Tourist season has started! 5.30.09

We were complaining just one week ago that we didn’t have enough work! How times change!! Since then we have worked almost every day. If we don’t have a tour, we work down at the dock ‘selling ourselves’ and if we were needed for our sister company, the Ketchikan Duck Tour, we were there in our yellow t-shirts with a smile on our face! :-) So far, we have both had about 12 tours. Each one is absolutely different! Some are better than others, some folks we ‘click’ with, others we don’t, some we get good tips from, others not so much! Haha… The tour is typically 4 hours and they pay around $600 for it. We go to some fun places – out to the waterfalls, out to a spot we usually see several eagles, an eagle rehabilitation & fish hatchery, totem poles, hikes, you name it! We always joke about funny questions that were asked but I was told by a guide today they were asked the best one this season: Does it rain saltwater or freshwater here?! Yep, that beats my best hands down. Haha!!

We’ve been keeping busy when we’re not working too. There are lots of things to keep us busy! Ketchikan has lots of places to hear music and one evening we went to the Ketchikan Community Concert Band’s performance of A Celebration of Fifty Years of Statehood. It was a wonderful performance! There were about about 50 people in the band and they performed 12 songs including Alaska’s song, A tribute to Elvis, Semper Paratus (Always Prepared, the USCG official march), & others. It was at the High School auditorium, a nice uphill walk for us and we enjoyed the walk both there & back in the twilight that is here until around 10pm. I’ve decided I really like the extra hours of sunshine – it makes the 4:45 mornings not so hard to bear when it’s already light outside! Of course it is weird going to bed at 10pm when it’s still light outside.

We have placed a total of 3 geocaches in the area already, and another one will be placed on Monday for my birthday. We’ve enjoyed getting to know other folks in the area, hiking the area, and looking for new places to stop & show others on the island. We continue to learn lots about the area, spending time in the library and talking to folks who have been here for years. There are things that interest different people and you have to know about lots to prepare yourself for the different questions that are asked! And things that are amazing to me may not interest others! For instance, I was out with a tour and we saw two deer grazing down the road from us. I was so excited! It was my first spotting of deer that weren’t running for the hills and when I pointed it out to the folks, they just shrugged their shoulders and said ‘we have deer back home’. WHAT?!? But they are WILD deer! Haha… Oh well, different strokes for different folks. Michael spotted bears! He was training some other tour guides and they rounded a corner and there was a mom & two cubs right in the middle of the road! COOL! Of course I was so jealous that he saw them and I didn’t!! And yes, you read that right – Michael is providing training to backup guides for our company. Haha!! The owners of the company have been impressed that we have learned so much about the area – we even got a raise that we were not expecting.

It has rained almost every day this week which makes for difficult tours. I usually wear my hair up in a French braid on rainy days as I typically get soaked to the skin but I’m starting to think I get smaller tips on French braid days so I’m going to try it down next time and see if that’s true. Haha!! I also had a tour the other day where one of the occupants was in a wheelchair. That was difficult! Getting the chair in & out of the hummer, and it was raining that day (of course!), and had been for several days so the ground was saturated making it difficult to get around. As I said before, every day is something a little different!

We had a rare day off today so Michael made arrangements to go on the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour for my birthday which was EXCELLENT!



It was aboard the Aleutian Ballad, a boat that was on the Deadliest Catch TV Show, the one that took the rogue wave while out fishing. Three guys on board were well seasoned fishermen in the Aleutian Islands/Bering Sea who were on a boat featured on the Deadliest Catch. Terry, Kiwi, and Chief were amazing guides – explaining everything we wanted to know about fishing in the area.



They had some amazing stories to tell! We went to about 5 different traps and checked out the catches of the day – a longline that had some spiny rockfish (also known as red snapper) and traps with Alaskan King Crab,



Dungeness crab



Snow crab



Box crab,



octopus,



& others. They went through the motions – tossing the grappling hook to grab the trap, placing the line in the winch block, pulling the traps up into the boat and back off again. Each trap they pulled crab out of the inside and let us check them out up close & personal and even getting to hold several of them. I loved seeing the different types of crabs and hearing the stories. Michael’s favorite part was when we got to see eagles. We went to a corner of Annette Island where the deckhands threw out the rockfish they had caught along with some herring, and the eagles in the area all came a running and would fly around and skim the water, snapping up the fish.




It was a sight! There were probably 20-30 and they were maybe 10-15’ away from the boat. They were beautiful – we never tire of seeing them.

I will update more when I can! In the meantime, check out the beautiful photos of the area!



Rene

Work, work, work... haha!! 5.16.09

This was our 'transition week' - from no work to moderate work and next week we will be super busy. This week we worked 3 days again. I had my first two tours that were about as opposite as possible. The first tour were folks who appeared not to enjoy much about all I was showing them, were not interractive, & it was difficult for me to talk for 4 straight hours! Haha... I know, I've been known to talk incessantly but 4 hours straight is tough, even for me. :-) The next tour, however, was absolutely wonderful, everything I could ask for. The couple was nice, pleasant to be around, and enjoyed everything we saw & experienced. It was such a difference, I'm still a bit spellbound. I'm hoping the rest of the tours will fall in the middle - leaning towards the fun 2nd tour of mine. haha... It is cool though and we're still learning lots by the questions that are asked! Michael had two tours as well and his have been mostly in the middle. We both worked the docks one day this week, selling our tours without success. Next time!

We had a true 'you know you live in a small town' experience this week, more than usual. We went to the Post Office as we had purchased books that needed our signature and we had to pick them up there. We went up to the desk where Alice helped us, finding our package in the back room & selling us Post Card stamps. While she tallied our bill, Michael put the postage on and sent the Post Cards. It wasn't until later that evening that we realized that we forgot to address one of the postcards, and another post card was being sent to Mexico and it surely didn't have the right amount of postage. It was after 5pm when we realized it so we figured they were gonners - bummer, we would have to buy them again and get more stamps. But oh well, it was our fault! Well....the next day in our mail at the Hummer Office (where we get our mail sent to) there was an envelope with our name on it and inside were our two postcards! WOW!!! We were baffled at how she could figure our who we were! On the postcards, it only said 'Love Michael & Rene'....how did she find our last name or address?! She remembered where the package was sent to and then asked around! haha!! Yep, you truly live in a small town when you've only been in town 4 weeks and you get your post cards back. We went in and thanked her up one side and down the other but I don't think she will think twice about it. How lucky we are!

We took advantage of our day off and placed our first geocache in the area. It is a simple 'Park & Grab' in the parking lot of the Safeway but it was already found by 2 people two days later....both from a cruise ship! I will be placing more in the area while we're here - a Travel Bug hotel, a Multi or puzzle cache, etc.

On Friday, our friends Archie & Beverly from S/V Sea-tacean visited us from a Cruise ship. We know Archie & Bev from Mexico where we met them and spent some time cruising with them (Beverly showed me how to bead bracelets and was incredibly patient with all of my blunders!) and they are also from Ventura! I had to work that day but Michael got to spend a couple hours with them after they finished their tours and I met them for lunch before racing them back to the Cruise ship! It was great to see them and I can't wait to get back to Mexico for next season.

It's been a rainy week, it has rained about 4 days. Light showers two of those days, but it's been a constant rain for the past 2 days. Rain rain, go away! haha...

Tonight we attended a local production called the 'Monthly Grind', an evening of local performers and a desert social. You buy tickets for $5 each and if you bring a desert, you get a refund. It was located inside the Saxman Tribal house and there were probably 200 people there! There were about 8 performances, ranging from funny, tearjerking, amazing, tone deaf, & just plain fun. The local high school performers did a 'Men in tights' skit that was really funny,



there were performers off of the paddlewheel boat that were singing dixie songs that was absolutely spectacular, and the 'St-ART-led-Hole-in-the-wall-Salmonella' house band performed some sing-alongs that were fun as well. The coolest part of the evening though was the fact that when each act was completed, there was about 2-3 minutes of applause no matter how good or bad the performance was. The desert social was cool also - there were probably 75 different deserts to choose from and they were judged to determine the top 3 deserts, who each received a potted flower. It was a stormy evening, rain was pouring all around us but the hall was filled with conversation, laughter, & music! It is just another cool example about the area.

This week starts the busy cruise season. There will be 20 ships in this week, and the average is 25-30 until mid-September. Wanna see? Check out the 2009 Cruise Ship Schedule here...

Have a WONDERFUL week! And hope for the rain to slow down here... :-)
More to follow...
Rene & Michael

Flightseeing & Tourist for a day 5.11.09

This has been quite a week and we've had a ton of fun, again. Saturday, Ketchikan tours held the annual 'Tourist for a day' celebration where most of the excursion companies had special rates for locals on their tours. Since the Hummers are considered exclusive, we did not participate, which gave us the day off woohoo! :-) So we took advantage and took a floatplane out flightseeing at the Misty Fjords National Monument.



It was high on my list of things to do while we were here and it was so amazing! The Misty Fjords is an area of about 2 million acres that has been carved by glacial movement thousands of years ago leaving sheer granite cliffs (over 3,000ft high!),



rounded mountaintops, lakes, waterfalls,



& sheer beauty. It's called the "Yosemite of the North" for it's similar geology. The floatplane was called a 'Beaver' (de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver) which is the top bush plane that has can be adapted with skiis, floats, or wheels. We climbed in, with 4 other passengers plus the pilot, and spent about 45 minutes flying from Ketchikan through the Misty Fjords. The flight was spectacular, seeing Ketchikan from the air, identifying all of the features and seeing some new ones! As we flew, we saw all of the traditional trees of the area, amazingly beautiful islands, frozen lakes, lots of snow, black granite cliffs, & incredible colors everywhere. It was a bit overcast which only makes the pictures prettier! Michael sat in the co-pilot's seat on the way out, and I got to sit there on the way back. We landed in the Behm canal after flying over New Eddystone Rock, a 237 ft tall column of basalt in the middle of the canal, a frozen-over Big Goat lake with an incredible 1,800 ft waterfall, and punchbowl.



We were taken to a float plane dock and got to get out of the plane & look around. Then we hopped back in and took an alternate route back with another water landing. It was great! Our pilot was fantastic, answering all of our questions and making sure we got to see all of the wonders of the area. What a treat!! I would highly recommend it to anyone.

We got to work 3 days last week. Two of those days we 'sold ourself' (not illegal!)down at the docks as we did not have any prebooked tours. And one day we went up to Slide Mountain, a private area that only the Hummers are allowed, and cleared the path so as not to scratch the Hummers. That sounds waaaayyy easier than it was! The path is about 3 miles....straight up! There were 4 of us - two had chainsaws, Michael had long-handled pruning shears, and I had a pair of gloves! The boys chopped down and I picked up and threw over the side. There are a ton of wild berries here - blueberries, huckleberries, salmonberries, etc and the bushes grow like weeds! Not to mention the alder trees that are just as bad. It was a spectacular day though and it was nice getting out & doing something different.

We have also walked around the town, introducing ourselves to the local merchants, getting to know what all each place has to offer. Suprisingly (to me at least), many of them offered us a 'you scratch our back, I'll scratch yours' system with either a commission or merchandise. Cool! :-)

Today, we went to The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show which was just fantastic. There were two 'teams' who competed against each other in the different events like pole climbing, wood chopping, log rolling, & axe throwing.



It was amazing to see how quickly they performed each event! I was worried it would be corny and there were some corny things but the show was stunning, fun, & exciting. I was on the edge of my seat much of the show. The guys were great, and not bad looking either! haha...



I asked Michael if he wanted his picture with them and he said no, he had his picture with the Corona girls in Mexico, it was my turn. haha!! Here's a very quick video showing them on the straight saw...



In other news, we're getting all settled in & enjoying the area. We brought our PC 'brain' with us from Mexico as we will be getting a new desktop computer but we didn't bring any of the peripherals - monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, etc. Since we're fighting each other for computer time on the laptop, we decided we would find a monitor & use it separately. We searched the Thrift stores for a monitor but couldn't find one and they're super expensive (did I mention how everything here and I mean EVERYTHING, is at least 30% more than in the lower 48!). We were driving by the local computer store and we stopped & went inside. We told them what we needed and they guy pointed to an area stacked with about 8 monitors and told us to take whatever we wanted! WOW! So we picked up a monitor, mouse, & keyboard for free! We scored on that deal! But when we got home, we realized we were missing a plug but found it at the thrift store for a buck. We're outfitted now for a whole buck. Not shabby! :-)

We've continued to find restaurants and went to a nice place called Ocean View that was really good - on Cinco de Mayo. We had a margarita and thought warm thoughts about our home in Mexico. We miss all of our cruising friends and are looking forward to next season already. It must be the cold, wet weather! haha... We've also come up with some favorites and 'never go back again' places. And so it goes!

Did you know? Ketchikan gets an average of 162 inches of rain a year...that's over 13 feet of rainfall a year! And the city that's 'known' for it's rain is Seattle but it weighs in at only 37 inches a year! I think Ketchikan has them beat...

OK, gotta get! I was just told I have a tour tomorrow and need to study up!
Enjoy our new pictures!
Rene

First day of work! 5.3.09

Okay already! I know I've been WAY behind writing an update. I will admit to being a tad bit lazy but more than that, I usually write while Michael is watching a movie or TV...but the laptop our TV & DVD now so I am getting less time on the machine. It may be time for a laptop special for me! I've been wanting to try a Mac laptop so we'll see... haha!! That's not entirely true. We have been so stinking busy the last couple weeks we just haven't had much down time. We have something going most days of the week - touring the area, memorizing totem pole stories, training on our material, hiking, geocaching, meetings. You name it!!

We spent two days training with 'Art', a hummer driver and local native last week. We also got to 'work' one day, driving the hummers for something called a 'Fam', which is a Familiarization tour for the Cruise lines. We picked up employees from Norwegian Cruise Lines, brought them to the 'barn' (where all of the Hummers and Ducks are stored), fed them breakfast while John the owner gave them information on the two tours, and then took them in the Hummers to their next destination. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I had envisioned and we ended up talking about everything else instead of Ketchikan. Oh, I mentioned the 'Ducks' earlier. The owner of the Hummer tour also owns 4 amphibious vehicles and runs a Ketchikan Duck Tour that tours both the city and the harbor. On one of the cruise ship days we didn't work, we jumped onto a Duck Tour and had a great time.



They make it fun, as you can imagine, with lots of music, jokes, & even a whistle that makes a duck quack (that is my new favorite as Michael HATES it!). This is a photo from the harbor looking at the city, and one of the float planes!





This past week we've been continuing our training. We setup a special training with a U.S. Forest Service employee who took us on a nature walk up at Ward lake. Leslie had brought a spotting scope and we spotted several birds - the American Robin, Varied Thrush, Canadian Geese, Loons, Warblers, Sparrows, Golden Crowned Kinglet, Red Breasted Sapsucker, Junko, & even a Bufflehead duck. It was very fun and though I've never been a 'birder', I was just as excited to see the birds as she was! By the end of the 2 1/2 hours, we could hear a bird song and could identify many of them. She also showed us berry bushes and how to identify each, Trees, Bushes, Ferns, Lichen, & Muskegs. It was very informative and we learned a ton. I can't wait until the berries are out! I hope to pick some and make my own Jam, a first for me and I've never had huckleberry or salmonberry jam! We had just enough time to run to our next training, at the Totem Bight State Park. There, Mary told us about the park, all of the totems & clan house. Whew! It was a great day and we learned a ton!



We've also been eating at a different restaurant each day until we've tried each of them. There are about 28 of them and I think we're down to about 10 left. We've found some good, some bad, and some awful. We haven't found that exceptional one yet...but we're still looking!

We have also moved into our permanent digs, leaving behind the nice, comfy apartment and moving into the boat.



The F/V Rebel is a commercial diving boat that works the winters. Yes, the winters! They dive for Sea Cucumbers & a clam called 'Geoduck' (it's pronounced goey-duck). The boat had been in the yard for the two weeks prior and was splashed on Tuesday. The employee who is staying at the apartment was coming in on Wednesday so we had to be OUT! haha... So on Tuesday we spent the entire day scrubbing, vacuuming, & cleaning the boat to move in. We met John at the boat in the morning and he had pulled everything out from inside and was laughing as he had found 9 sleeping bags! The boat had been out of the water for approx 2 months and John was fixing those little things that went wrong once it went back in the water, specifically, the water pump! Once the new water pump was installed, he had to replace several busted pipes from the freezing weather. By midday, we had water flowing! The living quarters are small but do-able. When you enter the cabin, the head (toilet) and shower is on your left. The shower is right above the toilet so it gets a thorough cleaning when you shower! This is a typical setup for shower facilities on a boat though ours on Ahea Kali is a bit different. There is a table/dinete on the right and the nav station is just in front of that. We have jury-rigged some dowels into a hanging area to hang up our work clothes. The galley has a diesel stove that is rumored to take about 2 hours to heat up so we are using a two burner hotplate instead. Then we sleep downstairs in the V berth. Michael sleeps on one side of the boat, I sleep on the other and all of our clothes are in the bottom bunks. We have two portable heaters going most of the time and they keep the boat nice & warm. There are 7 large windows in the living area which keep the place nice & bright. The sun sets here around 9pm so the light is welcome. In fact, I think I'll be bummed when we go back 'home' where the sun sets earlier! I'm getting used to the extra sunlight and love it!

It has been so nice the past two weeks! Everyone said how much Ketchikan rains....it has only rained 5 days since we arrived. The locals are complaining it's 'hot'!! I wouldn't go that far. Temps have been in the upper 60's and the sunshine blazing. I brought only long sleeved shirts for work and am regretting it so far.

Yesterday was our first day of work! We didn't have a tour booked so we got to go down to the docks and try to sell a tour. Michael worked at the Ketchikan Visitor's Bureau and I worked around the corner at the 'Quack Shack' where they sell tickets for the Duck Tour. Michael ended up with a 2 hour tour with some folks from Seattle and he had a blast. I didn't do as well and just answered lots of questions. Mostly it was where the Post Office was, the drugstore, a place to buy Alaskan beer. My favorite question by far though was "What is the name of the river we are on?" It took me a minute to understand his question and finally answered with a straight face...."It's not a river, it's the Pacific Ocean". Duh! hahaha...

There are 5 Hummers, all different colors - white, yellow, red, silver, & a pretty pastel blue. Michael is driving the white one



and I got yellow - woohoo!



Now Yellow is the owner's wife's winter vehicle so I have to be careful with it! The drivers are very teritorial over their color and on our 'Fam' day, I drove someone else's and they caught me! haha... Oh well...

We have had 4 cruise ships in so far, on 3 separate days. Next week is another slower week with only 5 ships coming in on 3 days but the week after that the craziness begins! On the week of the 10th there are 19 ships and from then on until the week of Sept 20th there are no less than 20 ships a week, most of those weeks the count is greater than 25!!

The town had an Art Walk last Friday called the 'Celebration of the Sea' that was fantastic. There were 18 galleries open with the actual artists at most of them. It appeared as the entire town had come out for the event as the town was hopping with activity. Each of the galleries were packed with people as the refreshments & wine were enjoyed. And the art was absolutely spectacular. We ended the evening at the Ketchikan Coffee Company for open mic night and checked out the local musicians.

OH! How can I forget to tell you about the EAGLES!



There are so many bald eagles around and they are just spectacular to watch. The other day as we were leaving the dock, we noticed several all around us. One, two....wait, 5, 9 Holy Cow! There were 14 that were feeding on the bank of the marina, only about 100ft from us! It was incredible.



We were supposed to go to the Lumberjack show that day and I had purposefully brought a 2nd camera battery and was glad I did as I exhausted one battery before I was done! haha... It was very cool though. We have gotten very good at identifying them and I'm still in awe every time I see them. They are just so beautiful.

After working on Saturday, we still had several hours of daylight so we went to find a couple of the 18 geocaches in the area and stumbled on a magnificent hike near one of the schools. It was a wonderful hike that zig zagged through muskeg, up onto the top of the hill into the Cedar & Hemlock trees, then down to a fabulous smooth rocked beach with cool tide pools. There were only 2 other families on the entire beach and it was a spectacular day! I braved the cold water and rinsed off my feet & hands from the mud (it was an incredibly muddy hike and I was the bright one who wore my Crocs) and it was FREEZING cold! I was only able to get up to my ankles and was sure they were numb from the cold after only a minute. But I felt like such a baby when one of the little girls jumped in with only her swimming suit on! They must have thicker skin here... haha!!

We're scheduled to work 3 days this week and have a day of training in between. I will update as soon as I can! Thanks for your patience...

Rene