Ketchikan

I set the alarm for 7:00 but woke up at 6:30 to find the ship docked at Ketchican. We again had breakfast in the Horizon Court and walked in town for about 1/2 hour. Because we'd booked a trip that involved a flight, I'd felt bad when we got up because of the low clouds. The locals in Ketchican thought it was great weather since this was the second day without rain! They get ~265 days of rain a year! From time to time, we had a few patches of blue sky and they were ecstatic!!

As a shore excursion, we'd signed up for the Misty Fjords trip run by Seaborne Adventures.  As a pilot, I'd not have dreamed of flying in this skud and was sure our trip would be scrubbed.  Honetheless, we showed up to met the tour on the dock at 8:50 just in case.

  I'd obviously forgotten about the intrepid Alaskan bush pilots however, because the trip was on!  They picked us up in a bus and took us to the dock where we loaded into a couple of Twin Otters for a flight over the Misty Fjords National Monument. Each seat had a headset through which they played great music. Really moving! We leventually landed on a fjord and got out onto the floats. Magnificent. The low clouds and mist in the air actually enhanced the experience. This was worth every penny!

Back at the dock, we decided to walk the mile to town. On the way, we saw many bald eagles perched in trees along the road. We did some shopping and walked down Creek Street where we visited the Big Dolly Museum. Dolly was a "lady of negotiated affection" and her house was one of many that flourished on Creek Street until it was "cleaned up" in the 50's. Due to a 2:00 sailing, we were back aboard at 1:30 and had lunch in the dinning room. I signed up for tomorrow's trip and Lin went to the room while I sat on deck and into the hot tub.

We moved from lounge to lounge before dinner and did a little dancing in the Wheelhouse afterwards. Dinner was OK at best. They supposedly had Bananas Foster flambéed by the Maitre d'. We never saw the Maitre d' nor any flames! The banana wasn't sliced and they had chocolate syrup on the ice cream!!! Oh well, Princess is not a place to find gourmet food.

Ketchikan is a really a nice little town. It's built in an island (Revillagigedo Island) so, while there are roads there, they don't go very far! The town itself is relatively small and very quaint and the people are very friendly. Perhaps the most famous area is Creek Street. This was until the 1950's a red light district but now it hosts a lot of nice shops, restaurants, etc. The Big Dolly Museum was a brothel and, for a small fee, you can legitimately see the inside of one (even with your spouse)! I've always thought of rain forests as tropical but it "ain't necessarily so"; this is in one!  As a result, the weather is typically damp. A bus driver said those rubber shoe/boots we sometimes call "ducks" are referred to locally as "Ketchikan sneakers".  There are zillions of bald eagles there, too.