We arrived in Ketchikan after a nice sea day in the Inside Passage where we were able to view some of the magnificent scenery. We had arranged for a salmon fishing trip off the ship for the morning. Unfortunately it was an unsuccessful fishing trip with hardly a bite. The boat ride was enjoyable though and we did see many bald eagles flying around the waters where we fished. We even saw a whale or two as we searched in vain for salmon. On our return from the fishing trip we did a little shopping around the area before boarding our ship.
Our next stop was Icy Strait Point, a port we had not visited before. We had arranged for a private whale watching http://www.icystraitwhaleadventures.com tour which turned out to be fantastic. There were only 10 people on our tour on a rather large boat which made for easy viewing of the many whales we saw. There was a pod of 4 whales we watched for 20-30 minutes that just slowly swam around and occasionally did some shallow dives. We then went out a little further and found one very energetic whale that breached for us several times and kept slapping his pectoral fin against the water playfully. Sharon got some great pictures of these whales! We also saw many sea lions along the way and some very cute sea otters. This was really a great trip and was so much better than the whale watching offered from the cruise ship which charged $25 more for a ½ hour shorter trip on a boat crammed with 150 people trying to get a glimpse of the whales. After our whale watching excursion we had delicious halibut fish and chips at a local restaurant. We did a little nature hike after our snack and watched the zip liners come down the over 1 mile cable on this small island. We were really pleasantly surprised with this port stop and hope we go back again.
Our next stop is Juneau where we will visit Mendenhall Glacier, hiking and then to Skagway for a dog sledding excursion.
Hope you enjoy our blogs!
Greg & Sharon
Our next stop was Icy Strait Point, a port we had not visited before. We had arranged for a private whale watching http://www.icystraitwhaleadventures.com tour which turned out to be fantastic. There were only 10 people on our tour on a rather large boat which made for easy viewing of the many whales we saw. There was a pod of 4 whales we watched for 20-30 minutes that just slowly swam around and occasionally did some shallow dives. We then went out a little further and found one very energetic whale that breached for us several times and kept slapping his pectoral fin against the water playfully. Sharon got some great pictures of these whales! We also saw many sea lions along the way and some very cute sea otters. This was really a great trip and was so much better than the whale watching offered from the cruise ship which charged $25 more for a ½ hour shorter trip on a boat crammed with 150 people trying to get a glimpse of the whales. After our whale watching excursion we had delicious halibut fish and chips at a local restaurant. We did a little nature hike after our snack and watched the zip liners come down the over 1 mile cable on this small island. We were really pleasantly surprised with this port stop and hope we go back again.
Our next stop is Juneau where we will visit Mendenhall Glacier, hiking and then to Skagway for a dog sledding excursion.
Hope you enjoy our blogs!
Greg & Sharon
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