(Read more about Ketchikan & view the photos.)
The Tour spends a fantastic albeit drizzly day in Ketchikan, visiting the sights and sounds of the old town...
A second day in Ketchikan to rest and sightsee. Tour members take advantage of the day's suitable climate to sleep in, shop and explore Ketchikan's famed (and partly notorious) downtown districts. Shops galore, particularly jewelry and kitsch for cruise-lining tourists, provide diversion for anyone wanting to temporarily jump ship. Day two in Ketchikan also allows some members to pursue guided fishing tours in hopes of landing a few prized Alaskan King Salmon.
Today's Grand Tour adventure is a chartered cruise up Misty Fjords National Monument. A 2.2 million-acre forested treasure, the Fjords and its hairy residents submit to an average of 162 inches of rainfall a year, a good portion of which precipitates as snow. Carved by glaciers and formed by volcanoes over the centuries, 3,000-foot mountaintops shoot endlessly skyward as waterfalls drop springtime runoff into the sea.
The cruise ship, a speedy catamaran capable of precise turns, stops at various highlights along the way. Providing the Tour with a narrated account of this definition of ruggedness, we are delighted by a pod of Orca whales, eagles, seals, and even an ancient Tlingit Indian burial pictograph.
As we enter deeper into the Fjords, the drizzle stops on cue and we take our place outside on the top deck. The scenery is primordial, a veritable Lord Of The Rings kind of otherworldly landscape that towers and careens and swoops around you, leaving us all a bit dizzy and amazed. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience that should not be missed if you ever find yourself in this part of the word.
Five hours in total, we all return to Ketchikan ready for a bite and a break, eager to rest for the cruise to Meyers Chuck the following day.
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> GRAND TOUR HOME
> ROUTE MAP
> LOG BLOG
- Day 1: Nanaimo
- Day 2: Pender Harbour
- Day 3: Prideaux Haven
- Day 4: Shoal Bay
- Day 5: Lagoon Cove
- Day 6: Sullivan Bay
- Day 7: Sullivan Bay
- Day 8: Sullivan Bay
- Day 9: Duncanby Landing
- Day 10: Shearwater
- Day 11: Khutze Inlet
- Day 12: Klewnuggit Inlet
- Day 13: Prince Rupert
- Day 14: Foggy Bay
- Day 15: Ketchikan
- Day 16: Ketchikan
- Day 17: Meyers Chuck
- Day 18: Santa Anna Inlet
- Day 19: Wrangell
- Day 20: Wrangell
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