June 15 2008, Ketchikan.

Ketchikan provided a regular Alaskan day with a bit of rain here and there. We knew that all these sunny and dry days would not last but there is always hope that it would rain on another day and not on a Veendam day. So the liquid sunshine was there and nothing we could do about it. We where docked together with the Millennium on the same pier at down town and that made it easy for all the get into the downtown area.

For the rest it was an un-eventful day and as everybody was back on board on time I could pull out before the Millennium as it is a tight schedule to Haines. Also I wanted to have a bit of time up my sleeve as today was the first day of the fishery season. Sometimes the fishing boats are on the steamer tack and then we have to slow down to dodge the nets. Departures in the various ports are set on sequence so that we are not in each others way. Thus officially the Millennium was to leave at 15.00 hrs and the Veendam at 15.15 hrs. but in this case with almost 45 minutes in between it worked out the other way around.

We slowed down for Snow Passage as that is a 90 degree turn with current. Going around such a corner with full speed would make the ship tilt severely and that is a thing to avoid. Also as there is a greater chance for meeting whales, we like to go slow so we can stop on time, in case one gets in the way. There is not much room to change course here so we have to slow down to avoid collisions and so we do. And whales we did see. Several spouts and tail flapping right in the channel. The tide was running strongly so they were having a good time feeding as the current brought the food straight to the surface.

Just around the corner we saw Orca pods. I had heard reports of pods being in the area but thus far not seen them. Now they were there and only diving when we came closer. I saw three pods in total, each made up of two adults and two smaller ones. There were a reasonable number of guests standing on the bow looking for wildlife, equipped with binoculars and cameras on tripods. This time nobody was disappointed by the absence of wildlife. To top things off there were sea lions on the buoys.

The fishermen were out there was well but not that many. The fish stocks have been in decline for a number of years, mainly due to the over fishing in the 1980’s and so there are not that many fishermen left anymore. In the 1980’s fishing boats used to come from the lower 48 by the hundreds to Alaska each summer and join up with the locals to catch enormous quantities of salmon and halibut. By the late 80’s the numbers started to go down and the length of the fish openings and number of area’s where you could fish were getting less. Also a program was started by the government to buy out fishermen who had hereditary licenses and rights to fish, in order to get the fish stocks back up again. There are reports that the fish is returning but the numbers are not that great to allow a fishing bonanza again.

That is just fine by me, as all those fishing boats were always sitting in the way and you never knew what they were going to do. For a small fishing boat passing clear of a big ship at 100 feet, is a good distance, to us high up on the bridge it looks as if it is on a collision course. So for us, the less boats the better.

This time there were a few fishermen north and south of the ships track line and all was well in the world. Weather was also good in the North Pacific so the ship did not move at all while making the turn north at Cape Decision.

Tomorrow we are in Haines and the weather is supposed to be similar to today.