2019 Bahamas 4N Bahamas on Mariner of the Seas: Planning

Sunday, April 7, 2019 through Friday, April 12, 2019

Background

They made us an Offer We Couldn’t Refuse.  That’s how we ended up on a 4 night Bahamas cruise on Mariner of the Seas instead of going to Victoria, BC.  So let’s rewind a bit…

In July 2018, as we prepared to ship Robert to his freshman year at Western Washington University in Bellingham, we started to think about what we wanted to do in April 2019 when Andrew went to the OTHER Washington as part of the 8th grade trip to DC/NY/Boston.  Having a week in April for just the two of us to do something on our own couldn’t be missed.  But what to do?

An initial idea was to see if we could find a short cruise – anywhere – that took off after Andrew left but didn’t keep us out of town following his return.  Ideally, we’d be able to find something like a 2-4 day cruise out of San Francisco heading up to Vancouver, from where we’d then drive down to Bellingham to see Robert for a day before flying home from either Vancouver or Seattle.  It turns out Princess has cruises exactly like that, but they didn’t start until May.

We did find a couple of random cruises that ALMOST worked, in that they left the day after Andrew flew out, but most of them arrived home the day AFTER he got back.  The only cruise that seemed to work was the same 4 night Bahamas cruise on Enchantment of the Seas that we’d already been on in 2015.  While that was certainly a viable option, it wasn’t novel enough to get us really excited so we turned to Plan B.

Plan B was to get Andrew off to DC, then fly up to Victoria for a couple of days, followed by a short seaplane trip over to Vancouver where we’d spend the day tooling around Stanley Park on rental bikes.  From there, we’d rent a car and drive down to Bellingham to terrorize Robert, and then drive back to Vancouver for an afternoon at Capilano Suspension Bridge before finally flying back home.

This is still a trip we’d like to make…but then I made a couple of discoveries.

The first was that I had somehow overlooked the fact that Royal Caribbean actually had TWO ships doing the 4 night Bahamas itinerary.  In addition to Enchantment out of Port Canaveral they were also running Mariner out of Miami.  The fact that the ports were the same as our 2015 trip wasn’t a big issue.  We really liked Coco Cay, and saw no reason to leave the ship in Nassau.  We’d rather spend that day exploring the ship.  We hadn’t been on a Voyager class ship yet, so the novelty factor was soaring again - cruising was back in the running.

The second discovery was the clincher.  I realized that we could cash in various credit card and hotel points and pretty much take the entire vacation FOR FREE!!  Ka-ching!  Winner winner chicken dinner!  I see people on Cruise Critic all the time talking about cashing in points, but this was the first time we’d ever done anything like this.

So this trip began to take shape at the end of July 2018, as we took advantage of a BOGO with OBC to book a hump cabin (another first) on Mariner (100% paid for with credit card points), booked first class seats to Miami (the bulk of which were paid for with the remaining credit card points, so we splurged to upgrade mostly to have the extra seat width, with the out of pocket costs still less than it would have cost us to pay for Economy seats), a pre-cruise night in Miami (100% paid for with my Hilton points), pre-booked Chops and a soft drink package for Eileen (100% paid for with the OBC that came with our reservation), and made plans to redeem our RCI credit card points to supply all the OBC we’d need once we boarded.

So, to recap:

• Cruise, with awesome hump balcony: FREE
• Airfare to Miami: FREE (with some $ out of pocket to get First Class on all legs)
• Hotel in Miami: FREE
• Chops: FREE
• Royal Refreshment: FREE
• All other onboard expenses: FREE

Our only anticipated out of pocket expenses were going to be meals while flying out and back, Lyft fare to/from airports on both ends of our trip plus Lyft to PortMiami, and a couple of bottles of wine we’d be picking up in Miami before boarding.  In other words, a 4 night cruise was going to cost us just a couple of hundred dollars.  THAT’S the Offer We Couldn’t Refuse.  Torturing Robert at WWU was going to have to wait for another year.  Sad for us, but welcome news for him!

So, with the promise of an outrageously inexpensive cruise beckoning, I traded in lots of points at the end of July 2018 and got us booked for an April 2019 trip.  Eight months of anticipation ensued.

Sort of.  We had so many activities going on in those eight months that, unlike our earlier cruises, we really didn’t get into “vacation mode” until about two weeks before departure.  Royal tried their best; boy, how they tried!  I was the email point of contact on our reservation and starting about 8 weeks pre-cruise I started getting almost daily emails flogging some kind of pre-cruise deal and trying to get me to purchase something using the online cruise planner.  I don’t recall this level of marketing for our prior cruises.  Perhaps it had to do with the fact that I didn’t complete online check-in right away, which I’d done previously?

A note about the RCCL Visa credit card points that we converted to OBC.  I redeemed the points in early January 2019.  They posted to our shipboard account 14 days before our cruise departed.  This was a bit frustrating as there were some pre-cruise expenses (like the internet packages) that I would have preferred to pay using OBC and instead had to use cash.  This wasn’t a huge issue, however, because I expected that our redeemed OBC was going to cover our cocktail expenses (and whatever we didn’t spend would get credited back to our credit card account at the end).

Thanks for reading!  

Want to comment?  You can either comment here or go to the comment thread on cruisecritic.com.

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Welcome to My Memory!

I enjoy traveling, but as I get older my memory gets worse. To combat this, I like to write down my experiences, mostly for my own benefit.  However, I can't write without thinking about an audience, so here you go!

This site is a work-in-progress.  It started off documenting our Alaska 2016 trip but is in the process of being expanded, as I bring older trip documents under the umbrella of this site.  The navigation bar has a lot of empty placeholder links that I hope to build out over time.  Some of the links (most notably the footer at the bottom of each page) assume the older site structure, when only the Alaska trip was here, so please forgive unexpected links in unexpected places.

BTW: Why "Traveller" rather than "Traveler"?  Mostly an affectation - in my youth I owned a SciFi-based role-playing game called "Traveller" and therefore grew up using the alternate (but still valid) spelling.

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2017 Washington DC

  

Our trip to Washington DC in 2017 was one that I didn’t keep a daily journal of.  And I didn’t write about it right away after coming home.  And I (apparently) took only two pictures the entire trip.  So when I (finally) forced myself to try and write about this trip – in April 2026(!) – to say that I had little to go on other than really spotty memories is an understatement.  But, whatever I remembered in 2026 was going to be better than what I remembered in 2027 and beyond, so here it goes…

Obviously, this is going to be short and sweet compared to my other trip reports.  I DO have my Spreadsheet ‘o Fun from the trip, but in 2017 my format was a far cry from what I did later, and therefore its value as a memory aid is far below what later spreadsheets provided.

Anyway…

The purpose behind our trip from June 26, 2017 through July 3, 2017, was to attend my nephew’s wedding which was being held in Bethesda, Maryland on Saturday, July 1. The boys were 12 and 17, and at that time neither of them had yet been to DC.  We can’t recall why R didn’t do the trip as a middle school student, but A would do it in 2019 (during which E and I would do the “Bahamas 2019” cruise).

DAY 1: Monday, June 26, 2017

We flew out of SJC on American Airlines at 920A, stopping over at LAX before finally arriving at DCA around 9PM on Monday, June 26.  I had not been aware of the convoluted flight pattern that planes had to use in and out of DCA.  I recall being shocked and slightly anxious as I wondered why our pilot seemed to be having so much trouble lining up with the runway!

After collecting our luggage, we used the Metro system to get ourselves to the Hyatt Regency Bethesda, where a block of rooms had been secured for wedding guests.  We shared a 2Q room with the boys.  The hotel sat atop the metro system, so we literally take the hotel elevator to ground floor and then step around the corner to an escalator that went down to the underground station.  There was also a large bus terminal in a covered garage area at ground floor level, as well as a small Dunkin’ Donuts shop that supplied us with a number of grab-and-go breakfasts over the next several days.

DAY 2: Tuesday, June 27, 2017

We had a couple of big stops today.  The morning was spent at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, while we had timed entry tickets at 2:45P for the National Archives.  While I know we greatly enjoyed the Smithsonian, I don’t recall anything specifically at this time (i.e. 9 years after the fact).  Ditto for the Archives.  I do vaguely remember that there was a small fair setup on one side of The Mall, with (at least) a small Ferris Wheel.  I think it was on the “other side” of The Mall from where we were walking, however.

DAY 3: Wednesday, June 28, 2017

The original plan for this day was to stop by the Library of Congress before heading to the Capitol at 1015A for our 11A timed entry tour.  We ended up skipping the LoC, however.  I think we might have opted to sleep in another half-hour or so and we might have simply walked past the LoC.  We did make the Capitol tour as planned, and we also ate at their cafeteria post-tour.  We then headed back to the Smithsonian, this time taking in the National Air and Space Museum which was, not surprisingly, a big hit with all of us.  I particularly recall standing in a mock-up of Eagle from Apollo 11 with the boys.

While I don’t recall what we did for dinner on any particular night, I do remember that we joined S&W for dinner out one evening at Mamma Lucia’s for an Italian meal.  The restaurant was a short (7 minute), pleasant walk to a location south of the hotel.  It is possible that we were joined by Paul & Carol – not certain.

DAY 4: Thursday, June 29, 2017

The original plan for the day was to take in three places: Newseum, Ford’s Theater, and the International Spy Museum.  I had pre-purchased tickets for that latter two, but the Newseum website had indicated that it was no problem to buy tickets at the door, which is what we did. 

Newsuem was FANTASTIC!  So good, in fact, that we opted to skip Ford’s Theater so we could eat lunch at Newsuem and spend more time with the exhibits.  Among the (many) interesting exhibits were:

·         A room featuring several hundred climate controlled drawers, each featuring a newspaper of an important event in American history dating from the earliest publications up to current times.  So, for example, you could find a front-page edition announcing Lincoln’s assassination.  That same room was ringed by display cases with themed displays.  One of them had the garage door from the Watergate complex that a guard found intentionally locked open, causing him to call DC police and precipitate the entire Watergate scandal.  Another display case had a notepad from a reporter who’d won on Pulitzer prize in 2017 tracking down all 100 charities that then-newly elected Donald Trump had (falsely) claimed he was donating to.  Just a list of charities with handwritten notes like “no”, “never received”, “checking – they’ll get back to me” on it.

·         A section of interesting evidence collected by the FBI, including the shoes worn by the Shoe Bomber, the Unabomber’s hideout cabin, and (I think) the D.B. Cooper plane ticket.

·         A section commemorating (and providing a live count of) journalists killed doing their jobs, by country.  There was also a display of the car in which Arizona Republic reporter Don Boles was killed by a bomb in retaliation of his reporting on organized crime.  For some reason I had pretty strong memories of this event from 1976 and I found this simple display really powerful.

·         Rubble from Ground Zero from 9/11.

·         A special display of rock-and-roll memorabilia.

We were really impressed by everything we was.  Sadly, Newseum operated from private donations and closed at the end of 2019.  Such a loss.

We did make it to the Spy Museum in time for our 3:05P timed entry.  I had purchased tickets that included some kind of special game which I VERY VAGUELY recall us doing, even if I can recall none of the details.  Looking at their website in 2026 I can’t find anything that sounds like what we did – but their 2026 website also seems to describe a much more extensive collection of permanent exhibits than we had, and several interactive experiences that might all be vestiges of what we had paid extra for.

DAY 5: Friday, June 30, 2017

On this day we had planned to do “Mall memorials” in the morning – or, at least, that’s what I had written down on the Spreadsheet ‘o Fun.  In 2026, neither E or I could recall what actually happened.  Certainly the PLAN would have been to see (at least) the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and probably also hit Lincoln, WWII, and Washington Monument.  However, we did NOT do this.  Best guess is that it was a bazillion degrees out and we chose not to subject ourselves to the heat.  What, if anything, we did instead is a mystery, however.

In the afternoon we DID follow the plan and made use of our pre-purchased tickets to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was another spectacular and moving experience.  There’s no specific exhibit that springs to mind, although I do recall watching a film loop by a survivor and being teary-eyed.

The evening was spent at the home of the bride’s mother, where we enjoyed dinner and drinks.  This was the only place we went to that required use of the bus system rather than the Metro, as we had to head out to the suburbs.  I do recall seeing fireflies as we walked back to the bus stop late at night – something that was a “first” for all of us.

DAY 6: Saturday, July 1, 2017

We had time in the morning to take a guided tram tour at Arlington National Cemetery, which I recall being very interesting.  I had seen the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier when I’d done my own middle school trip around 1977/78, but enjoyed seeing that again, along with things I hadn’t seem previously.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were turned over to the wedding and reception, held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  We arrived around 530P in order to participate in family photos.  The wedding itself was around 6P followed by dinner.  As expected, it was lovely.  Among the family that had made it out to participate were our Cincinnati family (minus Rachel, I think) and some of our Texas cousins (minus Miles, I think, and possibly minus Carl).  I THINK we sat with David and Judith at our table – but, again, memory is a fleeting thing.

Another “first” for us: getting from the hotel to the wedding was the first time we had taken a ride share, using Lyft.  I’m pretty sure that the previous night, when we’d left the house we been invited to, my aunt (Carol) was talking about how they’d use ride share several times previously, and I believe I thought “well, heck, if Old People can figure it out, so can we”!

DAY 7: Saturday, July 2, 2017

We started the day with a luncheon at the home of friends of the bride.  I recall a lovely house with very pretty garden and finally getting a chance to chat with some of our family members.  Otherwise, nothing.

The Spreadsheet ‘o Fun has nothing listed for the afternoon, so no idea how we might have passed the time.  In the evening, however, we did a Monuments by Moonlight tour.  Knowing this was on our schedule was a big reason we were so quick to punt the walking tour on The Mall a few days earlier.  I do recall lining up for the bus – and how our bus was one of MANY that were cycling through the busy loading area.  I also recall that the night was HOT and pretty humid, and how much the bus’s A/C was appreciated as we’d reboard after each stop.  I most recall the Lincoln Memorial, MLK Memorial, and Korean War Veterans Memorial.  Although the tour theoretically stopped “at” the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, IIRC it was actually an optional walk from the Korean War Memorial stop and, it being dark and nighttime, we we’re confident that we could get there and back in time to reboard the bus.

DAY 8: Sunday, July 3, 2017

The day was occupied by flying home.  We took American at 1255P from DCA via ORD and finally back in SJC by 7:47P.

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2016 7N Eastern Caribbean on Freedom of the Seas

A 7N family cruise from Saturday Oct 1, 2016 through Sunday October 9, 2016 on Freedom of the Seas

As I never kept a travel log I'll (eventually) have to reconstruct the trip using the Spreadsheet 'o Fun as well as any photos I might have taken.

Someday...

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2016 Alaska Day 13 - Vancouver and Final Thoughts

We pulled into the port around 7:00AM and started the process for going home. A quick breakfast in WJ, dropping off WOW envelopes at Guest Services, and then waiting for elevators to take us and our luggage down to the gangway so we could do Express Checkout. We were off the ship and on the street heading to the SkyTrain in under 10 minutes.

We had a brief confusion buying our SkyTrain tickets because we couldn't find an option for the 2 zone trip between the port and the airport.  Finally, a bystander told us that, because it was Canada Day (i.e. Canadian Independence Day) all transit was working on a single zone pricing schedule.  Perfect!

Twenty more minutes and we're entered the YVR airport and headed to check-in our luggage.  The cruise line recommended that international flights allow 3.5 hours to get through the airport process, so with our noon flight we got there around 8:30AM.  At first we wondered why all the fuss about getting there so early, given how fast things were going.  Well, it did bog down.

Getting through counter check-in and baggage check-in took longer than expected...about 30 minutes.  Then you go through security, which took another 10 minutes.  Then you go through Customs, which again took another 10 minutes.  So we'd managed to burn up almost 1.5 hours of our cushion..and we were here on a holiday when we assumed most travelers have already passed through the prior day.  I can see how on a weekday you'd easily spend at least another hour in the various lines.

We have enough time to grab snacks and wait at the gate for about an hour before our boarding call.  N&H were flying Air Canada direct to Portland (H's home) so we said our goodbyes here and got on our plane for the 26 minute flight to Seattle, then after a 2 hour layover were were back in San Jose and headed home.

Final Thoughts

Planning for this trip started two years ago - and FAR exceeded the hopes I had for it.  Alaska is spectacularly beautiful, and with the long summer daylight you can take in the views for hours on end.  Hands down winners included:

• Kayaking and flightseeing in Ketchikan
• Zip lining in Seward
• GoldStar train service from Anchorage to Seward
• Our stay at Denali Dome Home
• Whale watching with Harv and Marv in Juneau
• Radiance-class ships
• Pianist Derrek Wayne

The other things we did all fell into the "really glad we did them...but maybe we'd try something different next time".  We didn't regret any of our choices, however.

As great as the scenery and outings were, they were secondary to the fact that we spent almost two weeks with a large part of our extended family and had a wonderful time with every one of them.  We all traveled well together and enjoyed each others' company.  We passed food around tables to share tastes - and shared forks and spoons without anyone getting worried or saying "yuck".  We walked and talked together, we laughed together, and three generations had a shared experience that offered a little something for everyone.  I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.  Not everyone can say that!

Thanks for reading!  

Want to comment?  You can either comment here or go to the comment thread on cruisecritic.com.

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2016 Alaska Day 12: Inside Passage

Before going to bed the prior night the ship had advanced clocks ahead one hour to get back on Pacific Time, so we lost an hour of vacation.  Boo hoo!  ;-)  In the morning I went down to Guest Services because we still hadn't seen $250 of OBC that we should have had as a result of cashing in some points from our RCCL Visa card.  Turns out that while CitiBank took our points away they never transmitted the data to RCI, so no OBC.  I get to fight with CitiBank when we get back.  Oh joy!

Following WJ breakfast we (D, E, A, J, S) went down to Schooner for the riddles contest....which we won!  We scored 10/13, beating the next team who scored 8.  Prizes today were the best: baseball caps.  We're now 3/3 on our cruises, having managed to win trivia once on each trip.  On our way back to the cabins we stopped to look down on the Centrum where towel folding lessons were underway.

All of us went over to the Game Room pre-lunch where we introduced A to the game of cribbage.  The others played Set.  We figured we'd try MDR for lunch, but arrived at 1PM just as they were closing, so off to WJ instead.  W joined us there, having just completed the Behind the Scenes tour, which he loved.  Lots of picture sharing at the table.

The following photos are all from W's tour.

Part of the process of making all those dinner rolls we enjoy.  A machine rolls out the dough and segments it as shown above.  The next step is that each of these dough forms is rolled into a ball, which will be baked into a roll.

Lots of eggplant being prepped.  One of the appetizers this evening will incorporate eggplant.

A crew bar on a lower deck.

A crew lounge.

A crew buffet line

The crew mess hall.

Lots of (clear) broken glass.  Another bin contains not-clear broken glass.  Food waste is apparently ground up to a pulp and put into a giant vat where it is mixed with water and bio-organisms that break the food down in 2-3 days.  Once broken down it can be vented out to sea.

Not 100% certain, but I believe this is an engine control station.  Or perhaps it is part of the bridge?

Out on the bridge wing, showing how the staff can look down the entire length of the ship.  Useful during docking maneuvers.

The two wooden handles are azipod controls, allowing each to be rotated in any direction as well as incorporating throttle control.

Storage for flags.  Contains both maritime flags as well as flags of the nations of ports visited.

Rank hath its privileges. 

An automated folding machine in the laundry.  They auto-fold sheets.  Towels are hand-folded.

A laundry officer demonstrates pressing a crewman's pants.

From there, we went over to the theater to listen to Captain Goran's presentation and Q&A.  Pretty interesting.  After that we had to (sadly) take time to pack in preparation for our exit next day, but we returned to the theater for the concert by the Radiance Orchestra.  Good stuff!  After that, several went off for another presentation about the RCMP and they eventually met the rest of us in the Schooner for drinks.  Dinner followed, during which Reynato outdid himself.  Our table of 11 shared 17 desserts that night!  He kept bringing them and, to our discredit, we kept eating them.

We attended the Farewell show where The Alleycats made an encore appearance and cruise director Steve (Davis) did a great version of "Shout".  We've only seen three cruise directors, but were impressed by Steve.  We loved Marc Walker on Enchantment - he was more charming, while Steve was more energetic.

The team at the farewell show.  Cruise Director Steve Davis in the foreground.

From there, one more visit to Derrick at the piano bar for a (much) more subdued night before finally off to bed.

Thanks for reading!  

Want to comment?  You can either comment here or go to the comment thread on cruisecritic.com.

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2016 Alaska Day 11: Ketchikan

We docked at Berth 3 as originally planned.  I asked someone onshore when B3 had re-opened, as when we'd left San Jose it was still under repair from its collision with Millenium. According to him, we were the first ship to tie up here since the accident.

We certainly didn't lack for potential activities in Ketchikan.  In addition to the normal TripAdvisor recommendations I had also collected both a walking tour map as well as an audio tour that we could have used for free.  Perhaps some other time, because we had a couple of great adventures lined up!

We were up at 8:00AM today to have breakfast in WJ before meeting with Island Wings at the rain gauge at 950AM.  We actually found the vans before we found the drivers, but in short order we were aboard two vans for the short trip to the seaplane dock.  We were scheduled for a tandem flight with Michelle (carrying D, E, R, A, S & W) and Terry (carrying M, C, N, H & J).  Terry works for Mountain Air but handles Michelle's overflow.  She says that he's one of only two pilots she trusts enough to fly for her.  Like her, Terry is a local who flies year-round, and she feels he doesn't exhibit the machismo that can causes some pilots to be reckless.  However you slice it, we all felt comfortable with our pilots.  Sadly, many years later I saw an article that said Terry had died in a plane crash.  Woof.

Our chariots arrive.  Terry's Mountain Air plane leads Michelle's Island Wings plane into the dock to discharge their passengers before we board.

None of us had ever done anything like this before, so from start to finish we had a blast.  Take-off from and landing on water were surprisingly smooth.  Much smoother than a normal plane.  Ketchikan has an airport along the waterfront that, during summer has 6 inbound + 6 outbound Alaska Air flights each day, plus a couple of Delta flights.  Between the big planes and the seaplanes Michelle says that there are over 1400 flights EVERY DAY in Ketchikan, putting that area on par with Atlanta's airport (i.e. the busiest airport in the U.S.)!  As such, for the first 5-10 minutes of the flight they disable the onboard microphones so the pilots can focus purely on the Air Traffic Control chatter.  I was sitting in the co-pilot seat on the outbound leg of the trip and could hear the ATC calls through my headset.  Those in the back don't hear that traffic.

On-board Michelle's plane.  From right to left: W, S, A, D, R, E.  This would be the return leg - D sat co-pilot outbound then swapped with W for the inbound leg.

Michelle has over 22,000 hours of time at the controls.  Like any good pilot she sets the aircraft's trim controls and basically lets the plane fly itself.  In fact, she spent parts of the flight eating her lunch - albeit with a couple of fingers hooked around the yoke at all times.  There was only one moment of anxiety (for us, not for her).  At one point during the outbound flight the engine sputtered a bit and Michelle suddenly stabbed for some controls and played with the throttle to calm things down.  She explained that she has two fuel tanks and that the back tank had just emptied, so she was switching over to the front tank. I will admit that my blood pressure spiked for a moment!

Both planes landed on Manzanita Lake.  Since Michelle has a license from the Park Service she's allowed to tie up to shore and let passengers off to stretch their legs on land.  This is one of the big reasons that CruiseCritic citizens love Island Air.  Most of the other companies (there are apparently 17 companies flying in Ketchikan) have to stay away from shore and only let passengers get out onto the plane pontoons.

Stretching our legs on the shore of Manzanita Lake.  Left to right: J, C, N, M, H, W, A, S (partially hidden), R, D, E.  Michelle's aircraft is immediately behind us, Randy's aircraft in the background.

Views from the air are stunning.  At one point we flew over a mountain top covered with goats, and in other places we could see old logging roads and various parts of the forest lifecycle showing areas that had been recently clearcut as well as areas starting to grow new aspens.  From start to end we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Ho hum.  Just another spectacular view from the air.

A high mountain lake with waterfall.

Banking into final approach aboard Michelle's plane.  The stern of Norwegian Sun is visible and Radiance is behind it.

Landing in sight of Radiance.

It seemed like no time at all had passed before we were taxiing back to the dock and leaving.  On the way back to town I asked Shona (who was driving) for lunch suggestions.  She came up with Annabelle's (which I had already scoped out as a possible option) or The Fish House (over by the Lumberjack Show).  She did warn us to avoid The Fish Pirate.

Upon drop off I sped off to Annabelle's to see whether they could handle our group of 11 - we only had about 90 minutes before we had to meet the kayak folks.  Not surprisingly, Annabelle's couldn't handle us in any combination of tables - they were simply too busy.  So we turned around and walked over to The Fish House....only to see a line coming out the door.  Wary of The Fish Pirate, we instead turned to Plan C, which was the fish and chips stand at the dock, next to the visitor center.  The food was actually pretty good, but very pricey ($21 for an order of F&C with a soft drink).  We sat outside at picnic tables just across the street from Fish Pirate and enjoyed the afternoon.  Despite Ketchikan's reputation for rain we never saw a drop.

Following lunch we walked the 50 yards or so to the rain gauge where we met Brandon from Southeast Seas Kayaking.  He walked us over to their dock (also next door to the Lumberjack Show) and we all got ourselves outfitted for kayaking inside the floating office.  We were given water proof pullover jackets, then a rubber skirt that hung from our shoulders and flared out into something resembling a stiff skirt, and finally a life vest.  From there we went back out to the kayaks and breaking into pairs (or a triple in the case of me, E, and A) we worked our ways into our kayaks, after first getting a quick lesson in proper paddle technique and an explanation on how the rudder worked.  The back seat in each canoe has pedals to control the rudder.

E, A and D.  The day turned out to be warm and beautiful. I am in the process of removing my waterproof jacket and will stow it under the skirt.  A has already removed his jacket - one of our guides (Chloe) kindly came alongside and took his jacket from him so he didn't have to mess around with trying to undo his skirt.

From there we were off on our adventure, guided by Brandon, Ella, and Chloe each in their own kayaks.  Sadly, the tide was too low to paddle up Creek Street.  I was particularly disappointed at this because I had really been looking forward to that part of the paddle.  No matter.  We turned around and crossed over the channel to Pennock Island.  Before we crossed Brandon had to get on the walkie talkie to (I suppose) Air Traffic Control to advise them that a group of kayakers would be crossing over what was, effectively, the seaplane runway.

S & W get up close with a bald eagle.

Our intrepid band poses for a group photo.  We're just off Pennock Island here.

On our way back, just before crossing back over the channel, the Norwegian Sun gave a horn blast and started out of her berth.  Kind of fun to see her exit from the seaward side.  Another call to ATC and we were clear to cross the channel again.  We were barely past the center of the channel when a seaplane zipped in just behind us.

While ziplining was my #1 favorite activity, kayaking was #2 - and was #1 with almost everyone else.  We had so much fun, and also saw a huge number of bald eagles throughout the trip.  We agreed that paddling a kayak was not as difficult as any of us anticipated, but while pushing the steering pedals was easy, going in a straight line was hard!  :-)  Overall I believe everyone enjoyed our day in Ketchikan more than any other day of the trip.  We'd go back there in a heartbeat!

R gives his opinion of kayaking.  Or perhaps he's just celebrating that he's not paddling.  C was in the back seat and spent so much time with her camera that R had to do most of the work!

We had just enough time for some quick showers before dinner.  We had finally drunk up our stock of wine so ordered some bottles for dinner.  From there we made our way over to the theater for the 2nd production show, called "City of Dreams".  This show allowed the female vocalists more range than the show earlier in the trip and they were much better.  The dancing was a bit more spotty - there were a few numbers that were really excellent, but others were just so-so.  (All of our party have extensive theater backgrounds, so we tend to view performance much more critically than most.  In addition, we're all attuned to technical aspects such as lighting and costumes.) 

After a long - but hugely enjoyable - day we turned in for the night.

Thanks for reading!  

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