Well, the time has come. This is the last port stop on our cruise and what a fascinating visit it was to Ketchikan (fabulous name isn't it?).
On our way into port it appeared to be a bustling, much, much larger city/town than Skagway and we were the fourth large cruise ship to dock this day- talk about wall to wall ships!
We decided not to undertake any formal optional shore tours as we like to walk around and get a feel for places. We undertook the first part of our walking tour 'downtown' in short sleeves as the sun was out and it was warm. Ketchikan is known as the salmon capital of the world and we were stunned as we walked the tourist route along the Ketchikan Creek to see thousands upon thousands of salmon swimming upstream including up a salmon ladder, to spawn. As we walked further upstream the numbers increased to the point where it appeared in some places that all the fish simply couldn't fit in the water! And we saw them actually spawning with hundreds of thousands of eggs settling into the gravel creek bed or washing downstream. And this in the centre of town!
As with the other Alaskan towns/cities we'd visited Ketchikan is pressed to the coastal edge as mountains rise immediately behind it. And there are wooden steps everywhere, some even have street names! Roads built on wooden 'trestles' cling to the mountain sides.
And this one's for you Chris - we came across KPAC - Ketchikan Performing Arts Centre and we just had to drop in to have a chat. They are an amateur theatre group and are bravely attempting to rehabilitate a lovely old building to its former glory as a theatre space.
As we walked further afield and into the historic area we saw that, as with the other Alaskan cities/towns we had visited, there was an air of run-downness and haphazardness to the houses and buildings. Nonetheless, it was an interesting place to visit, and like our other Alaskan stops we can only imagine that most people would be hibernating over the long winter months. Those bears have it worked out anyway.