Note: This is the 6th of 16 posts about our 21-day trip that included a 17-day (16-night) cruise on the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) ship SPIRIT from Vancouver, British Columbia Honolulu, Oahu. This post has 14 photographs with captions and some narrative. Photos taken by me (Bruce) with SONY alpha 6400 or Google Pixel 6 Pro unless otherwise indicated. (Photo by Linda taken with Google Pixel 6.)
FRIDAY 01 September 2023 — (T6,C3) Ketchikan, Alaska and Totem Bight State Historical Park
This was day 6 of our travels and day 3 of the cruise. I’m not sure what time we arrived at Ketchikan, Alaska, but our first photos, taken from our balcony, appear to be from 6 AM local time. If so, we were up early and dressed for the arrival. The embarkation “sail away” is always a big deal, but we especially like arriving in a new port-of-call. Cruise ships often arrive in ports very early in the morning to give their guests as much time as possible to go ashore (and spend money on shore excursions). Departure is typically anywhere from mid-afternoon to early evening, depending on the distance/time to the next port. These ships are able to set and course and speed and maintain it with considerable precision, so they have very accurate ETAs as a rule. After a few photos, I presume we went in search of breakfast somewhere on the ship.
Proof of Arrival for grand-daughter Sadie. The pony on the left (of the photo) is labeled “APA” (Grandpa Bruce) and the other one is labeled “AMA” (Grandma Linda). (Photo by Linda)
We were docked starboard side in, so we had a view of most of Ketchikan from our stateroom balcony. Most of the town is nestled between some small mountains and the water, and has an extensive waterfront. This is a composite image of 4 photographs.
We booked a shore excursion to Totem Bight State Historical Park (TBSHP), which took up the late morning. As we stepped ashore to gather by our tour bus, we were aware that this was the first time we had set foot on Alaskan soil.
One of things we noticed on the Coastal Alaska portion of this cruise was that many of the tour bus drivers/guides and venue guides were relatively young. In conversation, we discovered that many of them were from Brigham Young University (Utah) and were here working seasonal jobs. The reason is that BU has a semester schedule that makes it possible for students to take jobs in places like Alaska at times of the year when they are needed. They also have a training program for tourist industry work, and many companies recruit from there as a result. We were impressed that these relatively young folks had gotten their CDL-B (Commercial Driver’s License – Passenger Bus).
An information board on arrival at TBSHP.
A totem pole at the entrance into TBSHP.
The lovely, wooded entrance path into TBSHP.
The Lodge House at TBSHP. Our tour guide provides scale for the carved figures that support the massive beams that support the rafter beams for the roof.
The Lodge House at TBSHP viewed from the entrance end.
A view of the Lodge House at TBSHP from the side, with several totem poles visible.
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A view of the Lodge House at TBSHP from the side, with several totem poles visible.
Another interesting totem pole as we were exiting the TBSHP.
Upon return to the cruise ship dock, we walked the town for a while before returning to our ship well ahead of “all on board” time.
A view of one of the streets in Ketchikan. Ketchikan was a neat little town, but busy with tourists and vehicles and difficult to photograph in an interesting or meaningful way.
This photo is from mid-afternoon, not long after leaving the dock in Ketchikan. Seven images were composited to form this panoramic photograph.
These ships are part of the Alaska Marine Highway System, which is headquartered in Ketchikan, Alaska. There is a major dry dock facility just out of frame to the left with a ship in it for repairs.
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