Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
After a busy day in Juneau, our time in Ketchikan was much more relaxed. For one, the ship didn’t reach port until late morning and we decided to let all those who needed to rush off get out of our way before we disembarked ourselves. So it was nearly noon before we left the ship.
Ketchikan is quite picturesque with colorful buildings in the downtown and historic districts as well as the expected marina areas. It’s known as the Salmon Capital of the World and has the street sign to prove it.
Our ship was one of three docked right along the waterfront (hello, Viking Venus and MSC Poesia!), no tendering needed, so we stepped right off the ship into the streets of the town. Right near the visitors’ center on the dock is the “Liquid Sunshine Gauge” although I couldn’t tell that it actually had a value set. The record rainfall for a single year is 202.55 inches in 1949, which is the year Alaska became a state. The fish on the side indicates the previous year’s total.
Kudos to the city for having lots of signs for the various main tourist attractions that made it very easy to get around, even without a map. First we made the obligatory pilgrimage to Creek Street, which is actually a tall boardwalk set on stilts. It was the city’s red light district for the first half of the 20th century and another portion of the boardwalk, called Married Man’s Way, exists further uphill. That was the route certain brothel patrons would take to avoid being caught up in raids. Dolly’s House, the bright green building, is now a museum. It was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 2014.
The “creek” mention in the street name is actually Ketchikan Creek, one of the places where salmon expend their life energy swimming upstream. The water is rather calm at the lower end, near Dolly’s House, but as you follow the boardwalk upstream the stream flows over several small waterfalls and directed waterways.
It’s not immediately obvious but you can see the salmon jumping as they try to leap up the falls.
At some point humans intervened and built a “salmon ladder” which we joked was like the ADA ramp for the fish. But the jumps required by the fish were less difficult on this side and we saw several fish working their way up the ramps.
But even after reaching the top of the ramp (or the lower falls) there was another significant challenge for the fish to get past. The water calmed but was quite shallow. We could see the fishes’ dorsal fins all in the stream and joked that it looked like a bunch of baby sharks. There were a couple of folks fishing, so the fish would need to ignore them as they continued upstream.
Oh, and don’t forget about the five types of salmon. I’d remembered there was a way to remember using your hand but after 20 years, the only one I remembered was using the index finger for sockeye.
Totem Heritage Center
We stopped by the Totem Heritage Center although we did not go inside. We’d thought to browse the gift shop but they don’t have one! But they had several interesting totems outside. These two taller ones were by the parking log.
And these two smaller ones were on the porch of the museum.
In the end
Alaska’s fourth-largest city is definitely a must-see on a cruise. The town is cute, the signage is great, and there are plenty of tourist attractions. This was my second visit and I’m glad I had the chance to return.
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