06 Sep

Day 5 – Ketchikan

 

We woke up at 6:30 today and ate our breakfast from room service!

We were almost to Ketchikan!

We’re here!

When it was time, we met up in the theater for our excursion. We were doing Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer.

We only had a choice of a couple of excursions (half off), and just picked which one sounded better from the short description. We didn’t know everything we were doing, but we didn’t care!

We were off!

We walked the very short distance to our boat for the day.

There she is!

And there’s the ship!

We boarded and hung out on the back deck.

They asked us to go inside for a few minutes when we left, so we anxiously hung out at the door and took pictures.

Inside the cabin there was a snack bar with free hot chocolate and coffee, and some snacks for sale.

He finally noticed us there and told us to come back out! Woot!

Here we are!

We remembered to bring our binoculars which my husband called field glasses when he ordered them. Because he is apparently like 100 years old.

Ally noticed a float plane taking off and I got her to film a video on my phone while I snapped some pictures!

He was close!

During my trips to Alaska, we have learned how easy it is to spot bald eagles when you know what you are looking for. What you need to do is scan the trees for bright white spots. I heard someone say it’s like golf balls in the trees, and that’s pretty accurate. Those are their heads!

Once you know what you are looking for, you’ll see them everywhere! Here’s an example. Look for bright white circles.

Do you see them? I drew some arrows to help:

There’s at least three!

This is as close as I can get with that wide angle lens!

Pretty cool, right?

Soon after, we got far enough away from the land that we couldn’t see details anymore. So we went inside after a while.  I did step outside periodically to take pictures!

I bought a candy bar:

And got hot chocolate.

Ally fell asleep at a table. I walked around to see what the rest of the boat looked like.

Ally woke up when we slowed down for some sights, and we went back outside.

Everyone came out!

Then we went deeper into a fjord to see the beautiful scenery.

We went very slowly so we could see everything.

It just kept getting prettier!

Then we sped up and headed back!

And we’re back! I liked this excursion, but if you do it, you should know there’s a lot of time on the boat when you are in transit so to speak, with not as much to see. But it sure is pretty once you get there!

We walked over to Creek Street to see if we could see any seals, and shopped a little.

We did see seals, but they were hard to get pictures of!

We stopped by the salmon ladder, but no salmon!

Then we walked back to the ship!

We dropped off our stuff in the room and went for a late lunch at the pub. Our towel monkey was chilling.

I turned on the TV and they were replaying the disco from the night before. There’s our heads! On the bottom of the screen! I’m on the right.

We had nachos:

And burgers!

Ally went for a nap, and I went for ice cream up top!

Hello, Ketchikan!

Little reflection action.

Here’s our view in Ketchikan:

The views as we sailed away were just gorgeous!

SD-14 came out to watch.

Then we changed and went to the Solarium for a while. We got in the hot tub, and relaxed.

Look at this cool dude!

Towel animals everywhere.

Sunset!

Then we went in search of hot chocolate and a snack!

Mission accomplished:

Then it was bedtime!

 

Testing Out Alaska! – July 30-August 4, 2021
Day 1 – Good Evening, Seattle! 
Day 2 – Hello, Ovation! 
Day 3- Sea, Glorious Sea 
Day 4 – Sea Day Again
Day 5 – Ketchikan
Day 6 – Sea Day