Today, we arrived in Ketchikan, AK. It has the distinction of being the “Salmon Capital of the World.” As we arrived, we also became aware of the second superlative for Ketchikan — the rainiest town in Southeast Alaska. Now that may seem like a pretty narrow area to measure, but Ketchikan has gotten up to seven inches of rain per day and averages over 153 inches per year! Anyway, when we arrived, we went from sun showers to some very serious rain. But, amazingly, by noon, the rain had stopped and the wind picked up. That became important because a number of us went out to test this “Salmon Capital of the World” thing. After 3.5 hours on the water, the three boats in our group fishing for Kings with down riggers came up with bupkis. Having said that, it was a great day on the water.
In the shore part of the program, the other truth about Ketchikan also came true — at least for a while. Ketchikan can accommodate up to four cruise ships at a time with the potential of disgorging nearly twice the people than the population of Ketchikan. While that was true in the morning of our arrival, by the afternoon, we were the only ship in town and we had the entire place to ourselves. Of course, Ketchikan is known for its historic parts of the city including Creek Street — a historic boardwalk perched on pilings along the banks of Ketchikan Creek. This area used to be the red light district where “both men and salmon came to spawn.” Today, in addition to the red light district tours, it’s all about shopping, with a lot of kitsch. We were on the hunt for some Alaskan Native carvings, and ultimately found a couple we liked. Sadly, a lot of the carvings are done on very old whale bone that has been on the beaches, etc. Sensing the opportunity to make a buck, a number of the tourist trinket shops have bought up the lion’s share of the whale bone and then ship it overseas for mass production of “native” products that are sold for half the price of galleries that feature native artists. As a consequence, there is very little whale bone left for the real artists. That is a sad thing and, frankly, for many of the people that come off the megaships, they really don’t care. Anyway, we are happy with the pieces (and the provenance) of the pieces that we bought.
We really needed to “get out of Dodge” since a serious wind storm was coming, with 40-50 knot winds. It wasn’t long after we left the protection of the land that the seas picked up pretty dramatically. Anyway, tomorrow we have our last sea day and then we arrive at Nanaimo, our last stop before our debarkation in Vancouver.
This entry was posted in Alaska, Cruising, Ketchikan, Travel, United States
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
