Ketchikan is known as Alaska's "first city" due to its location at the southeastern most tip of Alaska...it is the first city you encounter as you cruise north. It also holds the distinction of having the world's largest collection of standing totem poles.
Ketchikan's average rainfall is 162 inches annually...but has been known to get as much as 200 inches in a single year! The weather WAS a concern since our plan for the day was to take a "flight-seeing" tour over Misty Fjords National Monument. To make the most of our short time in port, I had booked our flight for 7:30 am.
I thought it might be hard to get up for such an early morning tour, but we were up at 5 am without even using the alarm. It helped that we had to set our clocks back an hour the previous night to adjust to the new time zone. According to the Captain’s Log, between 2 am and 3 am we crossed the Canada/USA international border and sailed into Alaskan waters. What a relief when we pulled back the curtains in our cabin and saw beautiful blue skies!
It was interesting to check out the homes along the shore as we sailed into Ketchikan. We were sailing pretty close to the shore and with the binoculars you could get a pretty good view of Alaskan living!
Wouldn't it be fun to spend some time with this woman and hear her stories of Alaska life? She would fit right in on one of the many Alaska reality TV shows.
As the ship approached the city of Ketchikan, Bob and I went to the top deck to get a better view. The sun was just beginning to creep above the mountains as the Coral Princess docked.
Months earlier, I had booked the tour online with Family Air. Although we would be flying in a very small Cessna, I liked the fact that it would just be the four of us and the pilot, Dave. The float plane is in the previous photo so when Dave's niece, Kendra, picked us up at the dock it took all of two minutes to reach their facility. If we had gone out on the bow of the ship we literally could have jumped into the water and landed next to the plane!
Here is a photo of Bob standing in front of Family Air's plane with the Coral in the background.
We were all outfitted with headsets and microphones that allowed us to converse back and forth with each other.
With all five of us in the plane it was tight…but not uncomfortably so.
Going right by the Coral Princess...
...and then we took off! What a great view of the ship!
The low angle of the sun made for some interesting lighting on the mountains.
It was amazing to see the waterfalls spilling out of the lakes and cascading down the mountainside.
Dave landed the plane on a lake near an old cabin and we were able to get out and do some exploring for about a half hour.
A couple of other planes flew by but didn't land.
The abandoned cabin had been owned by the National Forest Service and had a sign on the outside that said “Goat Cabin.” According to Dave it was used…most appropriately…by goat hunters.
There was no wind, and with the sun shining brightly it was nice and warm and so peaceful. It felt like our little group was a million miles away from civilization!
I'm pretty sure that Bob wouldn't have cared if Dave would have taken off and just left him there.
The time went by too quickly. Many of the Misty Fjords tours that I checked into had quick lake landings with only a chance to briefly step out on the floats. I felt lucky to have had as much time as we did to explore. Dave took our picture in front of the plane and then it was time to go.
As the plane taxied across the lake and went into the air, we were able to look back and watch the little cabin fade into the distance.
A few more photos as we flew back through Misty Fjords to Ketchikan...
Here is a photo of Bob standing in front of Family Air's plane with the Coral in the background.
We were all outfitted with headsets and microphones that allowed us to converse back and forth with each other.
With all five of us in the plane it was tight…but not uncomfortably so.
Going right by the Coral Princess...
...and then we took off! What a great view of the ship!
The low angle of the sun made for some interesting lighting on the mountains.
It was amazing to see the waterfalls spilling out of the lakes and cascading down the mountainside.
Dave landed the plane on a lake near an old cabin and we were able to get out and do some exploring for about a half hour.
A couple of other planes flew by but didn't land.
The abandoned cabin had been owned by the National Forest Service and had a sign on the outside that said “Goat Cabin.” According to Dave it was used…most appropriately…by goat hunters.
There was no wind, and with the sun shining brightly it was nice and warm and so peaceful. It felt like our little group was a million miles away from civilization!
I'm pretty sure that Bob wouldn't have cared if Dave would have taken off and just left him there.
The time went by too quickly. Many of the Misty Fjords tours that I checked into had quick lake landings with only a chance to briefly step out on the floats. I felt lucky to have had as much time as we did to explore. Dave took our picture in front of the plane and then it was time to go.
As the plane taxied across the lake and went into the air, we were able to look back and watch the little cabin fade into the distance.
A few more photos as we flew back through Misty Fjords to Ketchikan...
No comments:
Post a Comment