This afternoon, we were taking the ferry over to Prince of Wales Island where we’ll be spending the next five nights. But the ferry wasn’t leaving until 3:30 this afternoon.
So, Steve and I booked a Saltwater Expedition tour with Alaska Hummer Adventures using our 2 for 1 Tour Saver coupon. The tour started at 8:00 and we had to be there about 15 minutes earlier. The ladies decided to sleep in and stay with the rigs in our little turnout.
The tour started at the cruise ship terminal, so we drove down there. The downtown roads were torn up, and finding a place to park was a pain.
Most of the parking in that area has a 2-hour maximum. Eventually, we found a spot on a residential side street and walked down to the dock. The cruise terminal area is all shiny with shops and facades clearly designed to appeal to the cruise passengers, but it doesn't reflect, in my opinion, the soul of Ketchikan.
Five cruise ships were in port today as it was the start of the busy season, and several tour vendors were hawking trips.
It took us a little time to find where we needed to be in the chaos.
Fortunately, when we arrived, we found that only Steve and I were on the tour. We walked down to our boat, ....
the Coastal Cruiser, ....
with Capt. Doug and headed out of the harbor.
Our captain had only been here about a week, and was still learning the ropes. He was just up for the season as he has his own charter business in the Virgin Islands in the winter. There is a ton of seasonal work here for the cruise season, and many tour guides and employees are not local.
We headed out among the cruise ships and the Duck Tour boats, ....
and went over to the small boat harbor where eagles often perch on masts of the sailboats. There was one distant eagle, but we’ll see lots more in the next several weeks.
We motored back past the cruise docks with some snow-covered mountains in the background ....
and headed out around an island.
We saw one Harbor Seal in the water ....
and several of the common sea birds. There were no seals on the usual haul-out rocks, and we didn’t see anything else in the way of wildlife except about 50 eagles flying around one of the tour boats that has paid for permission to bait the eagles on the edge of a native-owned island.
Capt. Doug took us to a couple of small waterfalls flowing into the ocean, one of which was impressive but blocked by trees, so we could only really see the last small part.
Other than that, we watched float planes buzz around as we toured the coastline near Ketchikan.
The float plane traffic around Ketchikan was crazy. They were buzzing over our boat, flying around the cruise ships, and there seemed to be one landing or taking off every few minutes.
I took a few pictures of the town as we returned and went between two of the cruise ships to the boat slip where we tied up.
It was a beautiful day and it was nice to be out on the water, ....
but the tour at the regular price ($129 per person) wouldn’t be worth it in my opinion. Since we got the 2 for 1, it was reasonable for the two-hour tour at half price. Of course, it takes a lot to impress us.
We’re going with the same company next Saturday on an all day boat tour to Misty Fjords National Monument, and our expectations will be a lot higher.
We got back to our rigs around 11:00, and we packed up for our trip to Prince of Wales Island. We didn’t really know exactly what we would need, so we took pretty much everything we could think of that would fit in our Jeep. We were only taking one Jeep, so it was stuffed.
Then we drove the RVs to the ferry terminal where we were told we could park the rigs (and Steve & Esther’s Jeep) for the next five nights. After getting parked, ....
we checked in and got our tickets for today’s Inter-Island Ferry run, a different ferry service than the Alaska Marine Highway. Fortunately, there is a Tour Saver coupon for a round-trip ferry ride on the Inter-Island Ferry. Since it's $50 per person each way, this coupon alone paid for the Tour Saver book. In fact, on just this second full day in Alaska, we've already saved about $170 on the $100 book (it retails at $100 but they are constantly running specials for 20 - 40% off).
We took the Jeep out for some lunch, then returned and got in line for the ferry.
There were only five vehicles to board the Stikine, and we got good seats in the observation lounge at the front of the boat.
No food or beverage is allowed in that lounge, so we had to go to one of the other lounges to eat or drink.
Right at 3:30, we shoved off for our three-hour ride.
Esther and I always have the same plan and explore the nooks and crannies of the ship to get our bearings.
I took photos of our rigs as we pulled out into the channel.
The ferry left a little early hoping to beat a cruise ship, but it just got out ahead of us and slowed us down a bit.
We passed by Totem Bight State Historical Park and the turnout where we spent the night last night. Then it was a leisurely ride with beautiful scenery as we got away from Ketchikan.
Fortunately, the cruise ship continued north while we turned a little west.
We didn’t see any wildlife, and I didn’t take any other pictures as we just enjoyed the ride, did a little reading, and dozed off occasionally.
After arriving at the little ferry terminal in Hollis around 6:30 p.m., ....
we disembarked and drove the thirty miles to the west side of the island stopping at the grocery in Klawock (kla-WOK) before making it to our bed & breakfast in Craig.
I chose this bed & breakfast, Prince of Wales B & B, which is basically a basement apartment in a residential house, for a few reasons: 1) reasonably priced, 2) our hostess has a glass studio and loves to beachcomb, so I knew Linda would enjoy it, and 3) our hostess has her own little whale-watching and sight-seeing business. We booked there for three nights, and decided to spend the other two nights on the east side of the island near the ferry terminal.
Our hostess, Kathy, welcomed us and showed us around. She actually had little welcome signs for us in case she wasn’t there when we arrived – after all, it was Mother’s Day.
Our little stop for groceries in Klawock gave Kathy just enough time to get home from her Mother's Day outing on her son's boat, so she was there to greet us. What a ball of energy she is.
Since Steve & Esther were a last minute addition, she had scrambled to accommodate them. They had a “private” room, but it was in the laundry room. Still, it worked well enough.
There was one large bathroom and a wonderful kitchen where we could prepare our own meals. The entire basement was heated by a huge wood stove.
As we got settled, Kathy informed us she wanted to get us out on the water as soon as possible, so we were going to head out on her boat bright and early at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
We threw together a little dinner, chatted with Kathy, and then called it a night. In our little time on the island so far, I'm already thinking we didn't book enough days here.
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