital, Honolulu.

Honolulu is a bit of a high-rise sprawl, half a million people living in the world's remotest city, but the city's also home to a tropical paradise.

(gentle jazzy music) Here on the legendary Waikiki Beach, you'll find every cliche you ever imagined about Hawaii.

Gently waving palms, surfers riding waves, seemingly endless holidays on the beach.

But dig a little deeper, and you'll discover that Hawaii's happy paradise image hides a complex melting pot past.

(tribal music) The Polynesians arrived first around 1,600 years ago.

They were happy enough until Captain Cook and his men turned up in 1778.

Once they realised that these white men were not gods, the locals attacked them.

They killed Captain Cook and then, so the story goes, they ate him.

(gentle jazzy music) But wave after wave of outsiders kept on coming, Europeans, Asians, and of course Americans.

Sadly, today, Hawaii's rich history seems to be swamped by a tacky tourist image of tiki cocktail bars and wobbly dashboard hula dolls.

It's a serious image problem that kicked off in 1959 when Hawaii was officially declared a US state.

Almost immediately, it was promoted as a top holiday destination for mainland Americans.

(gentle jazzy music) Among the many who flocked here was Elvis Presley, whose three Hawaiian based movies helped to reinforce its Hollywood fantasy image.

I'd like to know if there's more to the fantasy than meets the eye.

(gentle jazzy music) So I'm starting with Hawaii's most colourful export... Oh my goodness!

This is the world's biggest collection of Hawaiian shirts, more accurately known as Aloha shirts.

Well, it's an Aladdin's cave in here, isn't it?

(soft music) With shop owner David Bailey's help, I'm gonna pick out something to spice up my wardrobe.

- [David] Some of these shirts might be of interest here.

This is a '60s '70s shirt.

- You see, I quite like that.

40 Years ago, David was a competitive hang glider.

After miraculously surviving a disastrous crash... - [David] Paradise.

- [Martin] He opened the shop he's now filled with over 15,000 shirts.

- [David] Yeah, see, these are all shirts that I think are gonna go up in value because they're just too outrageous.

This is a little bit more common with the hibiscus.

- Wow!

Yeah, that's like my granny's wallpaper.

- [David] Yeah, yeah.

(both laughing) - I like that though.

Well, the buttons are always a tre.. - [David] A lot of 'em, they were made in bamboo or coconut.

(gentle music) - Like the people of Hawaii, the Aloha shirt is a cultural fusion.

It emerged in the '30s as a blend of traditional Polynesian dress, Japanese kimono fabric, and a growing western appetite for the exotic.

I like that one.

Some are considered artworks in their own right, like this classic print by designer Frank Macintosh from the early days of the Aloha shirt.

- This was worn by the waiters and waitresses back in the '40s on the ship that used to bring the tourists here.

Super hard to make.

Took 14 silk screens to knock this off.

I like to call it wearable art.

I don't understand people who could go to work with a white shirt every day, or blue shirt and a noose around their neck.

To me, this wouldn't be a good idea.

(chuckles) (gentle music) - [Martin] Despite decades of cheap prints and big brand spinoffs, the classic Aloha shirt is now enjoying a revival and inspiring a new generation of Hawaiian designers.

It's good that Hawaii's shirts are finally being appreciated, but what about Hawaii's most famous musical instrument, the ukulele?

(gentle ukulele music continues) The ukulele was a favourite of Hawaii's last monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani, before she was deposed by a bunch of ruthless American businessmen in the 1890s.

But if you're not convinced that its any more than a lightweight trinket, listen to this.

(soft music) (Taimane singing in foreign language) - [Martin] Hawaiian born Taimane Gardner is a virtuoso ukulele player with an international following.

(Taimane singing in foreign language) - [Martin] She's released five albums to date, playing everything from Bach to Led Zeppelin, as well as her own compositions.

(Taimane singing in foreign language) (upbeat ukulele music) - Just gets massive at one point though, doesn't it?

- It does, this sound out of this instrument... - Yeah, so dramatic.

- It's an old Hawaiian chant.

It's called "E Ala E" and it's actually a sunrise chant.

E Ala E means to rise.

And so I took that and then I put a melody to it, bringing tradition into the modern way.

- Yeah, that's kind of what you stand for, isn't it?

- Yeah.

- Play us a bit of your classical,.. - Play some classical.

(classical ukulele music) - That's so great, it's so great.

Suddenly to hear a ukulele doing all that, you think, "wow."

- Yeah, and everyone does think that it's just a souvenir or a toy.

But you know, being born here and raised here, the ukulele is what everyone has in their home, and it's just the instrument that I express myself through.

- Does that echo in any way, a sense of wanting to say that there's more to Hawaiian life than a dashboard ornament?

- Oh, definitely.

Tourism is how we make our money here but the culture is what I think people come to Hawaii for.

They wanna feel that true aloha.

And you are gonna need to find it in more places than just Waikiki.

- All right, come on then.

- All right.

Would you like to learn something?

- Yes, come on.

- Okay.

(soft ukulele music) Nice.

Nice.

Let's try this one.

(soft ukulele music continues) You ready for the finale?

And.

Oh!

- Watch your back, Ed Sheeran.

- You had that flamenco, yeah!

- Yeah, yeah.

(laughs) - My little flamenco, nice.

(upbeat music) - Next, inspired by Taimane's music, I'm going island-hopping to discover the real, unspoiled Hawaii.

(soft music) (insects chirping) Hawaii's volcanic islands are living things.

Each one was created from lava which boiled up from the ocean floor, lava which is still flowing today.

I'm flying over the newest island in that fiery chain, the one that gave the state its name.

But although it's officially known as the island of Hawaii, locals call it "Big Island."

(majestic music) Really beautiful, isn't it?

And it lives up to its nickname.

At over 4,000 square miles, it's easily the largest island in all United States territory.

That's bigger than Devon and Cornwall combined.

And it's covered in jungle.

It's just so dense.

Everything wants to grow here.

Every little inch of hillside, something's growing.

The volcanic soil, soaked by annual rainfalls of over eight metres, produces rich, fertile vegetation.

(waterfall roaring) But that fertility comes at a price, because Big Island is home to several active volcanoes.

(dramatic music) And though it wasn't planned, I've arrived just as one of the most devastating eruptions in Hawaii's recorded history is hitting worldwide news.

- [Reporter] Lava from the Kilauea eruptions has destroyed 26 homes as it continues to spread.

- [Reporter] As more fissures appear, toxic gases pour from the earth and rocks the size of refrigerators are thrown hundreds of feet in the air.

Locals are being advised to stay calm.

- On May 3, 2018, eruptions from the Kilauea volcano began to split open the earth on Big Island.

Now, look, you can see.

It's not like one of those volcanoes like Vesuvius where there's a point and, like a children's volcano, it all pops out the top.

It's all coming out of these fissures.

Since I've arrived here, rivers of molten lava have been spreading across the landscape, obliterating everything in their path.

(dramatic music) When lava hits the sea, new land is formed.

It's a humbling reminder that islands aren't constant things and that this one is very much still growing.

(moves into gentle music) Back on solid ground, a military operation is under way to rescue residents from the path of the lava.

To see the devastating impact of this eruption on a neighbourhood called Pahoa, resident Mandie Rainen is taking me as close as we're allowed to go.

- Here is the mass amount.

(Martin gasps) - Wow.

That's a thing.

- That is the a wall of lava.

(helicopter blades whirring) - This is where we must stop.

Under the watchful eye of the military helicopters, we're right on the edge of the danger zone.

That's actually quite terrifying.

Just the sheer volume of it and the fact that it's so sort of slow and unyielding.

That's just extraordinary.

- [Rainen] It's very humbling.

- It puts you in your place, doesn't it, yeah.

- I find it fascinating and, spectacular, actually.

- [Martin] Yeah, yeah, all of that, but, that is a terrifying sight, isn't it?

The problem is not just the lava you can see.

The entire Pahoa neighbourhood sits on an underground river of lava that's ripping the earth apart.

Look at that, that's deep.

- Holy crud!

That wasn't here the other day.

(camera shudder clicking) - [Martin] Oh, my God.

- [Rainen] Now, this wasn't like this like.. - [Martin] Every day there are new cracks in the road, fallen power lines, dying forests.

(camera shudder clicking) The lava devours everything in its .. emitting clouds of toxic, sulphurous fumes.

- Then there's a house right there.

- Oh, my God.

- [Rainen] Went right around it, didn't touch it.

- [Martin] I can feel the hot air going up my shorts.

- [Rainen] Yep.

(soft music) - [Martin] The fallout from this eruption is turning everyone's life here upside down.

Islanders have flocked to Pahoa village at the edge of the disaster zone to donate emergency supplies and give comfort to those who have lost their homes.

It's barely four years since poor Pahoa was last threatened by a major eruption.

Last time, the lava flowed up to the edge of the village but mercifully stopped short, leaving most houses intact.

Now Pahoa residents are praying for another lucky escape, including the owners of this surf shop, Jeff and Tiffany Hunt.

- How you doing?

- I'm okay.

The thing about this lava flow is that it could be a miracle.

It could very well be a miracle like we had in 2014.

It could stop.

But the way that they're talking about it is that there is no end in sight.

(tense music) - [Martin] But for Tiffany, like many modern Hawaiians, fear of disaster is mixed with a deep respect for Mother Nature.

On these islands, everyone knows where they stand with the volcano goddess, Pele.

Tell me about Pele.

- Well, she's our volcanic goddess, and there is a reverent part of me that respects and understands that this is not our island.

This is her island.

And the story goes is that she destroys but she also creates.

And we've chosen to cling to this active volcano.

You know, we've accumulated things and we've called it home, but really, in the end, we're adventurers.

- Yeah.

- And our kids, who are listening, I definitely want to assure them that they're gonna be okay.

We're not just gonna perish with this.

We will survive.

(gentle music) - [Martin] Accepting the forces of nature we cannot control is a kind of wisdom that has deep, ancient roots on these islands.

To find out just how much of that ancient Hawaii still survives, I'm heading way off the beaten track, to the island of Molokai, which has only one main road and not a single traffic light.

(upbeat music) (birds chirping) In remote Halawa Valley, I've come to meet a native Hawaiian who's determined to keep the old, pre-Captain Cook way of life from dying out.

Greg Solatorio has agreed to take me to his family home.

As tradition demands, Greg blows a conch shell to announce our arrival.

(conch blowing) (conch blowing) Greg's father, Philip, sounds his approval, then invites us to enter.

(family speaking in foreign language) - [Martin] First I must place an offering of taro root at the family shrine, followed by a traditional Hawaiian greeting.

- Now you are officially welcome.

- Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Halawa Valley is a sacred place for native Polynesian Hawaiians.

The Solatorio family live in harmony with nature, hunting, fishing, and farming like countless generations before them.

(gentle music) But back in 1946, their ancient way of life was almost wiped out by a violent act of nature, not a volcanic eruption, but a tsunami.

What actually happened?

- [Greg] Well, my dad was six and a half years old when the tsunami came through.

I tell the story a lot because when he tells the story, he cries.

But my dad says something he will never forget, between three and four o'clock in the morning, every single animal in the village going crazy at the same time.

- [Martin] Oh no, right.

- The animals normally don't act like that, so something is happening.

My dad says the women are the heroes of the story.

Because if the women did not pay attention or observe Mother Nature and notice the water receding, they would not have enough time to warn the people in the village.

And at the top of their lungs, started screaming, "Kai e'e!

Kai e'e!

Kai e'e!"

The rise of water.

Women gathered the children and started making their way up the hillside.

The tsunami came in and went 1.7 miles up into the valley.

- [Martin] Wow.

- [Greg] Wall of water was recorded at 11.. - [Martin] I can't imagine what that looked like.

Oh, my God.

- And he was six and a half years .. and standing on that hill, watching it come in.

Something he'll never, ever forget.

- [Martin] I can't imagine.

Luckily, this family's traditional way of life has survived both natural disasters and the modern world.

They still prepare food using ancient methods.

And their staple food is taro, a root vegetable the Polynesians brought to Hawaii.

But here it's prepared in a unique way.

Hawaiians are the only ones that mash their root into a paste, which everybody knows as poi.

No other Polynesian culture mashes their root.

- Can I try a bit?

- Yeah, go right ahead.

- Is it really filling?

- [Greg] Oh, yes, it is really filling.

Really nutritious for you.

Taro is known as a superfood today.

- [Martin] It might not look very appetising, but mashed taro, or poi, is surprisingly healthy.

It's packed with vitamins, minerals, and fibre, and it's not fattening like potatoes or rice.

- [Greg] And we'll break it off.

- [Martin] Just don't eat taro raw, because it's toxic.

- [Greg] Break a little bit of the fish.

- Luckily, this taro was cooked earlier.

It's when you mix it all up it gets good, doesn't it?

- [Greg] Mm-hmm.

- [Martin] The family grows its own taro in these magical, centuries-old terraces that survived the tsunami.

(rooster crowing) The taro here is planted in water, like rice.

- What you're seeing here is an ancient taro patch, part of the ancient Hawaiian village that we're living in today.

- Fantastic.

It's like farming in a monument.

- Yes.

- It's beautiful.

For decades, Greg's dad, Philip, has worked hard to preserve this precious oasis of old Hawaii.

But now at 79, he's chosen Greg, of all his children, to inherit and run the farm.

But for Greg, keeping traditions alive has come at a cost.

It means being apart from his wife and children, whose career and education keep them in Honolulu on another island.

- I have people come up to me and say, "Oh, you've abandoned your family."

But me and my wife and my family have an understanding.

And my kids understand the culture just as much as I do.

If you don't go home and protect what you have and if nobody's there, you know, who's gonna protect it?

- And it's a duty as well that you'll hand on.

- It's a great kuleana, is responsibility in Hawaiian, but at the same time, for me, gratifying knowing that I was the one chosen to come back to carry on, you know, the legacy of our family.

It's big shoes to fill, but I'm looking forward to doing it.

It's all part of me.

- It's all there, yeah.

- It's like the valley is part of me and I am part of it, like being one being, you know?

So I have a very special, unique connection to this place.

- It's outrageously beautiful.

Life in this sacred valley couldn't be further from the Hawaii of towering hotels and wobbly dashboard hula dolls.

In a way, I'm glad that most tourists don't make it here.

They'd probably disturb the tranquillity and wisdom of this place.

It's time for me to leave tropical Hawaii behind and head north to America's coldest region.

I'm bound for a snow-capped island that's home to the world's largest grizzly.

(adventurous music) (plane engine roaring) I've come to Alaska, the land of snow and ice.

It's the furthest edge of America, reaching almost to the Russian coast.

From Hawaii, I've travelled 2,500 miles north, to a U.S.

state ringed by 3,000 of its own islands.

My chosen destination is the island of Kodiak, famous for its huge salmon and for the enormous bears which eat them.

It's a massive change from Hawaii.

But you just look out here, it's just like I imagined Alaska would be, with snow-covered hills, the trees and all the water, It's sort of class-A Alaska, isn't it?

- [Jen] Oh, yeah.

- With the help of wildlife expert Jen Culbertson, I'm hoping to track down the island's most famous resident, the Kodiak bear, the world's largest brown bear.

What's our likelihood of seeing bears?

- [Jen] Actually pretty good.

We're gonna fly over some areas that's really good habitat for bears.

- Now, I heard that they're bigger on Kodiak because they eat so well.

- Yeah, Kodiak has an offshore warm-water current called the Japanese current that actually keeps our climate warmer than the mainland.

There's more vegetation, it's thicker, and more berries for them to eat.

And then we also have the salmon.

- [Martin] Separated from their mainland cousins since the last ice age, Kodiak bears can reach up to 10 feet tall on their hind legs.

There's about a bear for every square mile here.

- Wow.

Wow.

- Yeah.

- [Martin] This island might be bear paradise, but spotting them is not guaranteed.

(bright music) It's late spring, so many are only now coming out of their winter hibernation.

- That might be a bear back there, but... Oh, that's a bear.

- He's running along.

- Yeah.

The plane might have actually disturbed him.

- [Martin] Three quarters of Kodiak Island is a wildlife refuge with very few roads, so this is the only way to travel.

Nice landing, I didn't even feel that.

- [Pilot] Oh, thank you, I charge extra for those.

(Martin chuckles) - [Martin] Getting out of a seaplane in such a remote spot isn't so easy.

- [Jen] I'll find the deep spots for you.

- [Martin] Thank you.

- Unless, like me, you boarded the plane wearing a big pair of waders.

It's stunning.

This water's so beautiful, isn't it, it's so clear.

- [Jen] It is, it's really clear.

- [Martin] It was worth coming just to see Kodiak's breathtaking landscape.

But as we enter bear territory, it's crucial to be on the lookout.

Ah!

(laughs) - Hello.

- [Martin] Luckily, Jen's paying more attention.

- [Jen] So we got one in the distance over there.

- [Martin] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Hi, bear.

Gosh.

That's funny, I'd never, I didn't expect to see them grazing.

- [Jen] I know, just like cattle.

- Yeah, or a horse.

- Yeah, they spend a lot of time this part of the season grazing on sedges and grass.

- [Martin] And they don't use their paws for that?

- [Jen] No, they graze literally with their mouth, just like a cow.

- [Martin] Watching such a beautiful creature, it's easy to forget how big and powerful they are.

Well, you do just want to cuddle them, don't you?

I mean, I haven't got up close yet.

But I look at a picture and it's like, "That's an animal I'd like to cuddle."

- [Jen] Especially the little ones.

I mean, they're adorable.

- [Martin] But distressed or threatened bears are perfectly capable of killing humans, which is why Jen, as an experienced ranger, always carries a gun for safety.

- [Martin] Have you ever had one get cross with you?

- [Jen] Yeah, I've been charged a few times.

Mostly just from surprising them.

They're just trying to protect themselves so what they'll do is react in an aggressive manner to push you away.

- [Martin] Although Jen would never kill a bear unless she had to, Kodiak bears can be shy and difficult to spot because they are hunted.

Twice a year, in April and October, big-game hunters track them down for sport, often leaving the grim, telltale evidence behind.

- [Martin] So they hunt them, they cut off the head, and they take off the skin?

- Mm-hmm, with the claws, the claws are important, too.

- So they can stuff it.

- And they take the skull.

- And the skull.

- Mm-hmm.

- And that's it, they leave the meat, the re.. - Yep, it's basically wasted.

- [Martin] And here's the rest of it.

There's his hip.

- Yeah, his pelvis and hip, and then its foot, which looks so much like our foot.

(sombre music) - [Martin] But there's a real irony here, because whatever I feel about trophy hunters, it's also said that they rescued Kodiak's bears from a far worse enemy, livestock farmers who saw them as pests.

- Ranchers and farmers wanted to kill all of them.

It was the big-game hunters that petitioned the president of the United States to create the wildlife refuge and protect them.

You can still hunt them, but it's a really managed hunt.

And it's a big part of our economy besides fishing, is the bear hunt.

It's $30,000 to hunt a Kodiak brown bear, so... - [Martin] I don't like it.

- [Jen] I know, it's kind of sad.

- Yeah, it's not harming anyone, is it?

It's not self-defense.

- Yeah.

- It's hunting.

(soft music) At a secluded cove, we decide to set up camp.

Bear spotting in the wild just doesn't happen in a hurry.

(Martin and Jen chattering) Jen's happy to sleep under a tarpaulin, but fortunately she's brought me a tent, though it's quite a few years since I last pitched one.

I mean, actually, that went up pretty quickly, didn't it?

- Yeah.

Voila.

- Voila!

Thank you.

- (chuckles) My pleasure.

- I'm not gonna sleep in it.

The day ends with a glorious Alaskan treat, a cosy fire on the beach as we watch the sun set at midnight.

- [Jen] Oh, that feels good.

- This is, um, this is a real bonus.

A real bonus, it's lovely.

Very, very special.

As night finally falls, I find myself wrestling with my feelings about bears and guns.

I find it really upsetting, personally, that people come here to shoot the bears.

It makes me really, really sad, but if I'm honest, I'm scared of bears, and if a bear pulls the tent down and comes at me, I suppose I'd be grateful if Jen, you know, needed to, if she shot it or she had to deal with in some way.

I'm sure it'll all be fine and that nobody will get shot and tomorrow we'll have harmonious and close-up encounters with bears.

(birds chirping) (bright music) Next morning, we choose one strategic spot on which to sit and wait for bears to appear.

It takes a few hours, but eventually our patience pays off.

As the bears get used to our presence, they venture out into the open.

- [Jen] That's definitely a sow sitting down.

- [Martin] After a while, we really get lucky.

A mother and cubs come out to feed and play.

(Jen laughs) And they're off.

So how old would they be, the little ones?

- [Jen] They're at least a year old, they're pretty big.

Those aren't cubs of the year.

- [Martin] Oh, my, look at them go.

Come catch up.

- Nice.

Nice.

Nice.

- [Martin] The cubs appear relaxed enough to run far from their mother's side.

So can she smell us from here?

- Not yet.

No, the wind direction's in our favour.

But moms are pretty hyper alert, and if she sees us and can't determine exactly what we are, she'll either run or she's going to get closer.

- [Martin] After a while, the cubs realise Mum's not with th.. Look at that cub, she's gorgeous.

Soon they're reunited with their mother.

They're being a good little family now, mum and two cubs.

- Yeah, a little more sedate than when they came out.

- Eventually they seem to sense that we're here.

Oh, they've all gone meerkatty, haven't they?

And they head back towards the safety of the forest.

It just goes to show that you can't rush nature.

We've been here for six hours.

For a while, we just saw one when we first arrived, and that little one ran off, but now we've seen a total of eight.

And the best one was seeing the mum with her cubs and watching them play.

So yeah, we smashed it, six hours, well worth it.

(gentle music) It's such a privilege seeing these creatures in their natural habitat.

But as I'm about to find out, there are some extraordinary people on Kodiak, too, whose lives are defined by this challenging but beautiful landscape.

(birds squawking) I'm on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska.

It's a land of extreme, often treacherous weather where survival is a challenge to animals and humans alike.

Kodiak's bears are lucky because they can hibernate through the winter.

And yet despite the hostile environment, humans have also been living on Kodiak for over 7,500 years.

(tribal music) The indigenous Alutiiq people, also known as Sugpiaq, have dances and songs that express their ancient, intimate relationship with the sea.

(locals speaking in foreign language) (locals singing in foreign language) - [Martin] The Sholl family are proud practitioners of their ancestral traditions, Hanna; her mother, Sophie; Hanna's husband, Gauge; and their children.

(tribal music) (Gauge speaking in foreign language) - Fabulous, thank you.

Thank you very much, thanks, guys.

What's that song about?

- So "Kayunguq" is our storm song.

And the Alutiiq people, we're a maritime people.

We spend a lot of time on the ocean.

And when they were out on the ocean and a storm would come up, they would raft together and ride out the storm together.

So the song says, "All of you, family, look here.

There's a storm coming, anchor up."

It's an emotional tie to our ancestors and then a kind of a call-out to families now that it's time to anchor up with our families.

- [Martin] Oh, right, 'cause there's a metaphorical storm and it's time to bunch up.

Do you get a sense of power through doing that?

Do you feel it?

- [Hanna] Oh, definitely.

- Do you feel like you're connecting to something, to your present family and your past family?

- Yeah.

- Do you?

That's great.

That's really good to hear, isn't it?

As well as dancing and singing, Hanna is an artist, using traditional Alutiiq mask designs in her work.

The whole family is also part of an Alutiiq language revival, after it recently dwindled to just 30 surviving speakers.

But what I want to know is how does being Alutiiq fit with being part of the United States?

It's a stupid question to ask if you feel more Alutiiq than more American.

Do you feel like an Alutiiq American or an American Alutiiq?

- When I introduce myself to people that ask questions like this, I just say I am indigenous to Kodiak Island.

I am the peoples that were here before other people came.

- It's funny, because when we travel, we introduce ourselves as Alaskan.

We are a very American family.

My husband is military.

We are very proud of our country.

And so yes, I am American, I am Alaskan, and I am indigenous.

- [Martin] Right.

- (laughs) I think that covers it.

(soft music) - [Martin] Today, Alutiiq culture is a celebrated part of life on Kodiak.

But many island families, including Hanna's, can also trace their heritage back to Russian fur trappers, who colonised Alaska more than two centuries ago.

In fact, the Russians made Kodiak Island the main hub of their Alaskan trading empire.

(choir singing) Of course, Alaska is no longer part of Russia.

They sold it to the U.S.

in the 1860s for $7 million.

(choir singing) But the Russian Orthodox faith is still very much a part of island life.

(choir singing) (bells chiming) Father Innocent Dresdow, a priest here at the Holy Resurrection Church, is not himself a local.

He moved to Kodiak with his wife 15 years ago.

He's actually from the American Midwest, about as far from the sea as you can get.

(birds squawking) For Father Innocent, embracing island life has meant embracing a love of the sea.

Messing about in fishing boats became a way into a close-knit community.

I guess it helps you sort of connect with your congregation, because everybody fishes here, don't they?

- Yeah.

I'd been serving here four years, and an elder came to me and he said, "Father, you're gonna buy my boat."

(Martin laughs) There was no option, it was like, "You're gonna buy it."

So I said, "Okay."

And what happened after that was my office became wherever that boat was parked.

- [Martin] Oh, really?

- I had men and women from the parish coming up to me all the time if they saw me out working on the boat.

And all the conversations first would start about "the outboard this," "the fishing conditions that."

And inevitably the conversation would turn to something spiritual in their lives.

- That's interesting.

- Yeah.

And it really transformed things, because then people realised, "Oh, he's here to stay as long as he's allowed to."

- Great.

- So it's been beautiful.

- [Martin] These days, Father Innocent is known to his flock as the fishing priest.

But I haven't come for the fishing.

Instead we're following in the footsteps of countless believers who come every year from around the world to this little patch of land known as Spruce Island.

(birds chirping) Spruce Island, with its magical evergreen forest, is one of the world's most important destinations for Russian Orthodox pilgrims.

Because it was here, in the harshest of conditions, that a Russian monk named Father Herman lived and died in the early 1800s.

Herman was later declared America's first Orthodox saint.

Hidden deep in the forest is a tiny chapel which marks his original burial site.

- [Father] These locks are only to keep the deer out.

- [Martin] What a lovely room.

This is St.

Herman?

- [Father] This is that image of St.

Herman lying in rest in Christ.

- [Martin] Herman and his fellow monks first came to Kodiak in 1794 to preach to the Russian fur traders.

But when they arrived, they realised it was actually the indigenous Alutiiq who desperately needed their help.

- What they found were the natives were being abused.

The Russian fur traders were basically enslaving the men, working them to death, separating them from their wives and young children.

So when Father Herman saw that, he immediately went to rectify that.

Because all of these Russian fur traders, if you were Russian you were Russian Orthodox.

You were baptised as a Christian.

But their behaviour was certainly anything but Christian.

(choir singing) Herman fought hard to protect the Alutiiq from Russian .. in the process winning many native converts to the church.

But eventually he left Kodiak and came here to Spruce Island, to endure the weather and the wilderness in complete isolation.

- For the first year or two when he was here, he built his cell, he built a little chapel.

You know, he slept on, he had a rock for pillows.

Here it depicts the wood logs, and he slept literally on a board.

Even the sheet that he used in his cell was a piece of wood.

And that night that he died, a column of light shone from here.

And they knew in the villages, Our Apa Herman's gone.

Gone from this life.

- How amazing.

For Father Innocent, St.

Herman's selfless life is a shining example of service to others.

- He, to his own peril, his own physical well-being, served.

And I think that's something that is lost in our culture.

- [Martin] Lost in the American culture?

- In the American culture, yes.

Because we're, you know, we're glued to our phone screens now, virtual reality.

In the city, we're disconnected from how dependent we are upon others, upon God.

But coming here, I am constantly reminded that I'm not in control.

- [Martin] Right.

- And that's a very un-American co.. - That's interesting, yeah.

That's really interesting.

(gentle music) So far on this island journey, I've met men and women who've lived through many of nature's worst extremes.

And it seems one thing they all share is a profound wisdom about these challenges.

In order to survive on these islands, the people have had to learn to live in tune with nature, be it a friend or a foe.

And I think that's because on islands like these, you don't have a choice.

Next time, I'll be inspecting the goods on an island cannabis farm.

- You're gonna wear out my plants.

- Sorry.

(laughs) Taking selfies with seals on California.. That is a seal-fie.

And visiting a town that's about to be washed away forever.

- When I was a kid, this was all land.

(soft music)