August 22, 2026 - Ketchikan, AK - Gray, light rain - 56F

It was only one hour but the time change was a killer for me. It always is.

I was up at 4 AM and flirted with sleep until 6:00 AM. Showered in the nice shower (once I figured it out) which had good water pressure. I was in The Galley at 6:30 AM. and managed to get another sunrise despite the overcast.

 Cereal to start. When I went to the pancake station they were open. I got two blueberry pancakes right off the griddle and ordered two EOM. 

Wonderful breakfast. Maybe the pancakes were available earlier because it was a port day.

As is the case often in this part of Alaska, the sky is gray and cloudy and light rain is falling. We disembarked the ship - dressed for the weather. I got a nice picture of the Brilliant Lady.

Other ships here today: Silver Shadow (of cancelled cruise fame) 

and Queen Elizabeth (of COVID fame) who followed us here from Seattle; 

Norwegian Jade is also here today at another pier away from the city.

I also got a shot of Ketchikan from the pier.

We are on tour today - "Lighthouse, Totems, and Eagles". We are meeting on the pier at 9:45 AM.  It seemed that everyone on the ship was on tour, as well.  Once everyone was there it was a short walk to our bus. There were very few seats available while waiting for tours.  There is Post Office at the Pier but those inside seats were all taken.  I actually sat on a wet bench in the rain at the Bus and Trolley queue until our Green Trolley/Bus appeared.   

We got a brief tour of Ketchikan from our 22 year old driver (half Puerto Rican from Kansas - one of many seasonal workers, who depart when tourist season ends).  We drove about 40 minutes to our boat docked at Ward Cove. The boat had restrooms on board but the small and steep stairs were difficult (I had used the facilities on the pier so I was probably good). We got window seats (clean windows) on the upper level and I stayed there the whole time.

The narration on the tour was excellent - clear and easy to understand. Additional recorded narration was also used.

As we pulled out of the cove and into open water, the boat was basically in a sea of jelly fish.

We stopped first at Totem Bight State Historical Park, a 33 acre located on the former site of a native village, where today stand  a group of four totems. There is also a Chieftan's House but we couldn't see it from the boat.  The US Forest Service hired older Alaska Natives to repair and rebuild these totems. The Park was added to the National Register of Historical Pllaces in 1970.

We then sailed to several spots frequented by bald eagles and got nice pictures.

On our way to the next stop, we were served a snack of smoked salmon (delicious), salmon dip, wheat thins and Ritz crackers (also good), and Seaweed Pickles (never heard of this but I liked it) plus Diet Coke. Tasty.

As we cruised the shorline and some fancy and expensive homes,

there serve point of interest worth mentioning.  There was a caravan/mobile home site (a million dollar view on a budget); 

a house where the front lawn was decorated with hundreds of bowling balls; 

and a home that was featured in Architectural Digest.

We stopped at Guard Island in the  Tongass Narrows to see the historic lighthouse. 

The light was built in 1904 to guide ships through the busy and narrow waters. It was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1969 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

The boat also stopped at a small island (maybe a marker for traffic) home to several harbor seals.

Just before we got to the tour boat pier, I got a great shot of the NCL Jade.  The ship was a long way from town - hope NCL supplied transport to Ketchikan.

We got on a different bus for the ride back - a very funny driver (from Utah).

We took a small walk around the Pier Area and were able to find some wildlife after all (emphasis on wild and not on life) - a black bear 

and a polar bear.

We were back on board by noon.

Not really hungry so I just had a salad (thousand Island dressing) in The Galley for lunch.

Ellen went to "Pink Agave" the Mexican Restaurant and met with someone to set up dinner reservations. One of those was for tonight at "Extra Virgin", an Italian Restaurant with several options for us.  I should mention that every time you order food you need to confirm that you have no food allergies - every time.

At 5:45 PM we went to Extra Virgin and got a nice table for two. This looked like a real restaurant. Lots of wait staff - all in black. We started off with focaccia, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Parmesan Cheese. The cheese was grated at the table. Yummy. I had seconds. Iced tea and a Diet Coke were also ordered.

Dinner included a Cesar like (romaine and greens) salad (HMT and ET), vegetable farro soup (HMT), Eggplant Parmesan (HMT and ET), Mushroom Fettuccine (HMT and ET). The salad was good. I really liked the soup but it had pepper oil and I couldn't finish it (it made me cough – not spicy but a lot of pepper). The eggplant (vegan) was actually stuffed eggplant – it was not fried so the eggplant was kind of rubbery and I didn't like the vegan cheese – not a fan favorite. We both liked the mushroom pasta, tasty sauce and lots of it. We didn't stay for dessert so we could make the show.

The show tonight is "Red Hot" a multi media event about the story of Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Cruises. We found seats in the Red Room. The preshow music was so loud that we figured that the show would also be at least as loud. We didn't stay.

We returned to the Cabin to settle down from the noise.

Lights out at 10 PM.