Catch As Ketchikan

(Groan)  OK, sorry about that pun, but it’s been a loooong time since I made the last post.  I won’t reveal how many months have passed, but it’s a good thing Loni kept a diary or this trip would be lost to memory.  I got up at 6am to go on deck and supervise the docking at Ketchikan, only to find out we’d already tied up, but the early light was, er, delightful. 

I did get to watch another ship do its maneuvers, as it came in, and found that we were butted up against another Celebrity ship that would be leaving tomorrow.  We’ll pull out this afternoon, at 3.  Ours looks pretty much like its sister.  Yikes, among the three boats there have to be 6,000+ passengers that will descend upon this tiny place.  Too much in too little.

We hit the breakfast buffets and opted for baguettes instead of croissants as a change of pace.  I give top marks to Celebrity for its food selection and preparation.  It’s the main thing that would keep me coming back when selecting a future cruise.  The kids aren’t much for early breakfasting, so we met them at 9 for disembarking.  Some other passenger had suggested that we take a cab to the start of the Deer Mountain trailhead and do the hike up to an overlook.  That sounded good, but getting a cab with three ships in port might be a problem, so a quick look at an area map and we decided we could walk it.  The road up was fairly steep, but doable, and at the trailhead we figured we had time for the overlook.  So, up, up, up we went.  The elevation gain was about 1500 feet in a mile of hiking.  Urg.  Stairmaster has nothing on this place.  JC found Loni a walking stick, and then picked one for himself as this is his first strenuous activity since breaking his leg.  We never did get any view of the city or the port, but there was a lovely panorama of the channels leading into the harbor (to the lower right in the photo) from the viewpoint.

The Intrepids.

We took in the view for a while, and I went further up the trail to see if there was a different view, but found nothing, so we turned around and headed down.  At the bottom, there is a river that runs through things, with some of the kitschy “old time” buildings lining it.

Loni’s Fitbit recorded our walk at a little over 7 miles round-trip, so we got some decent exercise in to burn off a few of those butterfat calories the ship was forcing on us.  Speaking of the ship, the thing looms hugely over the town as it sits at the dock.  The big “X” is Celebrity’s trademark.

Ketchikan was a pleasant diversion, but there’s really not a lot there.  This is just about the whole thing.  Quite pretty, though.

No food reports, as we were determined to milk every last dollar we had spent on the cruise, and ate a late lunch back on board.  Supposedly the “Salmon Capital Of The World,” but we didn’t see any in the stream.  We did see a horde of diamond shops.  You’d think they mined the things here.  On board, we had calamari salad and some Indian dishes.  I forced myself to eat an amazing citrus orange pudding on top of chocolate mousse.  Now we’re cruisin’!  After lunch we took in the naturalist’s (Dirk Younkerman – now there’s an adventurist’s name) talk about Icy Strait Point, our next stop where the boyos and I will do a kayak trip.  After lunch, the kids headed for the hot pools and Loni and I sat on the 4th deck dockside to watch us pull out

and head up channel. 

Very pretty country passing right next to us made for a pleasant couple of hours.  Can you spot the float plane flying along?

We managed to avoid attending the “History of Faberge” talk and the “opportunity to admire and purchase original creations.”  Spotted a few whales in the distance.  Dinner tonight didn’t go like clockwork, we were seated late, the food was a notch down from the usual, and I and the server locked horns over whether he could scare up a Boddington’s that was on the menu.  He claimed they didn’t have any in “his” bar and suggested a Bud or a Heineken.  Barf to the first and it ain’t the same to the second.  While he disappeared to no avail, I walked out to the bar just outside the dining room, got my Bod, and returned to his less-than-welcoming expression.  Tough.  I have to say that’s the only time I can recall that we had anything less than excellent service.  Afterwards, we went up to the Cosmos Lounge and played Hearts and “Pass the Pig,” a game I cannot adequately describe, but which is hilarious.  We quit at 10:30 when the ‘80’s Music Trivia Contest started.  Talk about high energy, the place was rocking.  I know nothing at all about 80’s music, but JC does, and he hustled down repeatedly to whisper in our team captain’s ear.  We had a grand time and our “team” was the winner, thanks I’m sure in no small part to JC’s acumen.