Today we are repeating a tour we loved 2 years ago. We are going on the Crab Feast.

We did not dock in Ketchikan until 10 am this morning and there were already ship’s in town. This time the Star Princess and 2 Holland Americans.

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We left the ship at 10.20 to meet our tour on the port. It was a half hour bus trip out of town to the river. We had an informative guide who told us lots of the history of the area. Ketchikan has 14 inches of rain per year, and we were lucky enough to be here on a glorious sunny day with clear blue skies.

When we reached the George Inlet Lodge we boarded a small, fully enclosed, heated river boat to go upstream to see some crab pots and view the scenery. We saw an eagles nest and an eagle on the side of the river.

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When we got back to the lodge, they gave us a small drink of warm cider, then a salad of lettuce and mandarin. THEN the crab feast started.

They are dungeness crab, caught in the local area. They have softer shells than blue swimmers so you don’t need to use a cracker much as the meat is more easily accessible – and very sweet. You just eat crab for about an hour. They put ½ a crab on your plate to start, then bring more as you need it. There is a table competition to build the tallest tower of shells, which is lots of fun, and involved lots of cheating!!!!

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Then the winning table gets to do the crab dance ( like our chicken dance).

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS714i3mjQU&feature=youtu.be[/tube]

Then it back to town, so we took out gear back to the ship then went to the shops for a while and then went to a bar directly adjacent the ship with spectacular views of the town and port. It was the ‘Happy Beear’ bar – look at my photos to see why!!!!

Paul wanted some fish and chips, He decided to give the halibut one more try. I went across the road to order the fish and chips from the Burger Queen café, and they deliver your order to the bar. We the fish and chips arrived and when the guy turned to walk away I realised his T shirt said “Burger Bitch’. I needed to get a photo of that so Paul then shouted the guy a beer. These small town have some great signs and antics we don’t see at home.

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We had to be back aboard the Diamond by 5.30 pm and needless to say we didn’t go to dinner that night.

By the away, out second try of Halibut was no better then the first. But the delivery guy made it all worthwhile!!!!