Friday August 18 – Ketchikan

Lesley forgot that the iPad wasn’t on the new time, so set the alarm on the old time making it go off an hour earlier than needed! Erk! This wasn’t wasted though because it meant we could see the ship come into Ketchikan. There was enough light to see but the street lights were still on.

Ketchikan is not a large town, with a population of 14,600. Five cruise ships came in today, boosting that number by 10,000! Logging used to be the main industry but in the 80’s all permits were ceased so the town lost a lot of employment opportunities and thus population. Nowadays it relies heavily on tourism and fishing.

At 8am we commenced our shore excursion, walking to our first attraction, a lumberjack show. This was fun, with four talented lumberjacks vying against each other in teams of two (one for USA and one for Canada). Various log sawing, wood chopping, log-rolling, and pole climbing exertions. Needless to say, in the end it was a draw – rigged!

We then boarded a bus for a sightseeing tour of the town on our way out to the Totem Bight State Park. 

this totem appears in the American passport! A thrill for the Americans among us.

The stairs are a legal 'road', complete with name

An Australian flag!

At the Totem Bight State Park we saw totem poles of the three local First Nations peoples. Our driver/guide explained the meaning and stories of the figures on the poles –some relate to family groups and others to the village (showing what families live in the village). These are not original, but are about 100 yrs old. They were made to replicate older poles that had disintegrated, and to teach the younger generation so the craft continues. The poles are made from dead trees – they are felled and carved, taking about two years to complete. In the meantime the core of the tree rots away making the pole lighter and easier to raise into a standing position once completed.

family of the fish

family of the bear

 We went into the long house – a family home which could house many families of the same family group. It has steps around, and members sleep on the step level that reflects their position in the family. A fire pit in the centre keeps the inside warm and the hot coals are moved to one side to create a smaller cooking fire.

There is a small entrance (one only) – small to make all people entering have to crouch and thus more difficult for someone to attack them. The totems inside and out of the long house explain the family living inside.

Once we were taken back into town, we had sufficient time to walk to the stream where the salmon are trying to get upstream to spawn. We saw some, but not when the camera was trained on the water!

We had to board by 1.30pm, and the ship sailed at 2pm. 

the airport

seagulls on the water

three ships still in port (two already gone)

We had lunch then a rest. Later we went out on the balcony to seek and watch humpback whales, porpoises and jumping fish as we went through the Snow Passage, a narrow passage with land each side. There were many excited exclamations from passengers as whales came to the surface.