Alaskan Cruise – Bear Sighting at Ketchikan

This is my fifth post documenting my recent cruise on the Norwegian Encore to Alaska’s Inside Passage. My brother surprised me with an excursion ashore at Ketchikan, the final stop in Alaska. We gathered with a handful of other ship passengers to board a van that took us on a beautiful drive down the coast, through Ketchikan, and on to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary for what we hoped would be bear sightings. The first gallery below shows the harbor at Ketchikan. Please click on each gallery to enlarge the pictures and see better detail. ~SueBee

Below you’ll see one of our two guides giving safety instructions before we entered the gated sanctuary. We were instructed to remain as quiet as possible and if we spotted a bear from the raised platform we were to lift our arms in a bear pose (yes, it’s as silly looking as you might imagine) so the rest of our group would know a bear was spotted. We were not to call out or shout. My sharp-eyed brother made the bear pose twice as we walked along! You’ll notice lots of seagulls in the water, and if looking closely, live salmon that were attempting to get upstream, as well as many more dead ones. The salmon swim against the current to lay their eggs and then die, if they avoid the bears along the way. It’s a sad scene, but a very clear example of the circle of life.

Below: Three of the birds permanently living at the Raptor Center due to injuries sustained while in the wild.

Below: Viewing a totem pole that was in the works, and the Native artist who designed it and was doing the carving using hand tools.

Below: Excursion done, we head back to the ship and a warm beverage. What an incredible experience we had!