Alaska Inside Passage & Cruise, August 2015 Part 5 - Ketchikan
August 16, 2015
For more on our Alaska adventure see part one, two, three and four.
We arrived Friday at our next port of call - Ketchikan.
At this port we had pre booked an excursion privately for a float plane excursion - to Misty Fiords. Based on great reviews on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic I booked this excursion with Island Wings. We ended flying with Randy from Mountain Air, but the booking was with Island Wings.
We set our alarm early and breakfasted at our favorite place - outside on the 12th Deck, Great Outdoors. As we ate our breakfast we took in the views of our port of call. Ketchikan is quaint and touristy.
We disembarked without much trouble and found our pickup spot as instructed in our booking instructions.
"No Puffin"
Our driver, Chris took us to the Island Wings office.
After using the facilities we met our pilot Randy, boarded our float plane and we were off.
I thought it would be bumpy landing and taking off from water. It wasn't. In fact I found it smoother than the traditional take off and landing on terra firma.
This was a photo of the pilot's controls. Each passenger wore headphones with a mike. We were able to communicate with each other through the headphones.
Our float plane dock was quite close to where all the cruise ships docked. We felt completely dwarfed by these giants.
But soon we were taking off.
That circular thing in the window controlled the amount of air that we could let in from the outside.
We had such amazing views.
Breathtaking. We landed at a dock in one of the fjords in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. We had perfect weather.
We had a moment to get off the float plane and stretch our legs on the dock. We couldn't get to the shore at all.
We had time for some photos.
Kevin noticed some seals sunning themselves on the shore. I was convinced that they were cleverly painted logs, until one of them moved.
We watched as another float plane landed and approached our dock, as well as fishing boat.
Then our companion float plane took off.
And then it was time for us to take off again.
I loved the views we got from the air.
I couldn't get enough of this incredibly photogenic island.
Our tour was over too soon. Soon we had to return.
After we returned, we decided to explore Ketchikan a little more.
And soon we found the picturesque Creek Street.
It started raining. No surprise, this was Ketchikan. But that meant we hurried back to our ship. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. We ended up in one enormous slow moving line, just to board the ship.
By the time we got on board, I need that hot chocolate, and a hot shower!