Posts from the Road…
May 7, 2001 – Ketchikan, Alaska
Sitting in an internet cafe overlooking the harbor and the mountains behind, watching the birds of prey circle and the seals bobbing over the surface of the water. Weather is partly cloudy today following a big storm last night. Residents here were asking if our ship went through the storm last night. They said it was quite something. We were planning on going kayaking today. Not surprisingly, we were the only ones on the ship that signed up for it so it was canceled. When we tried to arrange it ashore, they said they would take us out if we really wanted to go, but they were expecting gusts of winds up to 60 knots this afternoon so it may not be the most enjoyable experience.
At College Fjord / Prince William Sound, we hit our first prohibitively bad weather of the trip. Perhaps it was some type of karmic balance in response to my comments about the heavy snow in Denver. Either way, there was very low visibility and a lot of ice on the radar. After waiting some time to see if it would clear, they turned the ship around and continued to the next destination. Understandable, but disappointing nonetheless.
Had better weather in Glacier Bay, yesterday. Were able to watch the blue-hued Marjorie Glacier calf a few times. The rolling sounds of a thunderstorm made when an 80-foot piece of ice tumbles into the bay is very humbling. As we exited the bay, we stood in the aft and watched sleek, dark forms feed upon what was disturbed by the wake of the ship. They seemed to be attracted to the sound of me putting my camera away.
Two days and we are moving again. There is an incredible inertia factor to overcome. While the constant packing and repacking was wearing, the effort of packing up again after several days rest will be equally draining.
Time-wise, we are three-fourths of the way complete.
May 7, 2001 (Day 61): Regal Princess, Ketchikan, Alaska – 7.15pm
Health: Good.
Morale: Good.
Very late start to the day. We learned yesterday that canceled our kayaking excursion since we were the only two who signed up for it. No real reason to hurry out of bed. When they delivered room service the steward asked if this was a wake up call. No point in denying it.
An easy day in Ketchikan, Alaska. True, it was a very touristy place. But, on this cruise, we have been able to avoid the feeling of being in a tourist trap by either a) visiting these locations early in the season, or b) visiting places with civic or cultural imposition of restraint. I am not so sure Ketchikan applies for b), but a) certainly had a great impact.
The normal population of Ketchikan is 7300 persons. Today, we only added about 2000 to that number. We had a chat with someone running one of the local breweries. He produced a calendar of the upcoming months, detailing what ships will be in on specific days. Some days this summer, there will be more tourists than there are residents. He was relieved that there was no 8000 visitor days this season. For us, traffic was not bumper-to-bumper on the tourist superhighway.
At the Visitors Center, we checked into the possibility of arranging kayaking on our own. They were more than willing to set us up for tomorrow, but they discouraged us from going today because the weather report called for very gusty wind. We talked with the tour operator and he said he would take us out if we really wanted to go, but he was confident that the weather would make this a less than pleasurable experience. I was OK with this, but I think Anna really had her heart set on kayaking.
Instead, we wandered around the town and did our best to boost the local economy. We found an Internet café at the edge of a pier overlooking the bay. While we surfed, we watched birds of prey circle, float planes take off and land, and watched a group of harbor seals bob in the water a few meters outside the window. Anna called her parents to catch up.
Had a great chat with the guy manning the brewery. He had been stationed in Germany as part of an engineering unit near the Vulda Gap. We got to talking about travel and beer. During this chat, he produced a vintage 1918 military map of the occupied Rheinland. We exchanged stories about favorite places and the beers brewed there. Bought some of local brew to tide us over until Vancouver.
We rode the funicular rail up to the civic center and then hiked the trails down. Along the way, we paused to watch a couple bald eagles circling overhead. They are still captivating. Then we wandered Creek Street, famous for being the former Red Light District of Ketchikan. The ‘street’, as the name implies, is the creek. Homes are built along the boardwalks flanking it. The bordellos have been replaced with restaurants, bars, and boutiques – or so the Chamber of Commerce would have us believe. One of the more notorious houses of ill-repute, Dolly’s, now houses a museum devoted to that particularly colorful portion of local history. As we wandered by, the ‘proprietress’ of the museum, feather boa-enabled, stood at the doorway posing for photos and spouting historical trivia about the area. We passed on the museum. Perhaps next time.
It is hard not to like the town, especially on a day where there are not 8000 other tourists. It is a small town, clean, quaint (perhaps enforced by local ordinance), well maintained, and with at least one espresso bar on every block (also perhaps enforced by local ordinance). Ketchikan epitomized my expectation of ports of call on this cruise. There was a well-planned tourist infrastructure, lots of merchandise, easily accessible from the pier. The people in the shops were nice, an indication that it was still early in the season. It was nice and wonderful to visit, but I am glad not all of our ports of call were like it.
There were many totem poles erected around the city. Fortunately, many contained descriptions of the stories they told. No shortage of opportunities to acquire souvenirs. My favorite was any souvenir described as “authentic” in quotes. Which part of the “authentic coonskin cap” was authentic?
Our good deeds have been helping out fellow passengers with the laundry. Mostly it is not a problem. I think of it as returning the favor of that kind woman in Rijeka, Croatia years ago who helped us decipher the machines in the laundromat. My favorite people are the couples who wander by and open every dryer even though they do not have any clothes to dry yet. They neglect to restart the dryers afterwards so Anna and I chase them around restarting them in their wake.
Our least fun task this evening will be trying to pack our acquired goodies. The rather dramatic movement of the ship will make this activity more challenging and more tempting to postpone in favor the safer and easier activity of sleep. Hard to believe tomorrow is our last day on the ship, our home for the past 17 days. Now it is time to get on the road again.
Excerpts from Anna’s journal included
(Editor’s note: years later, we did get back to Ketchikan and went kayaking.)
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