A misty afternoon in Ketchikan

We spent quite a bit of time at the Discovery Center, but by the time we left it had begun to drizzle, and it stayed that way the remainder of the day. We walked around a bit just for exercise, but found ourselves back on the ship for a late lunch and never did leave the ship again the rest of the day.

My favorite Princess menu item (ciappino- seafood stew) was a lunch choice in the buffet, and it was perfect after a chilly morning in port.

Afterwards, we headed back to our cabin for a restful afternoon, trying to stay warm. We were on the water side of the ship today, and so had a view of the float planes constantly taking off and landing and the Sapphire Princess and Norwegian Jewel sailing away.

I could not stand a steady diet of this sort of weather. All the thoughts we'd had last week about perhaps staying a few weeks in Alaska on a land trip quickly faded. I need the sun!

Photos 1 and 2: from the Discovery Center. The petroglyph in photo 2 proves that man inhabited the southeastern Alaska area at least 10,000 years ago.

Photo 3: look how gray the day became! We stayed cozy and dry in our cabin with a front row view to all the cruise ship, fishing boat and floatplane traffic on the water.

Day 13: Ketchikan

We were scheduled for a late arrival into Ketchikan this morning (10am), and when we awoke around 7am the sun was shining brightly, and the land was close in on both sides of the ship, providing lots to look at while we enjoyed breakfast at a windowside table in the Bordeaux Dining Room. However, before we had even arrived in Ketchikan, we could see dark clouds and mist in front of us.

Darn! Our final port day wasn't at all like yesterday in Juneau but was, instead, typical. Southeast. Alaska. Weather.

We gathered our rain jackets (and me my headband and gloves) and left the ship, heading for another visit to the Discovery Center. You may recall that we had to cut our last visit there short, as G had a floatplane trip scheduled. We were happy to see (given the threatening weather) that the Island Princess was docked at Berth 3 this week, instead of Berth 4. However, the prized Berth 1 was occupied by the Norwegian Jewel and Berth 2 by the Holland America Volendam, and two other Princess ships, the Sapphire Princess and the Sea Princess were in Berth 4 and at anchor, respectively.

Five ships in port, and the three Princess ships got the three worst positions. Hmmmmm....

However, we were happy because our improved berth this week put us that much closer to the action in the center of the waterfront. But with FIVE ships in port, this town was packed. It's so sad to see what Ketchikan has allowed to happen to itself. It's basically become the St. Thomas of the north. Jewelry stores are as prevalent as salmon here.

But it does offer numerous excursion opportunities, and its proximity to Misty Fjords National Monument alone makes it a worthwhile cruise stop. And the Tongass National Forest Discovery Center near the cruise ship docks is an excellent educational opportunity for those wanting to do something on their own.

Photos 1 and 2: the morning started out sunny...but that all changed by the time we arrived in Ketchikan.

Photo 3: the Volendam arriving; the Sea Princess at anchor (poor them!)

Photo 4: the Norwegian Jewel (aren't they the ugliest ships?)

Photo 5: 31 more ship days in Ketchikan this season. And then all the summer employees can return home.

Humpback whales!

We changed into swimsuits and spent some time in a hot tub near the outdoor pool midship. We sat with the same couple from yesterday and made another new acquaintance. We all decided we liked the outdoor hot tub better than the indoor one we were in yesterday. It had started to cloud over and cool off, and the cool air with the warm water was sublime.

Eventually it began to mist. It seemed our good weather luck was running out, but even the mist felt wonderful.

We returned to our cabin to shower and change for the evening. We were supposed to be approaching Snow Pass about 6:45pm. This is a narrow place in the water with a strong tidal current. This current churns up the marine life on the ocean floor and provides a buffet for the humpback whales that tend to hang out there.

We were on our balcony hoping for just one whale sighting when the naturalist announced a pod of whales on the starboard (our) side. We must have seen 7 or 8 breaches- just incredibly good luck. Then another pod passed by; while we didn't see them breach, we did seem them spout repeatedly.

All sightings were on the starboard side. We were so lucky! It had continued to rain, and while other people were standing on their open balconies with umbrellas, we were cozy and dry tucked up under the pool deck above us.

What a day!

However, the evening was just getting started. For the third time, we were invited to the Most Traveled (Top 40) party. In fact, not only did we make the cutoff for the party (in terms of days cruised on Princess), we had the fourth highest number, just 8 days behind the second and third place couples, who were tied. I KNOW we should have stayed on the Emerald 10 more days last winter! Captain Binetti certainly remembered us (only because we were on that ship for 100 days), but sadly told us he would not be returning to the Emerald next winter. Instead, the Princess fleet commodore would be the relief captain when the Emerald's primary captain goes on vacation. Sure hope we make the top 40 cutoff on those cruises, as I would love to meet him.

After the party, we went to dinner, about two hours later than usual. Although that's not our favorite thing to do (to eat so late), sometimes it can't be helped, and tonight was one of those times. I was NOT going to miss whales just to go to dinner early.

No show for us tonight, although we did pass by the piano bar and stopped for a few minutes to listen. When the pianist began to play and sing "How Great Thou Art", I had to leave. Smoked salmon, a long walk and that hymn. Dad was certainly sending his vibes to Alaska today!

Tomorrow: a long day in Juneau. The weather forecast is for a 90% change of rain and 60 degrees. What a difference a day makes!

Straight Up

It was time for our hill climb du jour, and the 40 minutes we had before needing to be back on the ship left no excuse...we had plenty of time to climb that hill. Keep in mind, it was HOT, and the walk up was in full sun. But we made it (one of us ran up.  I'm not kidding. Do you see what I have to put up with?).

An engraved wall at the base of the hill seemed providential: "No such thing as can't". Honestly, it was the steepest city street I'd ever walked up. And given where we live, that's saying something.  And what's shocking is that it is in a location that gets snow. There were gates at the top and bottom to close it when required.

The interesting thing about Ketchikan is that it's about 10 miles long and 100 yards wide. It's tucked in the little space between the water and the first row of mountains. Every so often a road crosses the mountains to the other side, and this is one of those roads.

Also interesting:  the airport (it's an international airport, as it once received a flight from Canada) is on an island across from the town. A ferry is required to get there. This is where the infamous Bridge to Nowhere was supposed to be built. Oh, and they don't much like Sarah Palin around here. I like this town!

So, anyway, back to me, standing at the top of that hill catching my breath...we started back down, which is always tougher than walking up. All that hardware in my foot makes itself known when I'm stepping down hard on my forefoot with each step. Still, the view, which was the incentive for making the climb, was well worth it.

We arrived back at the ship at about 1:25pm...and so did everyone else.  With such beautiful weather, everyone waited until the last minute to re-board. We had a seat on a log nearby...this was going to take awhile.

It was 1:50pm before we actually boarded, and we weren't the very last. We immediately headed up to our cabin to watch sailaway from our balcony. It was so fun to watch floatplane after floatplane take off and land right next to our ship. Since we are on Deck 12, we were at eye level with the planes, and they were so close that we could see the pilots in the cockpits.

We watched the scenery for quite while. The on board naturalist was narrating from the bridge, and we could hear him on our cabin TV. The land was close on both sides.

Eventually, it opened up a bit, and we went up to the Lido Deck to enjoy the fish BBQ that was taking place on the open deck. Delicious, and the views were amazing. What fun!

Sea Winds Aviation Floatplane tour

The floatplane takes off:

The landing:

Sunburned in Ketchikan

I've mentioned that Ketchikan gets 153" of precipitation annually. In fact, they've had 96" year to date. This is one wet place. The Tongass National Forest that surrounds Ketchikan is the largest national forest in the US, and it is officially a rainforest. Things are green here.

But today...today was one of the four best days they've had weather-wise all summer. Today was a gorgeously sunny, clear blue sky, clean air day with temps in the low 70s.

We may have used up our weather luck for the full two weeks!

We left the ship after breakfast and had about two hours to walk around before G had to meet up for a short shuttle ride to the Sea Winds Aviation float plane dock. The first thing I noticed is that this entire town smells like smoked salmon. Strongly of smoked salmon. How bad can that be? I sure thought about Dad a lot today, smoking salmon in his backyard so that the entire neighborhood smelled the same way as Ketchikan.

We walked along the waterfront in Ketchikan to the Tongass National Forest Discovery Center. This is a fabulous educational museum about the history of the Tongass National Forest and the people who have inhabited it over the centuries. We didn't make it through half of the displays, because they announced that a movie was starting in the theater, and that movie alone was worth the admission price (although admission is free with the National Parks Senior Pass, which can be conveniently purchased right there).

The movie features breathtaking scenery taken from the air, flying over the water, mountains, forest and Misty Fjords National Monument. Sure, it wasn't as amazing as actually doing the flyover, but we did that 15 years ago. This was pretty close, and we saved about $400.

Eventually, it was time for us to move on. G received a call from the floatplane company that they were back on schedule after being slightly delayed due to the early morning fog, and we met up with their shuttle in the center of the waterfront area. Although I wasn't flying, I went with the group to the floatplane dock; I wanted to video their takeoff and landing.

Many thanks to Iliana from our Cruise Critic roll call for setting up this adventure with Sea Winds Aviation. The five passengers and the pilot climbed into this De Havilland Beaver float plane, maneuvered into open water and took off.

Interesting note: when the plane is in the water it is subject to maritime laws and rules; when in the air the FAA calls the shots.

While they were gone, I went inside the office and watched a video on the history of salmon fishing around the Ketchikan area, awaiting their return. There are so many floatplanes taking off and landing on the water in Ketchikan that I was afraid I'd miss their return, but Leslie, the office manager, said she'd let me know. And she did.

I followed their landing and return to the dock. All five people said the flight was incredible. For a moment I was sorry I hadn't gone along, but when I looked into that tiny, enclosed space, I knew I wouldn't have been happy. The floatplane we were in in 1997 was considerably larger. But the small size of this one meant a more personal experience for those on board, and I think it's great that G has been able to do it both ways.

Speaking of great- the sunny weather continued and, in fact, got quite warm. I knew that my SPF15 wouldn't stand up to the hours we'd spent in the sun (and I did come back a smidge pink). We hadn't yet tackled that hill we'd seen from our balcony, and so we set out to do that before returning to the ship.

A foggy morning in Ketchikan

When we first arrived today, it was foggy and about 55 degrees. Moist, cool air- YAY!!

We went to the Patisserie- G got his hot chocolate and I my brewed decaf in to go cups- and then to the dining room to be greeted by headwaiter Roberto (I thought no one could be as welcoming as Francesco and Godwin on the Emerald, but...). We enjoyed breakfast at a window side table- fruit plate followed by egg beaters and spinach and a grilled tomato for me; oatmeal and bacon for G. We're now back in our cabin dressing for our short day on shore.

Photo 2: float planes docked next to the ship

Photo 3: if there's a hill we gotta climb it! Our morning exercise...

Loving having free 3G Internet to make these posts so easily. There's something to be said for an Alaskan itinerary!!

Day 3: Ketchikan

Just a quick update...

Sometime around 2:30 this morning we sailed out of Canadian waters and into Alaska. But we cleared US immigration in Vancouver, and were a little floating island of the US as we made our way along the Georgia Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound.

We've just docked in Ketchikan. The fog still looks thick, but at some point in time between 4am and 6am the fog horn was turned off. I know this only because I was up at both these times and the first time it was on and the second time it wasn't.

Once again, I (we) slept very soundly. The horn made no difference at all. In fact, if anything, it helped. I fell asleep counting the seconds between blasts (about 60)...kind of the maritime equivalent of counting sheep. But here's the big news: I am lying in bed on a cruise ship using my free AT&T 3G Internet. Free Internet. In bed. On a cruise. It doesn't get any better than that!

G is flying in a float plane later this morning (hopefully, fog permitting). I am going to photograph/videograph his takeoff and landing. We've done a floatplane here before, in 1997, and while I love it, don't feel the need to repeat. I'd rather be a spectator.

We sail early, at 2pm with all on board by 1:30pm. It's a short day to allow us to make our way to Juneau by tomorrow morning.

The weather is supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees. Has summer chosen to come to Ketchikan for one day, today? Sure sounds like it. Lucky us!!