July 5, 2000, Wednesday- we slept in this morning, which was a nice change of pace. Our arrival at Ketchikan was at 11 AM, so no rush. Our cruise past the town yielded some interesting facts about the international airport. It's located on an island that is only served by a ferry. The runway is on a raised area and the taxiway is significantly lower. Why? It permits a boundary fence to be placed around the pavement to keep bear and deer off the runway. It's been partially successful.
The dock area for our vessel is in the middle of the downtown, and more float planes land and takeoff in the immediate area then would operate from any land airport. A constant steam of planes are in operation.
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We walked into town and viewed the salmon fishery and it was amazing to see the fish ladders that the salmon take back into the place they were born. Even though the hatchery is stream fed, the salmon know which ones should climb the steam to the hatchery, and which ones should continue past the hatchery, even though the water would test the same. Just passing through the hatchery puts it's own signature on that water. Nature is amazing. We watched hundreds of salmon waiting for their bodies to adjust to the fresh water and colder temperature, at the base of the steams, before starting their death march to spawn.
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Afterwards it was sea kayak time for the 12 of us. A more pleasant day couldn't have been planned. Warm temperatures, partial sun and no wind permitted our two person kayaks to cross the main shipping channel and view eagle nests alongside pristine islands. The hour and a half flew by.
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Dinner tonight was the second formal night, and with tuxedos and gowns, the vessel looked marvelous. Like many of the nights, the dinners were filled with too many choices. Most of us selected the lobster tails as the first main course. Follow-up dinners included veal and steak dishes. Life was rough!
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July 6, 2000- Thursday- the last day on board was just what the doctor ordered, with all day cruising back towards Vancouver. Everyone got to sleep in, relax, workout in the gym, hot tub, and take in the scenery. In the evening we had to have our packed suitcases out in the hallway, and live for the next 12 hours out of our carryon bags. I had filled out disembarkation forms for our seven staterooms, and had received a disembarkation number of 22 for our group, and purple luggage tags. It will be interesting to see how they handle approximately 4000 suitcases.
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