Ketchikan...

The ship docked in Ketchikan about 9:45am and we were ashore for a look around shortly thereafter. The shops were all the same just like the other ports of call, each one trying to extort as many dollars as possible from the tourists with their Genuine Alaskan souvenirs made in China. None of these towns are big, but with 3 or 4 cruise ships in town the numbers swell by several thousand and so you can imagine what it’s like to walk the streets in this sort of scenario. Not really a pleasant shopping experience at all. Ketchikan did have something a little different than the others, a place called Creek Street where the shops are all built out over the water on poles with a boardwalk taking you from shop to shop. Quite a pretty setting, although I can imagine it would be a different story when it rains, which it does frequently in Ketchikan, apparently in 2008 they only had 11 days of sunshine.!!

Creek Street...

In the afternoon we had a scheduled optional excursion out to the Misty Fiords. The write up in the brochure made it sound like a great place for photos with massive granite walls rising out of the sea to great heights and beautiful waterfalls and the like. We boarded a speedy catamaran and spent ¾ of our time travelling there and back. The sights were not bad but nothing at all compared to much of the beauty we have already seen throughout Canada and Alaska. We couldn’t help comparing it to Milford Sound in New Zealand which looked similar, but to our mind Milford is considerably more spectacular.

Eddystone Rock... on the way to Misty Fiords...

Frustratingly, the tour was late getting back and everyone was supposed to be back on board the ship by 5:30pm as it was leaving at 6pm. We were glad we had booked this excursion through Holland America as this meant the ship had to wait for us until we finally boarded at 5:50pm, 20 minutes late.