Sapphire Princess Alaskan Cruise: Ketchikan

We woke up to the town of Ketchikan this morning

our ship

Danny's view of the town and harbor on his hike

Totem Pole at the entrance to Creek Street

Creek Street streams

at first, we just saw water, but when we looked closer, we saw Salmon everywhere!!

 Historic Creek Street, the former legal Red Light District of Ketchikan

watching the Salmon jump up the rapids. Too hard to see in this photo

Creek Street and thousands and thousands of Salmon

home of the most celebrated prostitute of Ketchikan, Dolly Arthur

the boat dock in Ketchikan

we found a mall which had a Radio Shack so we could get a camera battery charger

elevated streets!

we saw lots of float planes coming and going

I would say that Mom and Dad really enjoyed their balcony, even in port!

I passed up this chocolate shop, but Danny didn't. He brought a box of truffles back to the ship. They were surprisingly good!

Leaving Ketchikan

you never know what you will see in the water

there are mountains everywhere

watching for whales in the early evening

a Humpback whale spouting

our first glimpse at a tail as the whale dives down

Today we stopped at our first port, Ketchikan. We didn’t have long in this port, but we arrived at 6:30 a.m. and Danny made full use of our time in port. Danny left the ship shortly after it docked and took a cab to the Deer Mountain trailhead. He hiked up the mountain about a mile and a half (2000 vertical feet) and saw some amazing views along the way. Dad, Mom and I left the boat about 9:00 and walked through town to Historic Creek Street so we could see the Salmon run upstream toward their spawning grounds. Creek Street is a historic boardwalk perched on pilings and is the former Red Light District during the gold rush days.  I think we all were really surprised by the sheer volume of salmon swimming upstream. They were nose to tail and fin to fin. We saw them swimming towards the rapids and then jumping up them. It was obvious that many of them would not survive the rushing water. We had been told by the Naturalist on board that Salmon’s bodies begin to decay on their journey and many don’t make the trip. We saw many that were in varying stages of that process. After watching the Salmon and walking back through downtown, we made the trek to a Radio Shack at the Ketchikan mall to get a charger for Dad’s camera battery because he (or mom) left it at home. We thought that he didn’t have much battery left, but his battery was actually almost full. We just didn’t understand the markings. We still had a lot more to see on this trip so a battery charger was really a necessity. Danny had stopped on Creek Street after his hike so he could see the Salmon, but we were already too far away to meet him. He had some wonderful sushi in town for lunch and Mom, Dad and I ate lunch in the dining room on the ship. Our sailaway was to be between 1:30 and 2:00 and we relaxed on our balconies as the ship pulled away from the dock. Mom and I sampled the Spa facilities this afternoon when I had a wonderful massage and she had a pedicure. Danny and Dad spent time on the balcony and saw a pod of porpoises! We had dinner at our table in the International Dining Room, but we cut it short (no dessert) so we could get out on deck and watch for whales. I was so excited about watching for whales that I completely forgot to take any pictures of the menu or our food! The naturalist on board told us when to be there to catch a glimpse of some and she was right. We were rewarded with several sightings. We saw two tails and several spoutings! They were far away from the ship as they don’t like the vibration of the ship, but it was still very exciting! The evening show tonight was Mark Preston, a former member of the music group, The Lettermen. He sang some old songs and it was pretty good. Kind of cheesy, but at least he still had a nice voice.We watched Team Rootberry do another juggling show in the Piazza and they were great. We stopped for a snack at the coffee shop before retiring to our rooms. Tomorrow we dock in Juneau and go out whale watching!