Ketchikan Shuffle
- George Kelley
- Jun 19
- 7 min read
After a quiet night at Bar Harbor, float 10, we awaken to the bounce of an active marina with vessel of all types, like those I mentioned before, plying the waters to fish or fuel in preparations for the opening of the fishing season they fish. Most of the vessels are purse seiners. A few smaller boats went out to rod fish for salmon. There were passing boats heading north and south on the waterway on various mission, such as tug pulling a heavily loaded barge. Also the Bar Harbor marina was far to a long a walk for my back to take. So in search or 50 amp 240 volt and a mooring closer to the center of Ketchikan, Ed contacted the City of Ketchikan Ports and Harbor Harbormaster. Try saying that three times fast.
One of the various employees of the Harbormaster Office came to the boat to talk to Ed about our needs and the anticipated duration of our stay. He was able to put us in a slip that was being vacated and they reached out to a fisherman who was out to sea to use his power connection. We were advised that we would have to leave the slip in two days because the renter of that slip would be returning from the boat yard to his slip. Fine by us because in the next breath he told us he anticipated one or two boats further out the pier from us would be leaving and we were to move there as soon as the cleared the berth.
So settled into the slip, we plugged into the generouslly granted accessible 50 amp 240 volt power post, that required all our extensions to reach the power pedestel only to find out that the boat didn't like the power we were getting from the pedestal. The port reached out to the municipal electircal company that is apparently run by BC Hydro to fix the problem. Ed, being a retired high voltage electriction was able to diagnose the issue but unauthorized to make the changes. The electricion from BC Hydro reversed the polarity and voila, we had power! 50 amp, 205 volts. Not 240, 205! not a typo, and I know that I make a lot of them but in this case not a typo.
From the comfort of our significantly less bouncy new birth, we could watch the cruise ships come and go. They arrive early, disgorge their large number of tourist into the waterfront, some go on excursions, other go for the jewelry and other for interaction with the local community beyond the water front streets. My interaction with the local community basically amounted to walking my eager to pull golden retreivers for their multiple walks to relieve themselves. Thankfully, Stever was there to help me with a lot of the walking and Ed also took the dogs for walks. Luna, our wild child, she decided that leaving present on the planks of the wooden piers and roadway was necessary, much to my embarassment.
When Stever wasn't helping walk the dogs, he was doing walkabouts, hikes and riding the local green line to its end and back. Ed found the local recreation room. Jim found some places of interest he wanted to take his wife, Barbara to.
Photos courtesy of J. Stever Hehn, images of the various places Stever walked to on his walkabouts.
The day Caleb arrived, the plan had been to take the dinghy to the fuel dock and then to the airport dinghy dock to pick him up . The day started out quite breezey and rainy. There where white caps visible on the main channel. Ed decided to take the bus to the ferry terminal and the ferry to the island the airport is located on to pick up Caleb. They returned to the boat on foot, stopping by Safeway and McDonalds and missing the free shuttle twice.
There is a paid bus service, the green line and the black line and the silver line and the map for them is confusing and fortunatley Ed had become familiar with the bus, some what from his shopping trip to Safeway, Walmart and the Bush Pilot bar/restaurant. We got an assist on getting the correct bus to return to Thomas Basin where Magic Carpet was berthed. Ed walked back and was only a few minutes behind us when Jim, Stever and I got off the bus.
The two days of berth space passed and we remained. The vessel that was to return was still in the yard. Did it have to do with the strong wind the day they were supposed to return. Dunno! We remained another day and moved the boat the following day.
When we got to the new slip... GUESS WHAT! We couldn't get power from the pedestal the previous boat had been using. They were using 30 amp 110volts and we need 50 amp 240 volts. After a few calls to the Harbormaster office, the BC Hydro electrician came out. In the meanwhile we had plugged into another pedestal that did have 50 amp, uh, 205 volts power available. The Harbormaster knocked on the boat and let me know that the power had been corrected, it was a faulty breaker and to make sure it was never used again, he broke it to render it unsafe and thus trash. He advised we could move to the pedestal with the new breaker if we wanted. Since we were doing laundry, we chose to stay put with the known entity.
With all the laundry done and stowed, we set about relaxing and enjoying town. Caleb visited with Tommy and Scott on Bluespan. Ed hiked, a work out in itself, to the recreation room which turned out to be a well equipped gym. Stever gallavanting about town. Me with the dogs on the boat and Gym reading and texting with Barbara. Each of us doing our own thing.
Stever is an avid reader and uninhibited person who is not afraid to stop a stranger and ask a thousand questions to learn more about where he is and what there is to do. I have been living vicariously through Stever.
Last night we dined at a local Pizzeria. The meat lover thin crust was excellent and the sample of the other pizzas I tried were good. I had to walk after eating so much pizza!
After pizza dinner walk, down Creek Street.
Today Barbara arrived. She is finallly retired...well 95% retired. She flew in from CT via Baltimore and Seattle. Once again the morning weather was not conducive to taking the dinghy to the airport to pick her up. Jim went to the airport on the green line, took the ferry to the airport. And reversed the route with Barbara. No sooner had she arrived that we ate lunch and beat feet to the LUMBERJACK show. It was a fun show to watch, the history behind the show was provided by the daughter of a lumberjack that had been a foreman for one of the local lumber companies. She was herself a lumberjill, if you are to believe her story. She provided a running narrative and tried mightily to keep the audience engaged. the best part of the show was the way in which the Lumberjack gave out signed gift cards to the children in the audience after each competition. The kids were thrilled!
After the show, Ed and Caleb headed to the store to buy groceries for the dinner meal. They invited Scott and Tommy to the boat to join us for dinner. Meanwhile, I asked Stever to show me the visitor center he had talked about so excitedly. We dragged Jim and Barbara along. It was well worth the visit to the visitor center. My military retirees ID served as a pass and I was able to take myself and three other into the visitor center. The Center is full of very informative exhibits that discuss the indigenous peoples, the forest, wild life, conservation efforts and culture. It is worth the time to visit this visitor center. If you are interested in any aspect of the life in this part of the continent, this visitor center will go a long way to answer a lot of your questions. I was not disappointed.
As we were milling around the lobby, I heard part of an announcement. The Center's employee informed me that there would be a native dance. This piqued my interest. I watched the dance and when they asked for members of the audience to participate, I among a few others came up to the front of the auditorium and danced with the native dancers. I may have looked a fool, but I didn't care and I enjoyed participating in their dance.
After we left the show, we ran into a young man who was painting a yellow cedar paddle. He had several in his work area. He was painting the image onto the paddle and will then carefully carve away wood to result in a bas relief image on the paddle in the Haida/Tglingit style of carving and art.
We returned to the boat. Stever generously offered to take the dogs for a walk before dinner.
I fed them when he got back and they were visited by a couple who had just returned to their berth on his brother's boat. It turns out that the live in Tacoma less than 30 miles from us, as the crow flies. Small world! Stever and I took the dogs for yet another walk and met his brother who spent probably a half hour talking to us about the local waterways. He is originally from Ketchikan, owns a beautiful 58 foot boat that looks like it could have been a fishing vessel in another life. He has made the trip to and from Seattle to Ketchikan and points north and west since the late 70's. Maybe he will call us when he is next in the Puget Sound to visit with his brother. I would love to see the inside of his boat.
Oh, I almost forgot, you know the strong winds that I discussed earlier were the same winds that caused a cruise ship in Juneau to break free from it's mooring, you may have heard about it in the news. Fortunately, none of the ships in Ketchikan broke their mooring lines and go adrift.
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