They left Birmingham at 6am, arrived in Seattle at 2pm, and caught the Alaska Air flight to Ket to arrive at 3:30. We had the water taxi meet them, owned and operated by Bullet, and he brought them directly to the boat....first order of business was a social hour with them meeting some of our traveling companions....Chris is between Kevin Craig and Scott Strickland.
Then, it was off to see everyone again at the Arctic Bar, owned by Paula (actually there and working) and Tom (rarely there, docked next to us with the Puget Lady).
Linda Ellison and husband Marty, were only there for one more day, so a bonvoyage to them. This is at Creek Street near Dollies Whorehouse.
And a last dinner at the top....Fox Bay above Ketchikan at dusk...
Just before Roger and Diane arrived, I went fishing with a charter, and we passed the famous boat of the TV show "Most Dangerous Catch"....they are now in Ket giving rides on the boat while they collect their crab pots...
And one final picture of the "downtown"...they have one street light..
Pulling in after Roger and Diane arrived was Dustin , owner of the fishing boat Devyn. What a story to explain his grin!! He has a quota with the purchaser of his catch...the quota is 47,000 pounds (not sure of the time frame here, but I think per season of 4 months). He pulled in with 25,000 pounds in only 1 week of fishing!! Was he happy. He uses "long lines" which are several lines played out over 4 miles is length with hooks baited every 3 feet. They are placed in depths of over 1,000 feet, typically at 1,200! What work, and he loves it. He's heading out again, further north (as we are) in another day or two.... Here is his "rig" to pull up the lines..
This is Tony, who latched onto the first King Salmon of the fishing trip, but lost it at the boat...
Eagle on the lamp post in the marina looking for an easy catch..
A view of the Bar overlooking the marina..
But the floatplane ride was a rush....here is Kevin, our pilot, telling us about the deHavilland Beaver we were about to get into... I've never floated before, and have always wanted to get that rating, but never taken the time. He offered the "right seat" to me, but the controls are "throw-over" so I never had my hands on the yoke..
And here is the city after takeoff....
And from behind...
Roger, Diane, and Christy in the plane....there were about to be a thousand "Wow's"..
We landed in Punchbowl to try to see two bears we saw from the air, but couldn't get to them. We crawled out onto the floats as the boat drifted..
This is the first time I have ever flown, with all of the terrain above us. On all four sides, there was terrain!! The pilot cruises between the cliffs, weaving around and gradually working his way back to the main channel, called the Behm Channel..
This is the tail of a glacier just before emptying into Behm...
This was our view of the most famous waterfall, Rudyard Arm... and then we got really close!
He was to head straight into this, make a 90 degree right turn, and then fly directly into the next cliff face before turning again....sphincters were very tight...
This is just before touch-down at the Punchbowl landing...
Our pilot took this shot. He said he has never dropped a passenger into the drink, but there have been many "expensive spashes", as cameras, cell phones, etc are dropped... We were holding on tight..
This is our intended landing site for the short stop..
Waterfalls are the only outlet for the thousands of fresh water lakes surrounding the channels...
Long final into Ketchikan on our return..
Magnificent scenery! We decided that this is truly the way to see the Misty Fjord's. You cannot possibly see the same sights from the boat-level.
Glacier carved cliffs. In the 1930's, the CCC did work all over the US. They actually created trails around some of the remote cabins in this wilderness that are still present today....amazing work,
This is Eddystone Rock, in the middle of the Behm Channel. It is 230 feet tall, and is named after a lighthouse in England by one of the original explorers...
We saw Cosmo Place cruising near the Rock....they had left earlier in the day to cruise to the area we were going to fly to....they will be quite surprised to get this shot..
Roger, Diane, Chris and I went to the Eagle Center and it was quite the museum. They have two injured eagles there for rehab, and do a great job touring and explaining.
And the two eagles at the Hatchery and Eagle Center we visited....learned alot..
Well, we are off to Meyer's Chuck this morning with Roger and Diane. This is a cloudless day (for a change). Most days there will be at least some rain, but never a heavy downpour. We think we have found a perfect place to keep the boat during the winter!!
No comments:
Post a Comment