Day 03 - 14 July - Ketchikan

As a person born in Alaska, it's really poignant to return to the state of my birth. It's even better to be writing my blog while cruising along the coast line and enjoying the spectacular scenery. Tonight the view is of the low hills which are heavily forested and the seas are totally flat. There's a gentle hum and harmonic vibrations from the ship's propulsion system that's very soothing to me. The gentle white wake is breaking off the bow and and it slowly fans off alongside and behind us. But I digress.

Ketchikan is a city we have visited many times before and not all by cruise ship. We arrived on time and were docked at 8am sandwiched between the Carnival Legend and the Celebrity Odyssey. It was fun to watch the 'parallel parking' procedure. Also in port was the Radiance of the Seas and the Azamara Quest. That made for a lot of passengers roaming the streets and using the passenger services. Since it was Sunday, we attended the interdenominational service before disembarking at 9am.  

Off the gangway which was set up on Deck 5, I had a brief chat with Lance, our Cruise & Travel Director and he reminded me that we last traveled together on the inaugural voyage of the Nieuw Statendam last December. Today our plan was to do a 10k volksmarch. (6.2 miles). We met up with our group and about 15 of us started the walk which took us across the creek and up the hills above the business district. We had a good eagle sighting and passed by a salmon hatchery and the Totem Museum. Totem, by the way, means remembrance and it was a way for the native peoples to remember their history.

At the end of the first 5k, 5 of us did the second 5K which was much flatter and took us out north towards the airport. When that was finished, my wife and I caught the WalMart free shuttle to purchase an electronic toothbrush and some diet soda. We also took the opportunity to eat a Subway sandwich at the in-store location. The shuttle went back to the ship where we dropped off our purchases and headed back out for more shopping. But nothing was purchased! We reboarded the ship at 4:15 and there were 70 people still needing to board by 4:30pm.

4:30pm came and went and finally a HAL shore excursion bus showed up at 5pm. A number of people learned the value of taking a HAL shore excursion because the ship will wait for them! Immediately after the last person boarded, the gangplank was whisked away, and the ship quickly slipped silently away from the dock and began its northbound journey towards Sitka.

We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the Rotterdam dining room with a couple that we had never met before, but who were friends of mutual friends of ours. We were impressed with the meal. I had the Salmon. I'm sure we'll spend some more time with them as they are sailing to Sydney with us and they'll continue on to their home in New Zealand.

The evening entertainment was Tony Pace, an energetic cover singer of top songs from the various decades. I especially liked his renditions of Broadway show tunes from Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.

Al Trujillo gave a good evening insight presentation on Gold in Alaska. And my evening was capped off with the 10:30pm presentation of the Philipino crew show while my wife watched the movie, The Upside.

The weather today was spectacular for this area, but might be a bit more challenging in Sitka tomorrow. By the way, I walked 11.66 miles today. It's not a record for me, but is respectable.