The title on today's The Daily read: Where the Salmon Run. Yes, Ketchikan is known for being the salmon capital of the world but for the most part, the run is nearly over. We would discover a far different scenario from what we witnessed September 4th and 11th on our first visits here.
One of us woke up well before the ship entered the Tongass Narrows on our way to Ketchikan. Our planned arrival time was 7am, so at 5am, it was still dark. Usually, we watch the entire sailing into the dock area right before breakfast time of 7:30am. It is very scenic, but not in the darkness of morning.
Passing Ward Cove, we saw a large cruise ship, which turned out to be the NCL Bliss. Once again, their guests will be driven to downtown Ketchikan with free shuttles. As we got closer to town, we could see another HAL ship already there. It was the Eurodam. We came alongside at Dock # 2, where we normally tie up. Wow....two HAL ships. If this was a grand voyage, it would be an excuse for a party. Not so today.
The weather appeared to be in our favor with a temperature of 50 degrees, 94% humidity, and light winds at 3.4 mph. The skies were overcast at 9am but looked better when the clouds broke up and some sun actually got through. No rain was in the forecast. Lucky.
There was a total of 36 tours today, some of which we have done over the years. Since there were so many, we won't go into the details.
After breakfast, we had some online catching up to do, which is happening more often than not. One of us has noticed the signal fluctuating enough to slow down the process. Then we recalled propping our door open to get a stronger signal. It worked and we were in business. There was another medical debark at 10am with the local firemen doing the job. Then later in the day, another passenger went off on a stretcher. Sad to see, but this stuff happens more than we realize.
There was carpet shampooing done on our deck today. That began at the same time we left the ship around 10:30am. Our room steward said it would only take 10 minutes per room, so we left before they arrived.
We took a short walk to the Stedman Street Bridge where you can see the thousands of salmon gathering to go upstream. Today most of the fish were already dead and laying along the bottom of the waters or littered on the banks for the gulls to eat. Those few pink salmon left were being chased by many more harbor seals than what we normally see.
Waiting to carefully cross the street, we ran into the nice couple from Arizona we met last year while on a tender boat. Their names are Erica and Jim and we shared stories with them for ½ hour at least, solving the problems of the world and also with HAL.
Heading up Creek Street, we made it to the halfway mark and sat for a while in the almost warm sun. We could not help but hear chatter about a bear under the pilings of the stores. People had seen this bear eating dead salmon before it took refuge under a store over the creek. That's way too close for comfort, but then we recalled the waiters on the ship admitting they saw this same bear back in the beginning of the month. It was accustomed to people and not about to leave with all of the food possibilities.
From here, we decided not to climb the stairs that led to the top where the fish ladders were. With the majority of the salmon run over, the creek would be empty of live ones. The last time we were here, the fish were so thick swimming upstream, they went from one bank to the other. Not so today.
Unknown to us, a third HAL ship had docked in town right behind us.....the Koningsdam. Another wow....that's three HAL ships. There would be a lot of people in town after all today. We crossed the creek by a wooden bridge that led to the museum. Chief Johnson totem pole is erected there, a replica of the original from 1901.
Heading back to downtown, we remembered the waiter telling us that the Alaska Brewing Company would close on September 30th. He was correct, and that was just yesterday. There was nothing else suitable except maybe the beer and pizza place at Salmon Landing. But this was not a full-service cafe, so we decided to skip it.
Stopping for a while at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, we relaxed on the driest benches we could find. We were joined by a nice couple from Germany, who told us they were on the Koningsdam. Their trip was 7 days, then they were going to do some sight-seeing in Canada before flying back to Europe. They told us a lot about river cruising in Europe...something we have yet to do. Time to continue on....
If we did not get lunch, we certainly did not want to miss buying some popcorn again. Yep, he was still there and happy to sell it. Next was the hunt for a Lazy One sleep T, which one of us found at the last store we visited. With that done, we headed back to the ship to discover that the Eurodam had left the port. Their stay was from 6am to 1pm.
Back in our room, we ordered a room service lunch of salad, sandwich and some French fries. The ship left right after the all aboard time of 5:30pm. The Captain did not give his talk once again.
Dinner was more new things such as a beef poke with rice. One of us tried it and was pleasantly surprised...it was good. A bacon and cabbage soup warmed one of us up, and mains of meatloaf with creamy mashed potatoes, carrots and green beans was a nice change of pace. Desserts were one scoop of cappuccino ice cream and a tiny creme Brule cake. The waiters forgot to tell us to put our clocks forward, which we already suspected was coming. We did have the reminder card from our room fellows.
The entertainment of the evening was another performance by Hyperion Knight, the piano man. He did Beatles to Bach to Linus and Lucy.
Tomorrow we will be in Prince Rupert, another new stop for us.
Bill & Mary Ann
