We had to wake up early to escape the ship for our first tour of the cruise. The obligatory photos before we left followed by meeting the coach. The drivers tend to be seasonal workers as most people only stay up there during the cruise ship season. This time our guy was a local and told us more about the very small town and its history.
Ketchikan is a very wet place getting over 13.5 feet of rain a year! Yes it is measured in feet rather than inches because it is in the Tongass National Park and Rainforest. Unfortunately it was one of the rainy days. Luckily is was dry to start.
Dick and I were paired up in a twin kayak with him driving from the back ( he had the rudder controls). We kayaked out to a small island and saw an eagles nest as well as lots of salmon jumping but at times the rain was so hard you could barely see. Luckily we did stay largely dry inside our waterproofs and had dry jackets to put on after. I'm still glad we went.
After we got back we headed into the small town ourselves and found a local pub with great seafood and local Alaskan beer.
We had also booked an afternoon tour which turned out to be a good idea as it was raining hard again and we were in a Duck boat. Lots of windows and it was warm. The rain stopped and we got a good tour of the town and harbour and also saw the first of many float planes taking off and landing.
After getting back on the boat we had afternoon tea and then relaxed until going to a wine bar and tasting a flight of white wines each. That led to going to eat pizza in the restaurant next door with another glass of red wine and another early night.
Ketchikan is a very wet place getting over 13.5 feet of rain a year! Yes it is measured in feet rather than inches because it is in the Tongass National Park and Rainforest. Unfortunately it was one of the rainy days. Luckily is was dry to start.
Dick and I were paired up in a twin kayak with him driving from the back ( he had the rudder controls). We kayaked out to a small island and saw an eagles nest as well as lots of salmon jumping but at times the rain was so hard you could barely see. Luckily we did stay largely dry inside our waterproofs and had dry jackets to put on after. I'm still glad we went.
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| Kayaks drying out |
We had also booked an afternoon tour which turned out to be a good idea as it was raining hard again and we were in a Duck boat. Lots of windows and it was warm. The rain stopped and we got a good tour of the town and harbour and also saw the first of many float planes taking off and landing.
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| Got duck? |
After getting back on the boat we had afternoon tea and then relaxed until going to a wine bar and tasting a flight of white wines each. That led to going to eat pizza in the restaurant next door with another glass of red wine and another early night.
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