Ketchikan, Alaska

Friday, May 10, 2019         Ketchikan, Alaska

 The ship arrived at 9:30am along with three others….Oh my!  Approximately 8000 tourist in this little town sounds like ants crawling over an open honey jar. The sun is shining…a minor miracle for a town that gets 225ish days of rain a year. We will take that good ole sunshine.

                                                   

From the ship we spotted snow capped mountains to the east. 

While eating breakfast we enjoyed watching the float planes take off and land right beside the ship. It was spectacular….and thrilling with boats maneuvering the harbor. 

The rustic city of Ketchikan has been called the totem pole capital of the world…we spotted many along our walk into town.  

Our walk today took us along the harbor so we really got a close up view of the ships that were tied to the dock….HAL Maastadam, HAL Oostendam, and the Norweigan Bliss. 

We were amazed that the passenger traffic really wasn’t too bad…they must have taken one of the four pages of excursions that our ship offered. 

This town was really ready for the ships with a load of tourist’s tour huts, a shuttle bus into the town, and 

                                           the local duck tours. It all was really very well organized. 

                                                      Larry enjoyed spotting this old Cadillac.

The locals along the dock thanked us for bringing them sunshine....guess they didn't know how much rain we had encountered during the cruise.

Spring was in the air!

The town had an artsy side to it....with mosaic sea life along the dock.... like the octopus above.

Ketchikan is an island, so the only way to leave or arrive is by float plane or boat. A ferry to the airport mainland frequents here every half an hour. The town was established in 1887 when a salmon cannery was built at the mouth of Ketchikan Creek. 

We had visited Ketchikan a few years ago and were looking forward to walking Creek Street.....a scenic area of shops and creek side views. 

                                                            This is an actual museum.
This historic area was notorious for being the red light district from 1902 to 1954. This scenic boardwalk supported at least 30 “sporting houses” during its heyday.

The locals seem to have one thing in mind....

                                               

                    These signs make me think that the winters can be a little long and lonely.

Larry and I enjoyed the walk along Creek Street, exploring the little shops along the way. 

We took the venicular to the Cape Fox Lodge that took us to a grand view of the town below. We stopped to have lunch and watched the other cruise ships sail away. 

                                        Finally found a real bear....even though it was stuffed.

The locals told us that the town can handle five ships(12,000 passenger tourists) at once with one tendering their passengers in. Guess with the season from May to early October, these locals have got to make hay when the sun shines. The busiest time of year is July  when the salmon swim up the Ketchikan Creek.

Larry and I enjoyed seeing the salmon swim in Kodak in July, 2008.  We both thought it would be quite a sight to see these fish jumping up this creek, especially with this boardwalk meandering along side so closely. 

                                                  We walked past the historic town tunnel.

We walked through quite a few shops on our way back to the ship, boarding about 4:00pm. We got a little surprise from our captain. He announced that he was leaving the ship with appendicitis, so the passengers were getting a chance to break in the assistant captain. We are thankful that this didn’t happen while at sea for the six days.

The sail away from Ketchikan was phenomenal with loads of mountains and evergreen scenery. 

Tomorrow, our final sailing day, we will be cruising the ‘inside passage’ on the way to Vancouver, Canada. From Vancouver we will take a flight to San Francisco to pick up a rental car. From there we will enjoy one of our favorite drives….down highway 1, the California coastline.

CHEERS!

Icy Strait Point, Hoonah, Alaska

Thursday, May 9, 2019        Icy Strait Point, Alaska

The Westerdam docked about two miles outside of Hoonah on the Chichagof Island in Alaska. Larry and I had decided to hike into town, turning down the five dollar shuttle. It was brisk, just the right kind of day to walk along the George Hall Harbor.

We headed off the ship at 8:00am, walking through the Hoonah Packing Company Adventure Center. 

                The Martini’s opted for a whale watching tour while Larry and I did a nature hike. 

We were thrilled to walk along the beach and caught the path going into town…it was so nice to move about. Being on the ship for those six days in a row while crossing the North Pacific made us feel like busting loose. 

Once we got on the path towards town, we enjoyed the evergreen forest that flanked the side of the road going up over the mountain. 

The scenery was spectacular!

                                                                         Local critters

We were thrilled to spot two whales blowing in the harbor along with several eagles soaring overhead.

The town had numerous little shops, a school with six graduating seniors in the next few weeks, four churches, and a ferry terminal….all for a community of 800. The area had a rich culture of the Tlingit Nation. 

The area once famous for having a salmon cannery in 1912, had transformed the facility in 2004 into an indoor shopping area with all kinds of native Alaska gifts and souvenirs. It also serves as a museum for all the cannery machinery. 

                                            Those are fake fish...created just for display.

                                                                   Two huge cookers

                                            Five kinds of salmon are found in the area.

We walked by the school with...

a pile of unlocked bikes parked by the entrance.

Four churches were in the area

We watched a gentleman chisel on a totem pole...what patience he has!

Local  long boat canoe...available for tourist to take  rides in.

There is a huge tide here....we were visiting with the tide being low.

After our walk through town we had some nice conversations with the locals in The Office Bar. Lots of atmosphere surrounded the walls of this local hangout. It sat right on the harbor with scenic views of float planes taking off. (The only way out of here is by float plane, boat or ferry.) We especially enjoyed the old juke box with great golden oldie rock n roll music tunes and....

                                                                  some pretty good wifi!

Last year 69 cruise ships stopped by this little rural town. This year they are expecting around 160 ships. 

The locals are concerned that the town does not have the facilities to accommodate so many people. One thing is for sure, whoever comes here will get the real life experience of the outback of  the Alaskan wilderness.

We walked back to the ship spotting a few more whales, sea otters, and..... 

                                                                            eagles. 

We stopped at the camp fire to warm our toes and enjoy the aroma of the wood burning before being the last ones to go back on the boat….being last to board is becoming a habit.

                                           Lingering along the walkway back to the ship.

The ship set sail at 4:00pm to a wonderful scenic cruise out of Icy Strait Point.

                              The sun set around 10:30pm….our first sunset in a long time.