We arrived in Ketchikan about 9:00am this morning to partly cloudy skies and temperatures ranging from a low of 48 to a high of 62 degrees. We had anticipated docking in the heart of town but instead were docked at Ward Cove West located at 7559 N. Tangass Highway. This made it difficult to run into town and explore a few points of interest before or after our tour. They provided both double decker and school busses to transport us from the ship to town. The bus ride into town with road construction took about twenty minutes each way.
Located on Revillagigedo Island, Ketchikan is 90 miles north of Prince Rupert, British Columbia and is the first Alaskan city you reach when cruising north. The town is approximately 30 miles in length and not more than 10 blocks in width as it hugs the steep bluffs of the forested landscape. Incorporated in 1900, Ketchikan has a population of about 8,500 residents and is the sixth largest city in Alaska.
Ketchikan has the world’s largest collection of totem poles located throughout the city, as well as at several parks and heritage centers. If you enjoy the rain this may be the spot for you. The annual rainfall is 197.8 inches and they recorded 42.69 inches of rain in October of 1974. Their economy is based around commercial fishing, canneries, government services, and tourism. In 2018 the city saw more than 40 cruise ships making over 500 stops in the harbor and bringing more than one million visitors to town.
There were five ships in port on this day and two of them appeared to be mega ships. This meant that everywhere you went there were a ton of people in town. One of the ships featured a lift on the back of the ship with a glass pod that you could ride up above the ship on. There was a giant giraffe character on top of one ship dressed in a bathing suit with a pool tube around it.
We took a shore excursion to the Saxman Native Village located about 2.5 miles south of downtown. We had a great guide who was a young man, 19 years old, and belonged to one of the local tribes. The village is a center for Tlingit culture and traditions, emphasizing family, clan and community values. The village is governed by a tribal council which provides services to the tribal citizens and preserves cultural heritage. We saw demonstrations of cultural dances, songs and the village carving center. Saxman is famous for having the world’s largest collection of standing Native American totem poles. They have about 25 totems displayed, mostly replicas from abandoned villages, carved from single cedar logs to withstand the heavy annual rainfall. Each pole tells a unique story through its intricate carving and vibrant color, representing animals, clan history and Tlingit legends. Inside the village’s Beaver Clan House, we saw a traditional music and dance performance. At the Carving Center they explained about the types of tools, paints, and techniques used to create the totemic art forms. Of course, they offer a gift shop for your retail therapy.
Our next stop was the Great Alaska Lumber Jack Show where lumber jacks compete in such skills as chopping, sawing, tree climbing, log rolling and more. The show lasted about an hour and the huge stadium was packed, not an empty seat in the place. When the seats were full, they would roll out more portable grandstand seating to accommodate everyone. They created two teams of lumberjacks for the audience to cheer on. When you leave, they funnel you through the gift shop.
Dinner on this night was in the Toscana Italian Restaurant on deck 14 with walls of glass looking out over the sea and surrounding hills. The sky was filled with spectacular cloud formations and the sun would shine through adding to the ambiance. As usual we ate much more than we needed. We indulged in eggplant rolls, carpaccio, fried baby calamari, spinach salad, pasta and risotto prepared three ways, veal scallopini with a lemon butter sauce, six types of bread with roasted garlic and a variety of olive oils and vinegars, chunks of cheese, three flavors of thinly sliced biscotti and tiramisu. Oh, my how we over ate. My favorites were the pasta dishes, but most everything was good.
The evenings entertainment was a magician and mentalist from New York by the name of TJ Tana. TJ became fascinated with magic at the age of five when a close friend made a rubber ball vanish and reappear right before his eyes. That one single trick turned his fascination into a hobby, which soon became his passion. He immersed himself in magic books and videos before going on to study with masters like Criss Angel, Lance Burton and David Blaine. By 19 years of age TJ was headlining in Las Vegas the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. TJ had a great show and was very engaging with the audience. Many of his tricks we had seen before but he did a great job with them.