Today under leaden skies we arrived in Ketchikan. It is the salmon capital of Alaska.
There are three other much larger cruise ships in port so the place should be very busy, or at least that is what we thought.
We were here in 2017 and saw most of what were to be seen. We did go for a walk and the salmon spawning season was over and there were dozens of salmon unable to spawn being hunted by a family of at least three seals. It was pretty easy pickings for them.
The salmon were running and these are Harbour Seals.
This one is upside down. The advantage is that it can still breathe and look at the fish underwater. Or he is just a showboat.
We had a bus trip that took us to a potlatch village. Our guide Matt was from Las Vegas, studying Law and History and this was his summer job. He had lots of good advice for us, in regard to bears.
"If it is black go on the attack, if it's brown lay down, if it's white, it's goodnight."
We learnt a lot about the totem poles from Matt, how they are designed and the symbolism that went with them.
Totem poles last for the best part of a century until they rot, and then they just replace them.
Here, one is being created.
We and two other buses were late back to the ship but luckily, they waited for us. They had a major landslide that destroyed three buildings and killed a person a few weeks ago. They spray painted the dirt green so they could tell if the soil had continued to slip.
We attended a lecture on wolves in the evening.
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