Ketchikan is our port of call for the third time in as many weeks. The third time is a charm. Ketchikan is situated in the middle of the Tongass National Forest with 17 million acres , the largest in the entire world. In addition to that, Misty Fjords is only 40 miles away with another 2.3 million acres.
Beginning in 1883, a salmon saltery provided jobs in Ketchikan, followed by the fishing trade. Gold miners flooded the area utilizing the bars and bordellos of Creek Street. The Ketchikan Pulp Mill flourished until it declined. These days tourism ranks the # 1 industry. A population of 8200 residents keep the town prospering. As well as a land of totem poles, it is also the last port in Alaska that the Volendam will visit this season. Many of the guests, but more so the crew members will take advantage of the "close out" sales today.
The ship arrived to the dock by 10:30am and we were the only vessel there. The ship was cleared before 11am, and we happened to watch the passengers going off to meet their tour guides. If we have not mentioned this yet, we have to give credit to the fantastic crew we have onboard. The gangway was very steep today, due to a 16 foot tide fluctuation. Several guests using canes, walkers, and wheelchairs were immediately given help getting down the gangway safely. We could see that the extra help was appreciated.
Letting most of the tours exit first, we went off around noontime. And for a change, the weather looked great. It was partly cloudy with a little sun appearing now and then. But the best part was there wasn't any rain. The breeze was not as cold as yesterday, and even though it felt like rain might fall, it never did.
Curious to see if the pink salmon were still making their way up the creek, we took our usual walk towards the Stedman Street Bridge. From the viewpoint, we found that the creek was even more full of fish than last week. The casualties were laying on the banks all the way up the boardwalk. Taking more time to read the new signs about the salmon run, we noticed that the signs were donated by Royal Caribbean Inc. Cruise Line. The information was wonderful. At the top of the Married Man's Trail, we stopped and watched the salmon coming up the fish ladder there. A few of the larger ones were trying to come up the rapids, only to be washed back down.
Following Park Avenue, we made our way to the upper creek to find salmon congregating along the banks by the thousands. This is the start of the spawning grounds, especially where there is a bed of gravel and small rocks in the more shallow waters. We made our way up to the Deer Mountain Hatchery and the adjoining City Park. Making use of the nice benches there, we waited to see if the deer would appear like last week. No, it did not come back, but we did see an industrious Stellar blue jay planting seeds of some kind in the grassy fields. We have these same birds at home, and they seem to like staying in an area where there are trees and creeks.
It was time for lunch so we made our way back down to town and the Alaska King Crab Co. across from the ship. We ordered a shared plate pf chicken tenders with the best BBQ sauce for dipping. They came with plenty of fries which went well with the Alaska Amber beers. By ordering two beers, we qualified for two free shotglasses. We split a slice of carrot cake, then left to do some shopping. There are coupon booklets for every port, and there were a few things that we wanted such as a back scratcher and a calendar. In all of the times we have visited Ketchikan, we never realized that Tongass Trading had four locations. Each coupon had a number on it, and one shop did not honor the other shops. Go figure.
We got back to the ship by 3:30pm. All aboard time was 6pm, but looking out our window, we could see that the gangway was not being removed. Looking closer, we saw a firetruck and an ambulance. Oh no, another medical debark was in progress. A man was brought down on a stretcher, but the good news was that he was waving as they loaded him into the back of the ambulance. The ship left by 6:30pm and now we are on our way back to Vancouver by Wednesday with one day at sea tomorrow.
The clocks went ahead one hour, which no one likes. We will not have any time changes now until we begin sailing west towards the Hawaiian Islands after October 2nd.
Bill & Mary Ann
