Day 16 - Thu - 10/01/26 - Ketchikan

 This last Thursday of our cruise found us waking up to the sound of the thrusters as the ship docked in Ketchikan. We weren't in a hurry to get off the ship so we slept in until 8 o'clock. We enjoyed the leisurely breakfast in the Lido and I had an appointment at 9 o'clock to have our safe battery changed as we were getting the low battery warning light coming on.After calling the front desk and attendant came down and changed out the battery easily. We were in Free to sit on out upon our day. My main goal was to purchase a 2027 Alaska calendar as we have not seen many yet so far in our cruise. And previous years I've been able to find them in this port. However, since we are so late in the season, we struck out in virtually all of the stores until we found a display of calendars in a shop on Creek Street. So I purchased one there which features photograph of northern lights. While on Creek Street, we watched the remains of the salmon run, trying to make it up the Greek and the hungry seals and seagulls trying to feast away. Back in the port area, I purchased a bag of caramel corn from the vendor that I purchased at previously. I then reboarded the ship to drop off my purchases before our afternoon excursion. 

We checked in for the excursion near the end of the gangway, and around 11:30 AM. We were loaded into a large door bus and driven down to the George Inlet Lodge for our excursion. Once there we walk down the 70+ stairs to the ocean level and boarded a large aluminum tour boat named Miss Patricia.

As we were one of the first ones on the boat, I was able to secure front row seats beside the captain. He then twisted it out on very flat and cold waters to a little bay where they had crab pots. The first mate, then brought up the crab pot and it had eight Dungeness crabs in it. He took a male and a female out of the pot and showed everyone various aspects of the crabs and allowed each of us to hold it if we wished. Both Angela and I chose to do that and it was pretty cool near the end of the demo the first mate, even put the male crab on his head and wore it like a cap. Interestingly, the place where the crab pots were located was also the site where loggers loaded logs onto a ship that were hauled down to the water from the rugged wilderness. That operation was completed yesterday.

We then headed back to the lodge with a spotting of an eagle. We slowed down and stopped, and they threw out a fish which the eagle flew down and caught and headed back to its perch in the tree. It was pretty impressive to watch that and very hard to photograph. We also passed by an old salmon cannery closed in the Kate 1950's that's now used as a launching point for some zodiac boats.

Back at the lodge, we were treated to an excellent Dungeness crab feast. We receded with two members of the shore excursions team, and it was interesting chatting with them wow scarfing down generous amounts of Dungeness crab leg meat. In all, I think everybody was served at least three helpings of three legs each time. It was very yummy and actually not very filling. At the end of the feast we then had to hike up the 70+ stairs to our bus. It turned out that there was another bus there for passengers from the Koningsdam ship which arrived after us and was berthed behind us. We were back at the port by 3:30 PM which was two hours before we had to be on board so we took a walk down the dock the length of our ship to look at the KONINGSDAM Which we had sailed on its inaugural voyage back in 2016. We really didn't need any more souvenirs but we took a pass through the Tongass trading post before re-boarding the ship. The Eurodam had been berthed just ahead of us, but it departed at 1 o'clock while we were gone on its way back to Seattle.

After boarding, I went up to Toledo to secure a seat and a window to be able to watch the departure. I also worked on my blog and eventually Angela joined me for a little dinner as we weren't especially hungry after the crab feast. Another couple sat with us at dinner and they had gone on the Misty fjords tour and really enjoyed it and we exchanged details about our respective excursions.

Our evening entertainment was a second performance by Hyperion Knight.  Before he came on stage, Theresa, our cruise Director, asked if anybody had seen the bear on Creek Street today and the number of people replied that they had. Hyperion performance on the piano was once again excellent and it's very enjoyable to hear him not only play but give background and Technical information about the pieces. Following the performance, Angela went to seeing in karaoke and the crows nest and I returned to the state road to continue to work on my blog as I was three days behind.

It was a good day in Ketchikan. It's a city that we have visited many times and we always seem to find something new and unusual to do. This is clearly the latest we've ever been here and I sort of wish we were here a bit earlier to see more of the salmon run. This was our last Alaskan port and tonight we have to lose an hour and set our clocks forward to match Pacific daylight time in Prince Rupert and Vancouver and ultimately Seattle. We'll once again let the thrusters wake us up and we have no specific plans for Prince Rupert other than to stroll around and discover what it might have to offer.

Creek street salmon sculpture 









1st of three servings






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