A beautiful day in Ketchikan

Ketchikan is one of the rainiest places in the USA. 

Fortunately, we had absolutely perfect weather: sunny and 65 degrees!

Our ship pulled into port and docked right at the downtown boardwalk. We had a couple of hours before we met up with our excursion for today, so we walked around downtown and headed to Creek Street. 

This was the old “red light district” back in the gold rush days. Now the little houses are full of shops and art galleries.

The creek had spawning salmon in it, and there was also a fish ladder to help the salmon get up the creek. There was also a harbor seal swimming around. 

We watched this for a while, then headed back into downtown for some shopping before our excursion. 

At 11:30, we walked back to the pier and met the crew of the Aleutian Ballad for the “Bering Sea Crab Fisherman Tour.” We were some of the first people on the boat, so we got the best seats right in front.

The tour consisted of two guys showing us how commercial fishing is done. 

They pulled up a long line, and several crab pots. We go to hold the Box Crabs, as well as some of the “bycatch”: dogfish shark, huge prawns, and starfish. 

The guides also caught King Crab and an octopus to show us.  

We also got to see some Bald Eagles up close! The guides tossed fish to them, and one even caught it in the air! 

The guides also caught an octopus! It was pretty slimy so they didn’t let us hold that one. But it was really neat to see! 

They sold king crab legs, so we had to try some. It was very good! (We ate it too quickly to get a picture.) 

I also had to have an Aleutian Ballad t-shirt.

This was a really neat excursion!

After it was over, we walked around downtown a little more before getting back on the ship. The Tongass Trading Company has a huge store here, so I got my magnet. We were both tired, so we headed back to the ship after that.