DV, Day 3

Isn't this fun? You're either enthralled by my travelogue or bored silly and wishing I would stop posting already. Either way, here's another one!

We woke up in Ketchikan, Alaska on Monday morning. At 7:45, we had to be ashore and ready to go on our excursion... so we were up early once again! Here is what we saw as we walked out to disembark:



The view from the ship

We met up with our excursion guide and drove about 10 minutes out of town to a pier near Eagle Island. On the way, we had a driving tour of Ketchikan. Our bus driver told us about how the city gets 13 feet (on average) of rain every year, and how 4-5 days in a row without rain = drought. He told us about how everything that gets into Ketchikan has to be flown or shipped in, and then recounted what happened the day Walmart opened: they opened for 4 hours, then closed to restock their shelves. Then they opened for 4 more hours, then closed for 4 days until they received their next shipment of goods. Oh, well. We saw shipping containers stacked 5 and 6 high, sometimes with semi trailers or houses on top of them. We learned about slugs. Banana slugs make your tongue numb if you lick them. Apparently the slugs are everywhere (he was not wrong here; we saw 3 or 4 of them on the walk down to the pier when we arrived!). It was an entertaining drive.

After a brief training from our sea kayaking guide, we jumped into our kayaks (OK, not really. We were carefully helped in ... but jumping sounds more exciting) and paddled off into the sea. We saw starfish - purple and orange ones, bald eagles, jellyfish, a few quick glimpses of seals, and even a curious sea lion (he was just a little too close to some of the kayaks for comfort, though!). I was sitting in the back of the kayak, and therefore was responsible for steering. For the most part, I figured it out, although going backward was not my forte. 

Unfortunately, my camera was inaccessible, so images of this fun adventure will have to wait until I have downloaded my friends' pictures. I did take a picture of the trees after we finished our adventure, though. The entire island was green and absolutely beautiful everywhere you looked.

Trees ... and proof of a sunny day in Ketchikan!

After our kayaking journey, we traveled back to the town, learning about how most out-of-town folk capture rainwater in cisterns to obtain water for drinking and other household functions, hence the perception of drought conditions after 4-5 days. No rain = no water. No water = no way to wash clothes, dishes, you, etc. Folks have to buy their water when it doesn't rain - and it's not cheap. I'm sure our bus driver told us other things, but that's the one I remember.

We wandered through Ketchikan, and discovered a few treasures along the way:

The welcome sign for this little city

Whale Park - a cute little place to walk

The park benches were all fish and whales!

We wandered Creek Street, explored Married Man's Trail,
and saw Fish Ladder.

This is the path to Civic Center via stairs

Paths like the one above are often public streets - and therefore the city is responsible to plow if it snows. That sounded appealing. Especially for those whose homes are at the top of these stairstep streets!

We got back on the ship in the early afternoon, and after lunch, I sat on the deck and watched the world go by some more. And wrote postcards to some of my favorite people. Later in the evening, we tried to spot some whales, but all we saw was this:

The sunset

The sunset, 30 minutes later

Tragic, huh? No whales. Only a phenomenal sunset. It was absolutely stunning and one of my favorite moments of the trip.

For reference, whenever we were up on deck taking pictures like the ones above, I was dressed in a windbreaker (and sometimes another long-sleeved layer over my shirt), ski cap, and gloves. The wind was blowing constantly (a natural byproduct of cruising at about 30 mph) and it was cold! But well worth it, obviously. Especially after we found the vents that originated in the sauna and were blowing warm air. That made the starboard side of deck 13 the ideal place to watch the view. :-)