June 7

The Final Stop

Ketchikan:  Wilderness Exploration & Crabfeast

Today was the final stop on our Alaskan 5.0 Cruise.  Tomorrow we sail through the Inside Passage and on Monday we arrive in Vancouver where Kim and I will transfer to the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel to spend the night, then fly back to Orlando early Monday morning.  But today was one of our very favorite excursions, in fact when we begin researching the next Alaskan adventure every two or three years (and yes, we have begun talking about the NEXT one already!) we always make sure that one of the ports of call is Ketchikan where we can partake in the crabfeast at the George Inlet Lodge.  

Twice previously we took the boat excursion, like today to see how crabs are caught; and the last time we were here (in 2016) we took a flightseeing tour.  We left the ship at 11:30 and boarded our motorcoach for the about 20 minute trip to the lodge.  Then we descended the nearly 80 steps down to the lodge and dock where we boarded the boat.  We cruised out towards the cove where the crabpots are located but we stopped at an eagle's nest and offered them some fresh fish.  Within minutes several came flying by and swooped down to scoop up the treat.  So close to us :)  We continued on to the cove where we pulled up a crabpot and were given a live demonstration of how the crabs are caught.  We turned around and returned to the lodge for our all-you-can-eat crabfeast.  Of course my competitive wife quickly initiated our table in how to build our crab scraps because they run a "competition" to see who has the biggest pile.  AND they encourage creativity.  We were the only table to do so (because we are seasoned veterans!) and we easily won the competition with a "pile" some 29 inches tall (18" was the second highest.  We topped the meal off with blueberry cheesecake and then took some snapshots before returning to the ship.

Sunset over the snow-covered Alaskan mountains last night

Down the steps

Our cruising vessel

Here come the eagles!

The eagle grabs the fish - see it?

As they say, "we caught crabs at the George Inlet" :)

Close-up

Local brews

Oh yeah

The WINNING pile

The inlet

We'll see how tomorrow goes in regards to photos.  The Inside Passage is often billed as a wildlife experience, but in our four previous trips those were few and far between.  But it will be nice to have a "day at sea" with our great friends Claudia & Gary before we say goodbye and head for home.