Captain Tony said last night that our views would start early today, so I was up shortly after 5am. He was right, and, even better, it looked like we were going to have one of those ‘best day of the summer’ days in Ketchikan today.
Pre-sunrise sailing to Ketchikan
Look at the islands we cruised by overnight.
I would love to do that during the day.
It was going to be a perfect day in Ketchikan.
Not surprisingly, Mom is back in lock down and my trip to see her next week has to be canceled. I spent a few minutes early this morning canceling flights, hotel and rental car…for the fifth time. ☹️
No trip to see Mom next week 😟
but thankfully she is safe and healthy.
I accompanied G to the World Fresh Marketplace while he ate breakfast, then sent him on his way once the Majestic Princess was at its berth and cleared in Ketchikan. Once again, he was going salmon fishing; he enjoyed it that much last week. I think I can officially join the ranks of fishing widows around the world. I took a few minutes to have a more civilized breakfast in the Concerto Dining Room and then walked off the ship prepared to do some solo sightseeing…even before I had written the blog post from Glacier Bay National Park. It was a beautiful morning, but in Ketchikan, one can never be certain how long it will last.
The Majestic Princess was docked at the same berth we had been at on the Nieuw Amsterdam, a little bit further from the main intersection in Ketchikan, but right by the office for Southeast Aviation. That prompted me to check for any news related to the float plane crash just two weeks ago. The bodies and wreckage have been recovered, and Southeast Aviation had ceased operations. Interestingly, I found a news article about another crash they had in late July in which only the pilot had been onboard, and he had survived. Maybe closed down is the safest thing for everyone right now. It’s all so tragic. If we had just had this beautiful weather two weeks ago, six people might still be alive.
I walked along the waterfront to Grant Street, and then climbed up to Bowden…and it was a bit of a climb. Anything not on the waterfront in Ketchikan is up a hill. From Bowden I backtracked a little to go to the fish ladder on Ketchikan Creek. This was far more fun than I had imagined it would be. I stood for at least 20 minutes cheering…for salmon. Yes, G was, at that moment, catching them and I was encouraging them to keep heading upstream to spawn. Even with this ladder, it was hard work, and most of them ended up getting shot back down to the bottom, or at least to the turn at the halfway point. Still, we’ve seen several videos while we’ve been in Alaska of salmon jumping up waterfalls, right into the mouths of bears. At least this wasn’t that bad.
Lots of directional signage
The salmon that made it taking a rest.
Ketchikan Creek
The fish ladder
I stood with others for at least twenty minutes cheering for the salmon
while G was 15 miles away catching them.
Even the tour buses stop to look
Married Man’s Trail was once just a muddy path along Ketchikan Creek that men would use to discreetly visit the bawdy houses along Creek Street. However, it left them with telltale mud on their boots that would get them in trouble with their wives and girlfriends. Now the trail is mostly boardwalk, as many of the sidewalks in Ketchikan are. The ground is too rocky to excavate, and walkways, building and entire streets are simply built up over the rock and water.
Walking on Married Man’s Trail to the bawdy houses no longer leaves telltale muddy shoes.
Lots of hills and stairs in Ketchikan
Married Man’s Trail
The Tongass Historical Museum
Married Man’s Trail led to the brothels on Creek Street
Creek Street
Entrance to Creek Street
(I went in the back way, choosing to do the climbing part first)
I used our national parks pass for free admission to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Museum
We had visited the Southeast Alaska Discovery Museum when we were here in 2012, and I remember we were pretty impressed with it. Today I toured the exhibits and then watched three short videos in the theater, one after another. The first was on the Tlingit, Haida and Tshimsian tribes indigenous to the area, and the steps being taken to preserve their language and culture. They are so close to losing their native language that they are going into senior care facilities to record the last surviving native speakers. The next movie was on the Tongass National Forest, and the third was about Alaskan bush pilots.
By this time it was nearly 1pm, and I wasn’t sure what time G would be returning, so I walked back to the ship. All morning long, my Apple Watch was jingling, and I assumed it was because I was getting quite a workout with all the climbing up steep streets I was doing. When I finally sat down to watch the movies, I saw that G had been sending me texts, too, showing me how his morning was going. And it was going very well.
Carved eagle statue near Ketchikan tunnel
Guess what G did again this week?
I am officially a fishing widow.
Our dinner fish
But I’m convinced it’s really more about this.
Cleaning G’s salmon
The boat’s total catch with 6 passengers on board, and almost this much was released
because it was either the wrong kind of salmon or not large enough.
A few guests took their catch back to the Majestic Princess for dinner, and what was left
was cut up into one pound pieces, frozen and sent to their homes.
The best day of the year in Ketchikan
Sure enough, G returned to the ship about the same time I did. He got cleaned up and we went to Alfredos for a very late lunch of antipasto and pizza, but we split one serving because we knew that dinner would once again be a feast. It sure was. The entire area around us in the Concerto Dining Room got excited when the fish was brought out on a large tray, and carved up by dining room supervisor Jorge. Once again, we shared salmon all around. It was, within a doubt, the best salmon I’ve ever had.
This photo makes me laugh. Samsuri (on the left) and Jorge look like surgeons with their
white jackets and masks.
We ended the evening just as we had hoped to end several evenings this cruise: using the Hollywood Pool and hot tub on Deck 17. It had been one of the best days of our three weeks in Alaska.