Ketchikan Port of Call
Town, Harbor & Planes
Ketchikan Town, 6961 byte(s). Airplane 01, 7103 byte(s). Ketchikan Harbor 01, 6094 byte(s). Ketchikan Harbor 02, 5913 byte(s).
Airplane Dock, 6054 byte(s). Airplane 02, 4266 byte(s). Airplane 03, 5892 byte(s). Airplane 04, 4732 byte(s).
Ketchikan is a pretty large town, probably because of all the fishing activity and canneries. Our shore excursion of choice at this port was to go bear watching which required flying about half an hour to Neet's Harbor. We flew out on the twin prop Beaver shown in the 2nd picture. We flew back on the single prop Beaver shown in pictures 6-8.
Salmon Hatchery at Neet's Bay
Salmon 01, 8940 byte(s). Salmon 02, 7441 byte(s). Salmon 03, 7772 byte(s). Salmon 04, 7531 byte(s). Salmon 05, 6753 byte(s).
There is a major salmon run that comes into Neet's Bay to go up the river that empties into the bay. That's what brings the bears to this river. Just above where the bears gather is a fish ladder that brings the salmon up to this hatchery. The fish are so programmed to jump that they are constantly trying to jump out of this holding pen. Sometimes they succeed. The fellow holding up the salmon is from Renton, WA where I live. He came up to Alaska for the summer to make money as a tour guide.
The Bears at Neet's Bay
Bears 01, 9526 byte(s). Bears 02, 8353 byte(s). Bears 03, 9155 byte(s). Bears 04, 9226 byte(s). Bears 05, 6291 byte(s).
Bears 06, 8843 byte(s). Bears 07, 8716 byte(s). Bears 08, 8199 byte(s). Bears 09, 8416 byte(s). Bears 10, 7351 byte(s).
I took all of these pictures except number 5 at the right end of the top row. That's the type of picture I was going for. I was hoping to get a complete sequence that ended with a head-on shot with a big fish.The closest I got was picture number 10. Notice the difference in the two salmon. The bear in picture 5 has a salmon that's ready for spawning. The bear in picture 10 has a salmon that hasn't "turned" yet. According to our guide, it's meat will be much better.
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