Misty Fjords

We are approximately three hours from Victoria, British Columbia, after traveling all of yesterday afternoon and today. Apparently there is some rule that cruise ships must stop at least once in a foreign country, and hence the stop for five hours at night in Victoria. From the excursions offered, there isn’t much to it.

Today has been pretty unremarkable – except that we saw a number of whales. Carol threw up after the disembarkation briefing, and Maddy, Torie, and I did a five kilometer walk around the deck to help raise money for the Susan B. Komen foundation. Right now, as I sit ten stories up in the library, there is a black bird flying alongside the boat – and we are a long way from land right now.

Yesterday in Ketchikan, it was clear that not enough time is allotted in the town. It is billed as the Salmon fishing capital of Alaska, and Ketchikanians (?) are proud of their liquid sunshine – the 160 or so inches of rain they receive annually.

I got up early, did some blogging. I woke up Carol and the girls, and then went to explore the town. I found my way to Creek Street, which is now mostly shops – but back in the day served as bordellos and saloons. It was built over Ketchikan Creek, because bordellos and – for a time, bars -- were not allowed on land. The red light district did not close until 1953.

I went back, we had a quick breakfast, and then I took Carol and the girls over to see Creek Street. It had been sunny when I was out, but it was raining – but not a hard uncomfortable rain. The town also has some totem poles.

We arrived back on dock in time for our on-shore excursion – float plane to Misty Fjords, with a landing in Rudyerd Bay, and then taking a catamaran on a two hour trip back to Ketchikan. Misty Fjords National Monument is breathtakingly beautiful. The number of waterfalls makes Lauterbrunnen look like a drop in the bucket by comparison.

We took a bus to the float plane location – Promech Air – based right in town on the water (obviously). We loaded up – six passengers, plus the pilot. I got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat. I asked the pilot – “so, you just want me to randomly start pushing buttons?” He took me seriously for a moment, and then realized I was just kidding around.

The float plane cruised down the water – I was wondering when we were going to take off, when I looked out the window and realized we were twenty feet off the ground and rising. We flew over some of the inlets on Revillagigedo Island (named after a Mexican war hero), the head of the Thorne Arm, past Ella Lake and numerous mountains. We scoured the beaches in vain for bears. It was all very pretty, but the stunning part came when we hit the National Monument area (well, a small part of the 2.3 million acres of it! – five times the state of Connecticut.)

(Alaskans like to find out where you are from, and then proclaim that “12 Virginias could fit inside Alaska.” True, but at least we can swim in the ocean in the summer.)

We cruised around the Fjords – and true to their name there were hypnotic mists rising from the fjords, adding beautifully to views of the steep mountains rising from the shoreline. It’s like a land that time forgot.

We saw Big Goat Lake (alas, no goats there that day), 1,000 foot long water falls, New Eddystone Rock (basically a spire that was created as a volcano plugged), Behm Canal (glacier-made, not man-made – ignore the “Canal” reference), and other areas.

We landed – which was good, because Maddy was a little green sitting in the back seat – and coasted over to the catamaran, which was tethered to a floating dock.

Once on the catamaran (there were only 12 of us), we started the 2 hour ride back to Ketchikan. We went past countless waterfalls – many of which were stunning in their beauty or their fury. Our guides told us we were lucky – not all the waterfalls are always there, but were flowing well because of the recent rains.

There was some consternation among some aboard because we were due back around 12:45 – and it was all aboard at 12:30 with departure at 1pm. Well, I was pretty certain they wouldn’t leave without guests arriving back from a ship-sponsored tour (and I was right). We got back at 12:50, and the gangway was still down. (It’s a good thing I took them on the early forced march to Creek Street, because there clearly was no time upon our return).

The ride back in the open ocean was quite bumpy – but the area is staggeringly beautiful. I’m not saying I could live in such a rainy land where the high temps rarely hit 70 in the summer (although they don’t get very cold temps either), but I can see why people are drawn to such a place.

After lunch on the boat, Carol and I went to hear Donald Rumsfeld speak to the CPAC group – he’s got quite a varied background as a leader for our country! Then, wiped out by early mornings and lots of activity/fresh air, we took a good 2.5 hour nap.

After dinner, we repaired to our favorite spot on the ship – the Explorer’s Lounge, and had a Cote du Rhone and read our books (Kindle app on iPad).

Btw, right now, 2.5 hours from Victoria, we are immersed in pea soup thick fog. The ship’s foghorn keep going off – I can hardly see the ocean water from the 10th floor Library.