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Published: September 18th 2022
Ketchikan marina
Full of planes and boats for hireThis morning we just had to get out of bed – even though it was only 6:00! (We had gone to bed at 10:30 the night before, and we continued throughout the cruise to find the air and excitement soporific.) Since we were on the sea-ward side of the ship, we had a front-row seat at Ketchikan
O’Hare. Every minute or so, sea planes landed or took off. Occasionally, two were landing at the same time or one was landing seemingly in the take-off path of another. Plus, fishing boats and tourist fishing boats were making their way out of the harbour.
All through breakfast and until we left to see the town, this air-borne hustle bustle was fascinating. Ruth was a little surprised and quite proud to see that all the planes were Canadian
de Havilland Beavers . She knew they were the workhorses of the north, but you’d think someone in town would have had something else!
Our tour wasn’t until later in the morning, and since we were up and wide awake, we decided to sightsee in town. Immediately as we left the boat, we saw the famous “
Thunder Wings ” statue, which represents the naming of Ketchikan by the
Ketchikan harbour
Serene view of "the other" cruise ship (Norwegian) Tlingits . The carver is a resident of Ketchikan and is world famous for his totem poles.
Brief decision-making brought us to the main street, and to a small historic hotel. We were allowed to walk up the stairs, where we saw a beautiful stained-glass window on the half-landing. The décor was old, if not antique, evidently a carry-on of the original business. Ruth bought a paper, as she did in every port. We walked through the bar, which had what looked like an authentic stamped-tin ceiling. Dominating the room was a long ornate bar. We noted this for our objective to have a beer in every port – but really it was too early!
Enjoying the unusually warm day (high around 21C), we wandered along and found the historic
Creek Street . This had been the red-light district and was at least as long as the historic part of main street. The restored houses and boardwalk were on stilts over a dark, still creek, and they rested against the mountain. (Later we learned that most of modern Ketchikan is built on reclaimed land.) One house was a classic tourist trap, with tours offered by touts who were dressed
wildly, and who looked as bored as the prostitutes probably were. We were perhaps immune to the lure, because at
Heritage Park , we have seen so many western, Victorian-aged houses that would have look much the same inside.
The shopping bug caught us at the end of the street. The entrance to one store was decorated with a beautiful carving, about five feet tall, of humpback whales, probably carved from a single log. Not only price, but also size, kept our souveniring down to a photo of them. The store had interesting jewelry and curios made from local materials. Some were like pearl necklaces made from highly polished volcanic rock. I have a necklace exactly the same from Martinique, also made from volcanic rock.
By now, it was time to go back to the pier to catch our bus for the Rainforest Tour. After a relatively short drive, we arrived at the Coast Rain Forest Sanctuary. Because of the unusually warm temperatures and limited rain, the walking path was dry. The vegetation was similar to that on the
West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, but the misty air was missing. We enjoyed following the guide along, looking at the growth
Ketchikan float planes
Morning traffic rush begins. of parasitic plants on gigantic evergreens. The guide encouraged us to walk quietly in hopes of seeing bears – quite the opposite of what we are told in our forests! He pointed out several locations where bears had nested or rubbed themselves on trees. We also strained our eyes upward to the many bald eagles in flight.
At last, we did see a bear, but by then we were safely on a bridge over a marshy meadow, and the black bear was waddling away from us into the forest. For some, even this caused a great deal of excitement, probably being their first glimpse of a bear in the wild. Fascinating to me were the criss-crossing bear paths winding through the meadow grass. A shallow salmon-spawning creek bordered the meadow, a living buffet for the bears and the eagles. Although the mature eagles stayed well out of camera range, the juvenile (dull brown) ones fed comfortably and steadily on the salmon caught in the muddy pools.
Dragging ourselves away from this rare scene, we looked around an old, abandoned saw mill, evidently once used for local purposes. Most everything was in place, thoroughly rusted. The huge-toothed saws were
still quite impressive. A few feet beyond was the modern interpretive centre, where we sampled a little smoked salmon and picked up a small square of fragrant red wood.
On the bus, we had the opportunity to eat our sandwiches. The bus driver had told us to leave any food, especially bananas, on board, so that we wouldn’t attract bears. As our lunch consisted of sandwiches and bananas, we were glad of the advice. Before leaving the ship, we knew that returning for lunch would cut into our short time for sightseeing in town. So, we went up to the 24-hour buffet and negotiated for some sandwiches. There was a sandwich-making section, but the Italian servers were mainly versed in open-face sandwiches and had a very hard time understanding “to go”. Usually, people would just take their plate to the swimming pool, or on deck, or wherever. Through much pantomiming and repetition, they finally understood that we wanted the sandwiches wrapped. The effort was well worth it – they were delicious and our 12:30 return bus ride was timed perfectly for our picnic lunch.
Back in town, we stepped off the bus to do our more commercial sightseeing.
Creek Street red light
Once the red light district Several shops featured beautiful artworks – carvings, jewelry, paintings, glass work, skins and beadwork. We only looked - except at the tourist joint where I took Ruth’s picture with the tall, grinning, fake-fur orca!
This brought us back to the main street, where we headed for the old hotel to continue our short tradition of a beer in every port. The bar-room was huge, now with lots of other tourists eating and drinking and talking loudly. The bar itself was also huge, carved from dark red wood and worthy of a most elegant western movie. Mirrors covered the wall behind the bar. Cut-glass lamps shed small pools of yellow light. Bottles ranged from end to end. Beer taps adorned the centre. We sampled the local brew, but Ruth was disappointed because they had no special coasters for her collection.
After what already seemed a full day to us, the ship departed at 2:30. Once again, we were in a rush to attend a lecture by an anthropologist who specialized in Tlingit culture. The material was interesting, but the anthropologist was a dull speaker; therefore, the darkened room and slides were something of a challenge for heavy eyes.
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Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
You guys made good use of your limited time ashore! I love the shot of Ruth with the fuzzy orca. As for bears and noise - I'm with you.