The morning that awaited us

Uneventful night and we were able to dock in Ketchikan. Our ship had to dock at the big ship dock, even though we were only ship in town, and the dock was really not set up for a small ship like ours. This meant the crew had to do a lot of maneuvering to get the gangplank in place. I think it took over an hour to find something that worked.

Joe

Once he was finally able to board the ship, a local Tlingit guide named Joe (he told us his native name, which he said explained why he went by Joe outside of his tribe). He gave a good background talk on the local native culture. He told how until a couple generations ago there were very strict rules about family life. There are two tribes in the area, the Eagles and the Ravens. An Eagle was required to marry a Raven, and vice versa. Each family was required to have at least one son and one daughter. As you can imagine, that could lead to some large families! The children were then raised by aunts and uncles from the mother’s tribe.

Creek Street

Next he led us on a walking tour in the pouring rain. Good thing we brought all our rain gear! We needed it. The continual rain was like Seattle on steroids, so we were seeing the real Alaska. Joe told us that it averages 160 inches of rain per year. As we walked along the Creek Street boardwalk, he explained the street’s history as the red light district in town up until about the 1950’s. He also told us about the trail that came down to join the boardwalk. This was, and still is, called the Married Man’s Trail. This provided access to the bordellos for the married men who could not be seen strolling along the boardwalk. Now the area is all shops and restaurants.

Taking advantage of the rare internet connection

The only shops that were open were those that were run by locals, which was a really good thing. All the diamond and tanzanite shops owned by the cruise lines were shuttered. We felt like we were seeing the real Ketchikan, and indeed, we discovered that we were the very first ship of the season to dock. Several shops we went into were busy unpacking boxes of items to stock the shelves for the new season. We stopped in a coffee shop for chai and internet and overheard the locals saying “The first one’s in today, it’s starting!” And of course, clerks in shops knew we were off the ship because we were strangers, and everyone knows everyone else here.

For Deb

Alaskan’s are Seahawks fans

Everyone we talked with was very friendly and made recommendations on good places to see. We already knew about Ray Troll’s shop and the Tongass Trading Post, but also learned about a couple of other galleries with works by local artists, and the Discovery Center, which was a beautiful museum. We were disappointed that one of our favorite native artist’s shop was closed for the winter – Marvin Oliver spends part of his time in Seattle where last we heard he was also teaching some courses at the UW. At least we were able to purchase several Ray Troll t-shirts. Later we also ventured farther afield to the Totem Heritage Center that had several very old totems.

We finally decided to get out of the rain and went back to the ship where it was now obvious that the tide was quite low. The ship now looked like a river cruiser as only two decks were now visible above the dock. The gangplank was also missing! As we approached the ship Megan met us and led us down a ramp to one of the skiffs for a 50 foot ride to the stern of the ship. The boat was now so low in the water that the gangplank could no longer be used! With all of the challenges and changes that we have had on this trip, one constant has been the ability of the crew to accommodate and come up with contingencies for every situation. We know we are in very good hands.

Playground on our walk

Liked this tree