Ketchikan if You Can

We docked in Ketchikan about 7 am. It’s surrounded by the Tongass National Forest, the largest in the US at 17 million acres. It’s coastline is 11,000 miles, about half that of north America. The Tongass (named after the Tongass clan of the Tlingit indians) is the world’s largest temperate rain forest – although it’s covered by ice and snow over half the year. It “boasts” 250 inches of rainfall a year!

Marsha and I had to hurry out of town to get to our arranged kayak trip out to Eagle Island, while Linda and Josh checked out the fish ladders, the Totem Heritage Center and the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center.

The kayaking was spectacular even though we were “surprised” by a hard rain shower (our guide said would probably not happen). Well, we were soaked, but satisfied.

We saw dramatically hued starfish (orange and purple) clinging to the rocks at low tide —

A pair bald eagle fledglings fresh out of the nest, and both their parents soaring majestically over head.

Isn’t it a little late for the hat and skirt Marsha? We were already soaked.

We headed back to town to see if we would see salmon jumping the tiered ladder, and maybe a bear doing some lunch (one was there at breakfast as a local showed us on his camera).

The salmon were there by the thousands, but they were already at the spawning grounds. We missed the show…and the bears.

As close as we got to a jumping fish.

We ate lunch on the ship and headed back out to the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, run by the National Forest Service. Great exhibits about the ecology, economy and residents of the local area.

Oh to have more time (as usual)-we did turn the clock back one hour more today! The ship had to leave mid-afternoon for our next port-of-call, Juneau.

[You’d think it would be a nice quiet cruise on to Juneau, but the ship won’t let you settle in with nearly 50 program offerings! Here are the few we took advantage of:

Ketchikan Wine & Cheese Sail Away Party

Foodie Fight: Culinary Trivia (Marsha & I came in second)

Sip & Savor (everyday) with a special bruschetta and wine

Delicious dinner of course

Showtime in the ship’s theater (tonight Mike Robinson, hysterical comedian/ventriloquist)

That’s all we could handle on a late afternoon and evening.