Monday, June 12, 2017

Alaska Journal - Day 6

Today we landed in Ketchikan, the salmon capital of the world. 



This was the first time we had docked and walked off the boat.  It takes a lot of work to get ready for disembarkment. 

 Setting out rope.

 Tying up.  
A skiff was used in order to get a crew member on the dock.

 Removing rail for gangplank.

 Attaching a safety net.

Lowering the gangplank.

Since this is the first time we have been on our own away from the boat, it was important to keep track of everyone.  This didn’t really seem like a very efficient way to do it. 

We were supposed to move our magnets from aboard to ashore.

When we got off the gangplank there was a crew member with a list of everyone.  He checked us off his list and when we returned, he was there to check us back in.  We were told if we weren’t back by 5:30, the boat would leave without us.

Our very first sighting was a Bald Eagle on the peak of a home. Do you see it?

How about now?

There were a couple of different excursions we could pick from today.  We decided to go on a guided tour of the Tongass National Forest.

The Tongass National Forest is the largest national forest in the United States at 17 million acres.  It was established September 10, 1907.

Our tour was lead by a third-party tour company.  It was set up by UnCruise but not affiliated with them.  Our guide, Tonya, was a bit of a ditz and Mark and I both thought she was the worse guide we had ever had.  Despite that, we had a wonderful hike through some beautiful forests.



This is temperate rain forest, so we saw a lot of interesting fungi, including this Shelf Fungus on a fallen log.

We found a nice place on Lake Talbot to have the sack lunch we had picked up before we left the boat.

After spending a large amount of time trying to find the car keys (they were in her coat pocket), our guide finally dropped us back at the dock.  Mark and I walked around Ketchikan for a while, until it started raining.

Since we were on a 12 night cruise, in Ketchikan we picked up a few more passengers who were only going to be on the remaining 7 nights.  The boat was completely full for the rest of our trip.

After dinner the captain informed us that he was expecting 50 knot winds but that he would do what he could to change routes to avoid the bad weather.  He must have found the perfect route because, other than a very relaxing rocking, we had an uneventful night.

Next time: Black bears, Brown Bears and Humpback Whales.

6 comments:

  1. Tour guides can be hit or miss, sounds like yours this time was a miss. Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

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    Replies
    1. It didn't seem like a good job for her.
      Lots more trip blogs to come!

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  2. Love sleeping to the gentle rocking of a ship...

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  3. Kind of strange to get off the boat after 6 days at sea.

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