Ketchikan- Day 11

Ketchikan was hot - all of 71°, which means we must be getting used to Alaskan weather. 

We had decided to skip a ship-sponsored shore excursion here since the town was right by the dock,

opting to walk the 15 minutes or so that (they said) would take us to most of the highlights. 

Eagle totem

It was a bit further, 

Note the houses on top of the tunnel and the steeeeeep stairs up the hillside

and we were way overdressed for the temperature, 

The two ends of Creek Street, a neat shopping area

but still glad we did it.

Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have found hubby’s bear buddy (look closely…),

a harbor-side fish and chips place (Juneau’s was better…)

Fabric from Alaska-based designers

Quilt ideas

or the second great quilt shop (where I spent lots of $$.)

Ketchikan is known for its totems

and the salmon run that runs through town with a walkway alongside. 

After walking back to the ship,

somebody had a short nap in the Commodore Club

before we once again headed out to sea.

View from the balcony, looking away from downtown 

Tomorrow is an at-sea day, 

Leaving our berth

then we are in Victoria and Butchart Gardens. 

Arrow is our lunch spot, behind the big pink building is Creek Street and several totems

Icy Strait Point, Day 10

Today we took a 2.5 hour wildlife and whale watching cruise from Icy Strait Point

Fancy walkway from the dock to town

and within the first 30 minutes 

Barnacles

we were watching a mama brown bear and her 3 cubs walking and playing on the shore. 

Mama and cubs

Worth the price of the tour right there!

Brothers

The boat was an inclosed catamaran 

Our sister ship

with comfortable seats,

lots of windows,

and open decks in front, back and above.

We saw a surprising number of whales (probably 10 or more individuals) -

most were in the distance,

where we could mainly see them blowing,

but a couple were close enough to see clearly. 

The magic of zooming-in

We also saw hundreds of sea birds (tap to enlarge),

a crazy number of salmon jumping and spinning in the air,

Belly flopping salmon

sea otters, 

Otter

harbor seals and more. 

Bow spray

Usually, we spend all day in each port, arriving around 7 or 8 am and leaving around dinner time. 

But today we were underway at 2:30, giving us time to visit the Commodore Club, our favorite hangout, where we saw even more whales! 

Tomorrow we’re in Ketchikan for shopping and maybe some sightseeing.

Juneau, Day 9

We had incentive to get up and moving today - 

QE was docked at the pier until 10:30 am, but after that passengers had to wait until noon to disembark 

plus take the ship’s tender (very tiny boat) rather than just walking off. 

We beat the deadline by 15 minutes! (I am not a morning person . . .)

Our goal was to see some sights and do some shopping.

First stop was the capitol building (not very decorative but very nice statues out front)

and the associated museum across the street, which had a good 27-ish minute film about historical Juneau and great examples of Chilkat weaving (and they allowed photos!)

I love Russian Orthodox Church architecture, so when we spotted a sign for one on our way to the capitol, we had to double back afterward and find it.

According to the museum presentation, the Native People built this in the 1800s for Serbian miners who missed having their own church. 

By lucky chance, two blocks away was Deckhand Dave’s and Alaskan Crepe Escape, the top two lunch spots in Juneau according to TripAdvisor. It turned out to be an open air dining area surrounded by various food shacks (Dave’s was a food truck). Some of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had and the crepes - both sweet and savory - were huge and delicious. 

Shopping was successful - hope the kids like what we chose -

then back to the ship via tender (not a bad ride except for being super crowded.)

Five cruise ships in port today. No wonder the shops were so crowded.

We should head out to sea about 8 tonight and be in Icy Straits tomorrow morning

View of the hills from our balcony.

for another whale watching excursion. Four more days and we head for home. 

Rains in Haines, Day 8

Our scheduled shore excursion wasn’t until 3 pm today, 

so we thought we’d take a walk into Haines 

and maybe have some lunch . . . do a little shopping . . .

It was cloudy and gray when we started out, but the clouds parted momentarily so we had an amazing view of the mountains above Haines. 

We made it up the 1/4 mile of dock and across the street to the first shop when the rain started in earnest. Since there’s no restaurant around here, we headed back to the ship . . . to get caught in the loooooong line of fellow passengers waiting while QE’s crew manually moved and reset the gangplank (ok, the gangway) to allow for changes in the tide. This was at noon, and was at least the third reset of the day.

By the time they got it fixed - they are not fast - the line of soaked, very annoyed passengers stretched almost the entire length of the dock. 

We debated canceling our shore excursion, but the sun was out and the clouds had receded, so we decided to chance it. 

The Tlingit cultural center was well worth the trip. 

We had two excellent Native guides just for our group of 17. No pictures were allowed inside, which was a shame. 

They have an amazing selection of Chilkat and RavensTail weaving, done mainly by one local multi-generational family.  

The river junction is also one of the few places in the world where all 5 species of salmon live and spawn.

One of the things I especially love about Alaska is that, although the growing season is short, there are flowers deliberately grown everywhere, including along the deckway to the cruise ships.

So beautiful.