Pics from Ketchikan……

.

.

……AFTER WE FINISH RAPELLING DOWN THE ICE BERG !

We arrived at our first Alaskan port, Ketchikan, in the early morning hours. Along with our ship arrived very low clouds and light rain. This is a chance you take on the last Alaskan cruise of the season. So the Webers were not terribly surprised to find that their 7:15am departure on a seaplane ride over the Misty Fjords was cancelled due to poor weather. They offered a replacement time at 11am but the odds of improved visibility were not good, so they took the refund to spend on wine for the rest of the trip. Some of the other excursions went as scheduled, but elevator conversations showed that a tour of the rainforest in the rain was not all that popular.

So the majority of the passengers seemed to end up in town, along with the full passenger complement of the Coral Princess which left San Pedro right after we did. Ketchikan is a pleasant enough stop, even in somewhat inclement weather and the streets were full of umbrellas and tourists checking out those common fixtures of stops such as seen in the Caribbean ports – Diamonds International, Tanzanite International, the stores selling bamboo sheets and clothing that changes in the sun – as well as “original art by local artists.” One gallery did have a store full of carved walrus tusks and other natural items, which were quite fascinating, especially the intricately carved ivory tusk that took four years of the artist’s life. Otherwise, there were lots of funny t-shirts and most of the jewelry was on sale since it was the very end of the season and the stores were preparing to close for the winter. So there were plenty of full shopping bags boarding the ship in the drizzle.

Many of the group ended up in the buffet to refuel after walking the thousands of steps shown on their Fitbits. We will all get together for a drink and to compare notes later in the day. We want to know who went to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show!