Happy Labor Day to all!
And here we are at our final port of this 7-day cruise - Ketchikan which was highly decorated with dozens of Am,erican flags....nice to see. And what a day it is going to be with mostly sunny skies, 59 degrees (9am), 3.4 mph winds, and 82% humidity. No rain, which is very normal here in this part of the state.
The Zaandam sailed at a steady clip of 12 knots as we entered the Tongass Narrows. Since the arrival time was 11am, we were able to watch most of the sailing after breakfast. We had some visitors this morning in the Pinnacle Grill. They were Marie, our concierge, and Mel, the Guest Relations officer we met last year. Since we have not had any invites to any President's Club gatherings, we have not seen her for the whole week. It is possible that we are the only members on board right now. Another question to ask Marie.
As the ship approached Ward Cove, 7 miles from downtown Ketchikan, we spotted a RCI vessel, the Ovation of the Seas, and a Regent ship docked there. The city does provide shuttles to bus the guests from here to town, but we have heard there can be a lot of lost time waiting for the transfer.
As we got closer to downtown, we saw two Princess ships that were already docked - the Coral and the Grand. The Oceana Riviera was also in port, making it another busy day for thousands of passengers and crew as well.
Ketchikan has a community of about 8000 locals with most of them staying here year-round. Here's a bit of info on this area. Ketchikan, the first city of Alaska, is located within the Tongass National Forest with 17 million acres, making it the largest national forest in the United States as well as the largest contiguous temperate rainforest in the entire world. Beauty, mystery, and untold natural riches barely touch the surface of its treasures.
Besides tourism, there are recreation opportunities, watersheds, fisheries and timber that employ over 3700 people. Even more if you count the number of excursions offered here. In fact, visitors spend $410 million dollars annually in this part of Alaska. We have taken a number of these tours over the years but choose to go on our own these days. We left the ship around 12 noon, avoiding the crush of shore excursion folks. Our path took us towards the famous Creek Street where we decided not to go much further. The clocks would go ahead one hour this evening, so we did not want to over-do it.
Crossing over the Stedman Street bridge, we had a chance to talk with a young local fisherman who told us anyone could buy a day fishing license for $15 and rent fishing gear at Dolly's House for $35. For travelers like us, it would be catch and release. Truthfully, we think the salmon are pretty beat up by the time they arrive at the mouth of the creek and might not be the best-eating. Perhaps after smoking, they are acceptable. Many large salmon were jumping in the estuary where some big seals were working the water under them. We doubt the fish were biting since they stopped eating before they brave the rapids to spawn upstream. All five types of salmon will come up this creek during the season to spawn including several types of trout.
We made our way halfway up Creek Street which really is not a street but buildings on stilts with a boardwalk all the way to the upper road. The waters were full of swimming and dead fish. Needless to say, there were hordes of people here today, so we made our way back to the Dockside Trading Center where the Alaska King Crab Company is located on the third floor. We were seated at a table for two with a nice view of the cruise ships, including the Zaandam. Even sharing one entree and one dessert, it was the most expensive lunch we have had so far. That is just part of the price for visiting Alaska. Nothing is cheap, except for a few souvenir t-shirts. If we had ordered the king crab, the price might have tripled.
The more important stop was to buy 2 bags of popcorn before returning to the ship. "You Know You Want It" is the amusing sign by their portable counter. Hard to resist; it is made right on the spot. Once again, we did not do any shopping except window shopping.
The Zaandam left the dock by 6pm where we watched the sail away from our veranda for an hour or so. The day had ended just as nice as it had started. We can only hope that this exceptional weather continues for the following weeks ahead.
Dinner was "dressy" which is unusual for a port day. So we decided we had so much for lunch, we skipped dinner altogether. Our one job was to complete the Canada customs declaration form and turn it in at the front desk.
Later on, we did enjoy watching the re-make of The Call of the Wild in our room. We missed the show of the singers and dancers with Feel The Beat and the chocolate surprise at 9:30pm where the waiters stroll deck five with all types of sweet, rich chocolate treats.
Looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow where most guests will be leaving......except us.
Bill & Mary Ann
