Ketchikan

This morning, we arrived in Ketchikan which is the 6th largest city in Alaska and in the most southeastern part of the state. It also sits on “the rock” or an island called Revillagigedo formed by volcanic activity with approximately 8,000 inhabitants. 

After our breakfast in the Da Vinci dining room, we disembarked and took a photo of our actual boat! (But the accidental wrong boat we took a photo of on Saturday, was actually docked here as well and behind our boat):

Our excursion plan for the day was to explore the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary, a private reserve at Herring Cove. Peggy, a retired school bus driver from Washington state drove us around today. At the sanctuary, we covered about a 1/2 mile of walking with our guide, Elijah. He pointed out berries, shrubs, and the various trees such as cedar, spruce, and hemlock. 

My mom and aunt in front of a tree where a bear would possibly nestle in:

We learned about red cedar which is waterproof and easy to work with for totem pole carving:



We were led to a wetland estuary in front of a salmon hatchery and where the salmon spawn. Without the hatchery, there would not be enough commercial salmon, but this is considered wild and not farmed salmon: 

We were lucky to see a black bear swimming here as they come to eat the salmon - they only eat the fatty parts such as the eyes and stomach and discard the rest of the fish:

We also saw an eagle here, but my photo was not great. But we headed into the Alaska Raptor Center where they take care of injured birds. Here’s Sitka, a bald eagle who had been hit by a car and lost its toe:



A red tailed hawk which had been taken by a young boy out of its nest and cared for as a pet. Hence, it has no survival skills and does not know how to hunt for prey:

An owl that had a damaged wing and therefore could not hunt for prey stealthily due to its wings making too much noise:

We then walked in to the Herring Bay Lumber Company saw mill, and explored the totem park. We learned totem poles not only tell its own stories which are detailed in its raising, but also they are allowed to naturally decay as it’s meant to have a “natural life”. They will not be knocked down, but are allowed to fall over:

Peggy then drove us to George Inlet Lodge for an all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab feast. The crab was super fresh which I enjoyed with a Denali red ale, named after the famous mountain we will be seeing at the end of our trip. The crab was easy to crack after a helpful tutorial to make those “Alaskan lollipops”:

One of many bowls of the shells - we were given wet towels as wet naps would not be able to handle the messiness:

Dessert was a cheesecake with blueberries:

Outside the lodge a giant crab and 79 steps back up to the road. My mom and aunt hopped into the shuttle van instead of walking down and up the hill:

We returned to our boat and rested. But my cousin and I eventually ventured out to the 15th deck which had stunning views: 

We then enjoyed the spa pools at the Sanctuary - no kids are allowed here and we enjoyed the steam room as well:

For dinner, we returned to the Da Vinci dining room. I didn’t take pictures of all the dishes, but we enjoyed onion soups, and I had Fettuccini Alfredo and my brother had shrimp and clams stew:

Also we had several desserts, but I finally ordered the Princess Love Boat Dream, a cruise favorite:

After dinner, we headed to the lounge to listen to the Charme Duo again from last night for the easy listening and then returned to the piano bar for some night caps and singalongs. Here the folks are singing along Y-M-C-A:

A busy day, but a fun one as we’re officially in Alaska and completed our first excursion!