Ketchikan is the 4th wettest city in the world. It averages over 13ft of rain a year and only has about 31 nice days a year. Today was one of those 31.
Tracy woke at 5:30am and the rest of us soon after. We watched from the balcony as we were slowly escorted into Pier 1 ahead of schedule.
With our first shore excursion due to start at 7:45am we threw on our clothes and set off to find our breakfast. With eggs, bacon, pancakes, whipped cream, sausages, cranberry juice and coffee duly dispatched, we went back to the cabin, collected out waterproofs, cameras and binoculars and set foot on dry land again.
Because we had docked slightly ahead of time if gave us to enough time to check a couple of shops out – one of which was the Alaskan Christmas shop. Fortunately Harry and Toby were just about behaving (despite the late night/early morning combination) because sat in the corner of the shop was Father Christmas. After exchanging a few brief words with him, they both got a candy and then off we went to our next boat.
This excursion was the Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer and was planned to last about five hours. When we first left the harbour we went across the passage to see the nest of a bald eagle. The eagles weren’t in it but they were nearby trying to distract us. The largest bald eagle nest that had been found was 14ft wide, 9ft deep and weighed 2.3 tonnes. Unsurprisingly the eagles use their nests for several years until they fall to pieces. What was surprising was that they can build these size things in about a week!
After leaving the eagle nest we went a little further before we saw a deer having a morning mooch. Then, once out of the slow speed section, the boat cranked up to 35mph and we sped down past Bold Island through the Revillagigedo Channel. At the bottom of Point Alava we took a left and went up the Behm Canal. Although called a canal it was made by a glacier rather than man. Man isn’t really welcomed in this part of Alaska – it was declared an area of wilderness by Jimmy Carter in 1978 and that means that no building or roads (permanent or temporary) can be built.
We slowed down near New Eddystone rock and Harry and I without knowing had a “who can take the most photos of the rock” competition. It was a close battle but in the end I just won it by 18 photos to 15!
As we continued on up the canal, Harry and Toby spent most of their time inside the boat, downstairs. They were enjoying the hot chocolates and they both got a cuddly toy each. Harry got Sam the Seal and Toby got Fishy the Bald Eagle. Fishy was originally called Baldy but he got renamed to Fishy for reasons that will become apparent later.
Shortly after New Eddystone Rock we took a right into Rudyerd Bay which was a truly beautiful part of the journey. The huge sides of the fjords looked all freshly carved by the glacier and lovely waterfalls came down from the melting snow to give them a lovely sheen. We saw Harbor Seals enjoying the sun on the side and there were some nice looking black and white birds nesting on almost sheer rock faces. I’m not sure what they were but Harry thinks they were definitely called black and white pigeons. He may be right.
After cruising about for a short while looking at the work of the glaciers we set off back towards Ketchikan. The trip as a whole was 140 miles which was pretty impressive really for such a short period of time. There were no real stops on the way back other than to see a 300-500 year old painting on a cliff face.
It was a picture of a sun and I nearly missed it because I couldn’t for the life of me see it. I took photos of most of the cliff area so that I could see it later but in the end I spotted it just before we left. Good job I did because it was the one part of the cliff I don’t think I had got an image of! For the rest of the journey back we stayed in and Toby stuffed himself silly with Alaskan Sockeye salmon. He ate so many of the sampler pots that had been handed out that the women next to us was laughing at him. He didn’t care!
We arrived back in Ketchikan at about 12:30pm and there was still no rain, in fact it was quite a pleasant temperature. We went for a walk over to Creek Lane which apparently is one of the most photographed streets in Alaska. I’m not sure if that is true or not but I nearly managed to walk away from it without remembering to take a picture! This is because I was completely distracted by a bald eagle sitting down by the side of the creek eating a fish (which is why Baldy got renamed to Fishy). I took lots of pictures but in the end I had to stop because I think Tracy, Harry and Toby were all bored of looking at the eagle! It was good though – it should definitely be on my post of best eagle photos!
After finally remembering to take a photo of the most photographed street we went a did a spot of shopping. We were almost tempted with a totem pole that was about 3 foot high. The shop owner lowered the price from $900 to $700 but it was still a bit too much – despite Harry walking round the shop saying we should just buy it! He is very free and easy with other peoples money!
In the next shop he continued offering to spend other peoples money as Tracy was collared by a salesman trying to sell her a nugget of Alaskan gold on a necklace. It was very nice and again they lowered the price from $316 to $199 but in the end she just wasn’t convinced and much to the salesman’s disgust we left the shop empty handed.
All the time we walked around Ketchikan Harry was worried that we were going to miss the boat! So in the end we gave in and went back on board with a half hour to spare. Oh the stress a nine year old can go through!
With a quick bit of lunch tucked away we took a bottle of wine down to the balcony and sat watching as we set sail from Ketchikan. It’s very tiring this cruising business! Against all the odds we made it through the afternoon without taking a nap. Having spent the afternoon relaxing we showered and then went on the hunt for food! The highlight of the food hunt was walking along the 7th deck when we spotted a whale. It gave us a couple of blow hole snorts (technical term) and then it leapt out of the water, did its little twist thing and landed back in the water. The deck erupted as if there was a firework show with lots of “ooohs” and “aaahs”. At dinner Toby announced that that (the whale) was the best thing of his day (the 6th best thing of his day was me wearing the new shirt I had bought which Toby chose!). Not surprisingly I didn’t have my camera with me but that was ok. Clearly these humpbacks are just warming up and getting me in the mood for our whale watching excursion tomorrow morning.
With that early morning adventure in mind – the alarm is set for 5:30am (some vacation this is!) – we decided upon an early night. The camera battery is on charge. Tomorrow is the day!
Wildlife sightings..
Eagles: loads and with photographic evidence
Harbor Seals
Photos: 154 (check them here)