Today we had a glorious day in Ketchikan. One of the best, sunny, days I have seen in a long time. It was quite windy but who cares if the wind keeps the rain away. The wind blew straight through Tongass Narrows an indication of things to come for the town when winter descends upon the South East Alaskan panhandle. Ketchikan is nicely sheltered from the East and to some extend from the West but a North Westerly gale can blow freely through the whole of the Tongass Narrows. Creating on occasion a local phenomenon called Horizontal Rain.  Your face gets wet and your shoes stay dry.

A nice sunny day in Ketchikan. In the distance the biggest hotel in Ketchikan, the Cape Fox.

Another nice thing was that today we were the only ship in port. Some cruise ships have already left Alaska but the fact that we start our cruise on a Monday, helps a little bit. Most ships depart from Vancouver or Seattle on a Saturday or Sunday and that means a full house two days later. And that full house then moves along the coast from port to port.  The ms Amsterdam is sailing a day behind this cycle and thus we have less competition to deal with. And it will be a few days before we come across the ships which are southbound on the return leg of their 7 day voyage. We will miss most of them altogether anyway as we are on route to Anchorage. All in all it makes the shopping experience in downtown less hectic, if you feel the need to go shopping. The sales attendants have even time to talk instead of being sales processing robots. For those who shop, the season is coming to an end and thus there are bargains galore and huge discounts. Most shops sell off their stock before the season ends and the shop goes into hibernation until May of next year.  During the last week of the season you often find items on sale which go for cost without any mark ups at all.

Although Holland America has squatter rights in Ketchikan, we are the most senior company calling, and thus normallyentitled to the best berths but being the only ship in port makes it even easier. The captain can basically park where he wants to go and where he prefers to stop. That is of course as close to downtown as possible but if you want to set your mooring lines in a perfect position, then 20 feet more forward or aft can make all the difference and having the whole berth to yourself makes that possible.

The shadow of the ms Amsterdam looming over downtown Ketchikan. Please note how quiet it is with only one ship in port. The gangway is dealing with high tide and has a shore side platform under it. When the tide goes down, that platform will be removed, stopping gangway traffic for about 10 minutes. In the foreground the Ketchikan Visitors Center.

While Juneau now has all berths tide independent, which means that the part of the dock upon which the ships gangway rests goes up and down with the tide. Ketchikan still has docks which are fixed and the gangway to the ship has to be adjusted to the every changing tide. If the ship is by itself it could select to go to one of the new docks and would not have to face the hassle but it would mean a longer walk for the guests to town and back. So the convenience of docking in town always wins out over the inconvenience of stopping gangway traffic for about 10 minutes to have the gangway adjusted to the tidal condition by keeping the steepness reasonable.

Another advantage of this 14 day cruise is that we have more time in Ketchikan. The 7 day ships have a standard departure of 15.00 hrs. in order to make Juneau on time but we will be in Tracy Arm all day tomorrow and then time is less of an essence. Thus we stayed to 17.00 hrs. and then sailed with a sedate speed of 16 knots to Tracy Arm. We expect to enter around 10 am. and what happens then is anybody’s guess. I have been to Tracy Arm when we could get all the way to the face of the Glacier but this season there were a number of times where the ships could make it barely inside due to the large amounts of ice coming out. So we will see tomorrow morning what Mother Nature has in store for us.

Weather should be good again and I am hoping for overcast skies as it makes the viewing of the Glaciers much more pleasant. Less glare and more natural photos.