d - Ketchikan and surrounds

About 3am this morning, I woke to a glorious rocking and rolling…. At first I was conscious of my feet being higher than my head and was sort of surprised that I waited till my head was higher than my feet before drifting into a hazy sleep again.  It got a little bouncy soon after and I lay, curled up against soft pillows in the corner of the bunk bed, enjoying the motion tremendously.  It was still pitch dark outside so I was quite happy to stay horizontal and just enjoy the ride.

 

And then my alarm went off – I had set it because this morning I was going into Ketchikan as soon as the ferry docked.  The Road Scholar group has been fantastic in allowing me to tag along with them and seeing as it was a drab and rainy day, I could not think of anything better than not to have to think about what to do in very limited time.  So, I was excited to join them all.

 

Back to my alarm….. it screeched at me persistently and I had to scramble onto all fours on the floor, reach waaaaay under the bed to fish it out of there – the rocking and rolling has slid it from next to the bed to a deep crevasse somewhere.  By then I was totally awake, quickly got dressed and ready to go.  I opened my blind, only to be met with a solid slate of black.  That really got me confused for a moment.  Until I actually looked at my cell phone.  The time.  My phone had not changed to Alaska Time yet, it stubbornly will not pick up a signal for me.  So…there I stood, all ready to start the day, realizing that it was only 5am!  The ferry only docked in Ketchikan at 7am and we were only leaving at about 7.30.  Damn.  So, off came my shoes and I lay down on my neatly made bunk bed, curled up under my jacket and dozed for another hour or so.

 

Ketchikan is a strange, sweet little town.  Quaint in many ways, with some buildings looking terribly run down and others all spick and span. The town is built right on the edge of the water and a large part of the town is built up on a dock with wooden and metal pilings, reclaimed land – it seems solid enough, but weird.  Ketchikan has a tidal difference of 20 feet per tide!  Almost all the shops were closed as the first cruise ship only gets here in a couple of weeks time.  Some people were starting to do the typical after-winter repairs to get ready, but Dorothy and I felt like the only people walking around there.

 

The tour into Ketchikan took us up to the Totem Pole place – I really forget all the names of these places – they sound wonderful, exotic, exciting and all – but I tend to forget and don't have the time to look them up again right now.  Anyway – starting off at the totem pole place, we heard some stories, the old folk tales about what the totem poles meant.  Apparently its not just a casual thing – there are different meanings, types and a large number of meanings for a totem pole. We saw one that was under construction – it was huge and had already take this one man almost 7 years to get it to the point where it is almost ready to go! 

 

Dorothy is one of the ladies from the Road Scholar tour group and we get on very well, and tend to pair up and explore together and occasionally separate from the group too.  She has a quick smile, lovely sense of humor and keen to explore stuff other than gift shops….. so off we tootled down a path to see the old, ancient made totem poles.  What a lovely walk that was – on a lovely little path, winding itself through rain forest type foliage that gave way to the ocean right behind it.  In one part of the forest lay three totem poles – being :returned to earth",  When they fall down, they are not put back up – they are allowed to gently return to where they came from.  It was literally like looking at a graveyard. Sad, and yet the right thing to do.

 

After that, we were taken up to a lovely place for a delicious lunch and then back down this incredible hill for a walk.  Along the way were many interesting places and things to see – one that sticks out was the log people's homes.  They tied logs together, built houses on top of that and still live there.  I swear I am never going to complain about my house again!  There are float planes everywhere around here – some are really really small but they all look ready to wake up again after the winter months.

 

Before heading out for the shortish walk, we were all told where to meet up.  Well, I never listen to those sorts of instructions – I am totally directionally challenged.  I can turn around once and never find my way home.  After walking and exploring for about 15 minutes (we only had about 30 minutes walking time before the ferry left dock again), I discovered that Dorothy is the same!  She looked at me and asked where we were to meet the bus! 

 

I quickly checked that I had my extra money, credit card and ID on me – just in case we needed to get a taxi back to the ferry – or in the worst case, missed the ferry and had to fly to the next stop to catch up!  We both looked wide eyed at each other for a second, but then I remembered something about the Fire Department and we headed that way – all fine, but now we have learned to listen!

 

The town was almost totally closed up – nothing is open until early next month when the cruise ships come and deposit thousands of people here.  It was great to be able to walk around and actually see the town without the crowds.  The buildings obviously take quite a beating in the winter, and thre is a lot of cleanup to do before its tourist crowd ready again.

 

Back on the boat, I was quickly told that there are whales!  No rest for this weary, very tired lady!  But I got the perfect shot!  Whale tale with water pouring off it!    There are a good many other shots, but that is my favorite – so far.  I also captured a good few bald eagles, but they were a good distance way, so those photos did not turn out too well at all.  Soon I will get some close up photos of those J

 

There were a good many sightings of whales, dolphins and eagles, but with the rain, it was hard to stay out on deck too long with the cameras and also, the whales seemed to be playing with us – staying under.

 

Chasing and sea  lions or seals, all who don't seem to want to be photographed, is quite tiring.  It requires a constant presence on the cold deck outside.  I have found little spots where the wind does not get all its icy tentacles, but that also changes with the direction of the ferry's path.  Often I pop inside to the observation lounge, but as sure as no whales are no whales, there will be a sighting just as my feet and hands are warming up…. So out I go again.  But its so stunningly beautiful that I don't have a single complaint in me at all.

 

I know that I could happily sit in the warm observation lounge, or the cafeteria at the stern of the boat and see everything there is to see. – but I have this insane need to capture as much of it as I can and fill up those cameras.  Its lovely when its dark – I can part them (they are very heavy) in my cabin and happily, with no 'guilt' or worry about missing a shot – walk around.  Again, not complaining – this is absolutely what I want to do – back strain and all J

 

Tonight we are headed up the Wrangell Narrows, first a short stop at Wrangell and then the narrows at night.

 

Till then

Annie

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