Cruising Alaska, day 6 Ketchikan

Cruising Day 6 – Ketchikan, arrival 10:30 am, departure 6:30 pm

Up again shortly before 6 am. Low marine cloud but not foggy. We will dock in Ketchikan around 10:30 am and leave about 6:30 pm. Today, Ray and I have a float plane tour which ends with an “all you can eat” Dungeness crab feast. Stay tuned. Kristi and Jason are going on a fishing trip for the day and Garrett and Kat are exploring the town.

Kristi and Jason's fishing trip was awesome they said. Here are some pictures. Dinner for 4. There were only 2 other people on their trip. Kristi said it definitely reminded her of living in the Charlottes when she was young.

This is an excursion you can take to see how to fish for King Crab. They pick you up right at our dock.

Ray and I explored the town after docking.

Interesting fact that Ketchikan was built on a steep hillside. The first two rows of houses were built on stilts on top of the water. There were steep stairs everywhere that actually had road names. As well, there are still "wood roads" that cars can still drive on. It was easier to build out than up.

Most of the shops were cruise ship orientated in this area. They sure have great sales on coats, fleeces etc. as they are getting rid of this year’s stock before the last cruise ship arrives on Oct 4^th. Ray and I both did not need any more stuff ,so we left the bargains there. Lol Stopped for a beer and fish and chips at noon before returning to the ship for a “toes up” in advance of our excursion at 2pm.

Instead of flags hanging from poles as in most cities, they have made theirs out of stained glass to handle the elements.

See the road sign on the stairs.

This tunnel was built after many years of people having to go to "New Town" by boat instead of driving there to make the one town of Ketchikan.

This guy was waiting to pick up his group for their tour. All the Holland America Tour people had signs so it was very easy to pick up your excursions as soon as you got off the ship.

After a bunch of waiting for the bus to take us to the float plane dock we were in the air about 3pm. Although the flight was short, about 20 minutes, it was cool to see the topography from the air. They really weren’t kidding about all you can eat crab. Ray had 1 ½ crabs and beer and I managed a whole one myself. Fabulous trip. 

Admiring an old rotary plane engine while waiting.

This only took 6 passengers.

Off we fly over the harbour on our way to George Inlet Lodge.

Very boggy land like the Queen Charlotte Islands from glaciers.

Waterfall from one lake to the lower lake.

Old Cannery

One of the two half crabs I managed to eat ... Ray had 3 halves.

After the fed us so well, we had to climb 79 stairs up to the bus waiting to take us back to the cruise ship. lol

After everyone in the group, 12 of us ate, it was off to the bus for the ride back to the ship. (Took about 25 minutes.) Everyone was so full no one was saying anything …. We were all in a food coma, I think.

Kristi and Jason had a great fishing adventure, catching different types of rockfish. Only 4 of them in the group and once back to shore their catch was cooked up for them.

Kat and Garrett spent a good part of the afternoon exploring the town, taking pictures. All of us back on ship in plenty of time before we sailed at 7 pm. I was too full to eat another thing, but Ray, Garrett and Kat went to the Tamarind Restaurant. Kristi and Jason did not go for dinner either as they were too full from their excursion.

We all met up in the Seaview Bar for a couple of drinks and then Ray and the rest went to BB Kings and I went to bed. Tonight we lose the hour we gained. Another fabulous day cruising.