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Alaska 2008: Day 3 (Ketchikan)
Posted on June 10th, 2008 4 comments
Today will probably end up as the most adventurous day of our trip to Alaska.
The highlight, as you can see, was a floatplane trip to Misty Fjords National
Monument. This was my first time in a turboprop (a 1953 Dehavilland Otter),
and surprisingly, I was more relaxed than I am on a commercial jetliner! We
also spent some time walking around Ketchikan, the self-proclaimed Salmon Capital
of the World.Hit the link below to see all of today’s action!
The view from our balcony this morning
Not the most exciting city, but what a beautiful area
They love their totem poles here
There’s a fish ladder just upstream from here
Buildings along Creek Street
The light blue building (Dolly’s) is an old cathouse
The Star Princess was parked two ships in front of us. You can see the huge nightclub
they have on the back of the ship.
Now it’s time for our floatplane ride! Ours is the one in the back left.
While we were waiting, my dad noticed this guy hanging around nearby.
Look at those talons!
Not sure what he’s looking for here.
I was using the 300mm lens and 1.4X
teleconverter for these photos.
Okay, eagle time is over… time to board the plane… gulp.
Up, up, and away
View from 3000 feet
Lots of inlets and lakes
Mirror Lake
Apparently they’ve had a long winter this year
Sheer granite, with a 2000 foot deep lake below
A frozen lake
Waterfall below the frozen lake
Landing on a lake in Misty Fjords
Postcard shot, taken while standing on the plane’s pontoon!
Heading back to Ketchikan now…
Buzzing the Zaandam
Soon we were back onboard, for a 3pm departure
We soon passed the Star and Dawn Princesses
Leaving Ketchikan behindThat’s all for day 3. Tomorrow: Juneau!
4 responses to “Alaska 2008: Day 3 (Ketchikan)”
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Hope that you have a very nice trip. If possible, spend as much time as you can walking around Sitka’s downtown, preferably toward sunset on a clear evening. You might also want to look into some of the small coves and inlets on a Zodiac or other small boat. These can be very lovely, even when it’s rainy. If your ship docks at Seward or Whittier, then I suggest taking a day or two with a rented car before going home. At both Juneau and Seward, there are very large glaciers that you can walk very close to – Mendenhall in Juneau and Exit Glacier in Seward. These can both be very spectacular but keep a reasonable distance in case of falling ice chunks.
BTW – I very much enjoy your web site and the straightforward yet thorough reviews. I do suggest some lens reviews in the future, given the increasing prominence of dSLR cameras.
Regards
Joe Kashi
Soldotna, Alaska -
andrew rudolph June 12th, 2008 at 09:03
we recently took the cruise in May and had a fantastic time. We basically have the same pictures, although yours are much better. We took our with a Panasonic TZ3 on some gloomy days. We were on the Star Princess. Have a blast and can’t wait to see your review of the XSI Canon. I’m thinking of going to a DSLR. Enjoy
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Woo, those postcard shots are spectacular. Alaska has always been on my list of places that I hope to visit. I love all those blues and whites.
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Joe Kashi June 10th, 2008 at 23:05