It's hard to believe that we are on the next to last day of this 44 day voyage from Hong Kong. After a very restful night's sleep, I woke up at 6am to us sailing down the channel beside Petroglyph Beach State Historical Park. Overnight we had sailed out into the ocean and then by Cape Pole we did a series of 'S' turns and the last major right turn by Cape Baker put us into the inland passageway we are currently sailing in. The skies are overcast with a few sprinkles and a fairly low cloud ceiling. I'm writing this segment sitting up in the Crow's Nest watching my world go by at about 20mph. It's peaceful and tranquil with a slight undercurrent of country western music playing in the background. Ahead of us is a large vessel that seems to be pulling away from us. Earlier a small power boat sailed past us in the opposite direction. The seas are very flat with only a slight wind ripple on the surface. The tide or current marks are very prominent breaking up the surface sheen of the water.
Terry Greenberg gave an excellent history update on Alaska from the purchase to modern days. Afterwards we watched the sail in to Ketchikan past an AK ferry in dry dock and a second one loading vehicles.
It's now evening and we had a good but brief day in Ketchikan. There was the Star Princess in town when we arrived at noon and the projected rain held off all day. As we have been to Ketchikan several times, we just walked around touring shops and reminiscing about our previous visits. We ate at the oldest Mexican restaurant in Alaska (Cisco's) and it was good to taste a different cuisine with flavor! While at the restaurant, the entire Island suddenly lost power, but we were able to be served. We visited the local museum and then walked among the cute little shops along Creek Street which are built on pilings about 20 feet above the creek's headwaters to the ocean.
Back on board at 5pm, we watched the sail away and I grabbed a quick bite to eat before we watched the final 8pm performance of the cast show 'Classique'. We came back and watched the 10pm showing as well. We had seen the first performance of the show by another cast on another ship, so it was fitting that we see the last performance by this cast on the Volendam. After a 5 week break, they are taking the show to the Veendam. They will be replaced by a new cast with an entirely new set of shows by a new American producer for the subsequent sailings. This should freshen things up a whole bunch as the current set of shows is getting a bit stale for us having seen them multiple times over the past 3 years. With HAL having such a high rate of repeat business, keeping fresh shows has to be a real challenge.
After tonight, it's only one more sleep until we're done with this cruise. Stay tuned for the final day's report and a wrap up post.
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