Friday, 14 June 2019
Ketchikan, Alaska, USA
The most amazing sight as I sit out on deck in the glorious sunshine having breakfast of coffee and Swiss muesli, another Holland America thing I’ve become addicted to.
Yes, dear reader, it’s actually hot enough to sit outside. Gone are the low, grey clouds, rain and coldness that pervaded the Inside Passage further north. Warmer now as we head south.
Whales are breaching about 500m away off the stern. So far when I’ve seen whales breach have just seen a bit of the back, a pectal fin and the tail.
You can imagine my delight then, when a whale comes flying out of the water in a vertical trajectory head first, like a Polaris missile, before smashing itself down onto the water.
Wow.
A full on breach.
Absolutely awesome sight.
My one regret is that in one hand is muesli and in the other, a coffee. With no time to grab my camera from pocket, commit the image to my memory rather than a memory card. Staggeringly beautiful thing to see and experience. So very lucky.
Approach Ketchikan and surprised by how many cruise ships are in port. There are four already, we’re the fifth and another turns up a couple of hours later. Six cruise ships, approximately 13,000 passengers. The mammoth Norwegian Bliss carries 4,000 passengers! It dwarfs the other 2,000 passenger cruise ships in port: Westerdam, Oosterdam, Celebrity Eclipse, Seven Seas Mariner, and the Coral Princess. These cruise ships never fail to impress with their size.
As you may recall from the previous blog entry for Ketchikan. There’s a lot of Indian (as in curry not indigenous) jewellery shops in town. Each offering free charms to entice you in. Coupled with the cruise ship giving everyone vouchers for free charms, spend a charming few minutes collecting charms from various stores. Nieces are going to be inundated with charms. Wonder if I can get away with telling them that no expense was spared in buying jewellery for them? From their favourite Uncle.
For the first time, weather is warm enough to walk around in shirt sleeves and…wait for it…sit out on my veranda. At last.
Saw some hovercrafts as we entered port. Not been on a hovercraft before. Now is the time. Short hour and a half tour of the surrounding islands hovering about. Much quieter than expected and a lot smoother. The air cushion acts as a very good damper as it zips across the waves and wake of larger boats. Speeding along at about 27knots doesn’t feel fast when you look forward and it’s only when you look sideways that you get a sensation of speed.
Pull up in a cove and the crew start chucking frozen herring into the sea. Eagles soon start swooping in close to the hovercraft. Amazing sight being so close as they pluck the herring out of the sea. Sadly see no whales.
Back in Ketchikan, quick waltz around town and the infamous Creek Street. A row of shops and houses built on stilts over the local creek. One of the houses used to be a well known brothel during the gold rush era.
Dinner at my usual table by the window at the stern. Taurean charm had secured this table for the whole week on day one. Best table in the restaurant. On the adjoining table, a couple are celebrating their anniversary. Bloke has ordered a nice bottle of red wine. He goes through the motions of smelling and tasting it before accepting it. As if he knows what he’s talking about.
Woman then asks for a Diet Coke with a load of ice in the glass. It comes in the can, yet unpoured. She tells waiter to leave it as she’ll pour it herself. Assume she wants a refreshing drink before she drinks her wine.
But no.
She pours a good old glug of Diet Coke into her glass of nice, good quality, red wine. Takes a sip. Smacks her lips. Goes. “Aah, that’s better!”
Oiks.
You’ll have to look at the photos below to see tonight’s towel art.
Once again.
Makes me laugh.
One response to “174. Hovering about”
Brilliant series of posts about Alaska, and loved the photos. Yes, I’ve been to Point Barrow – way back in the early 70’s, while filming a military exercise in the area. We stayed in tents, not in posh accommodations at the 5-star level, as you did 🙂 I really liked the posts about your cruises, as an Alaska cruise is on our bucket list. We have been on the Celebrity Eclipse, for a spectacular Caribbean cruise. Thirteen nights from Miami to Curacao, Bonaire, Barbados, St. Kitts, etc. I highly recommend this cruise to you. On our South America journey, we sailed on the Zaandam from San Antonio, Chile, round Cape Horn, to the Falklands and Buenos Aires. We have also been on the Norwegian Bliss. We sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York last year. They only took in 1600 passengers, just in case there were some glitches (there weren’t). Yeah, you’ll be addicted to cruising forever, and you won’t regret one minute of it.