Fresh Ketch

Day 6 – Ketchikan

So far I have set my alarm every night to wake me up for stretch class, and today it almost went off. As usual I got up and did stretch and abs (with Angie, so not as much fun as it could have been), then had some breakfast in the Lido. I should have skipped it, because our shore excursion started at 9, and it was all about food. We met on the pier and walk a block or so to the Fish House restaurant, where they put us in the back dining room and stuffed us with tasty fresh seafood. My favorites were the crab and the halibut Olympia, and of course the blueberry-rhubarb bread pudding was a treat. The chef was a young guy named Brandon who reminded us of someone we’ve seen on Chopped at one time or another.

After the meal, we wandered around Ketchikan for a while. It has gotten way more touristy since we were last here, but it’s almost all the same stuff. We went into the Tanzanite International store, and once again Dave didn’t buy me any tanzanite. Also we want to know what tanzanite has to do with Alaska.

We got back to the ship around lunchtime, but neither of us wanted any lunch. We went back to the cabin until it was time to cast off, then we went up on deck to watch. For the first time this cruise there were passengers who didn’t get back in time, and the last two were really running as they got on. Once they were off the gangplank the forklift took it away and we were off.

The Captain’s daily meteorological and navigational briefing indicated some rough weather ahead, which made us very happy. It had been warmish and not raining in Ketchikan, but as we were pulling out it started to sprinkle, and the winds and seas steadily increased. Right after departure we hung out in the crows’ nest where Matt was playing, and you could see it start to rain harder and harder. Then it was workout time – me off to boot camp and Dave onto the treadmill. It was very exciting because there was actually another person doing boot camp with me – Neil, an African American dressed in purple shorts and t-shirt. He went well with my purple nails, and it was nice to have someone to roll my eyes at.

After exercise we once again made use of the two showers, then went and checked out the tanzanite in the gift shop and over to the Ocean Bar to listen to the Neptune Cats. Like everyone else on the ship they’ve not been on the ship or together very long, but they are really good. Also they have 3 giant thick fake books that they’re constantly picking up and dropping and looking through.  We hung out there for their whole set and enjoyed a free appetizer. They finished with “Sweet Caroline”, which seems to be required by each musical act once per set. We like singing the whoa-whoa-whoas, but don’t they know the Red Sox are at the bottom of the standings?

During the dead time of no music we went back to the cabin for some blogging and reading and sleeping, but I woke up after not very long because the ship was hitting whales – that’s what Chris the guitarist from last cruse called it when the ship would hit a big wave and shudder. I put on my evening clothes and headed up to the crows’ nest (they were just finishing up team trivia) where you could see that we were really in some weather. We were plowing straight into fantastic waves (hard to tell, maybe 20 feet tall?)(no, we found out later, only about 4-5 meters), the rain was coming in sheets, and when Dave came up he said the apparent headwind was 96 knots. If it’s not going to be warm and sunny, this is what we like. They put up closed signs on all the outside doors and netted the pools – no sloshing this time, although they don’t seem any rougher than when I was in them on the way back from Hawaii.

We stayed in the crows’ nest watching the waves until it was almost dinnertime, then checked out the Neptune Cats for a couple of songs. At dinner it was just John and Dave for a while, then Olympia and Earl came. It was baked Alaska parade night, which was fun. After dinner we went back to the Neptune Cats and danced our feet off. There was a big crowd and everybody was having a blast. They even did two encores (or anchors, as the lead guitarist called them), which is simply not done, but nobody wanted to stop. We finished up the night in the queen’s lounge where they were having something like karaoke – people were getting up and singing with the HALcats backing them, but there were no words on a screen and Lynn was there to help out. It was the usual mixed bag, but the highlight was two very nerdy guys getting up to sing the B-52s Love Shack. They may have been off key, but then again that’s how the song was written. They were awesome, and we decided that would end our evening.

The clocks get turned back tonight, and tomorrow is our last day. It’s been a good cruise, once we started trying new things. As Dave says, you can’t do the same cruise twice.

Today’s towel animal: cow, or dog. We’ve had it before on other cruises and weren’t sure then either.