OK, here is the bear trip…

Neets Bay Bear Viewing 7 August 2007

DH3T Turbine Otter Floatplane N959PA

It was an early start for this excursion. The ship docked at 0600 and we had to be off it at 0615. Luckily the night before was designated a time change which meant an extra hour in bed. Along with my two bleary eyed children we disembarked the ship’s tender and were directed to a bus which took us the very short distance to the Promech Air seaplane terminal by a very circuitous route. The town of Ketchikan is largely built on stilts and the roads are a bit difficult to navigate in a large bus. Here is the view from the terminal with our cruise ship moored in the background.

This being an excursion organised for the cruise line, there was no checking in or any other formalities other than being shown to our mode of transport to Neets Bay

N959PA sounded to me a bit like a Pan Am registration! I was situated on the left hand side of the aircraft in the seat behind the flight deck. With only one pilot the co-pilot seat was occupied by another passenger, something I was supremely jealous of. The kids were on the other side, the seating arrangement being 1:1 over five rows with space at the back for freight. We taxied out to the take off area which was to the north and full power was applied. A bouncy take-off run followed but we were soon airborne into the grey morning sky. Shortly after take off we passed abeam Ketchikan’s land airport:

Fittingly, and Alaska Airlines 737 was parked awaiting its passengers. It had departed by the time we returned and later a 737 freighter arrived as well. Promech Air have a terminal there too.

The flight took twenty minutes or so. We weren’t the only floatplane airborne:

Headsets were provided and a recorded commentary was given with details of the area. All too quickly, though, we were banking round the clouds and lining up towards the landing area at Neets Bay. A gentle touch down followed and after a very short taxi we arrived at the pier. Whilst stood on the pier I got a photo of the second Otter touching down, this is now my desktop picture:

And then it was on to see the bears. Neets Bay is home to a salmon hatchery run by the impressively named Southern SE Regional Aquaculture Association to maximise the number of salmon in SE Alaska. The salmon is not farmed, merely encouraged to spawn. With Salmon’s mysterious homing instinct the pregnant females return to the streams of their own birth, one of which has an inlet by the hatchery. To a bear it means dinner time. Or maybe breakfast, it was early after all.

Words fail to convey the scene – there were probably twenty five visitors stood their watching in awe. Armed with dozens of photos, our time was up and a walk back to the pier revealed that the same Otter was arriving to pick us up:

This time I made sure I was first on board and in that co-pilot seat! The children were sat just behind. The pilot joined me and gave a quick safety briefing before starting the engine and taxiing out.

We took off on a reciprocal heading to the landing – I’m guessing you would need a really strong wind to alter the direction of take off or landing. The Otter itself had had an avionics upgrade:

I had the best seat in the house but because of the rain – Ketchikan prides itself on being the world’s third rainiest City – photo opportunities were limited. I did get a snap of one of the costal ferries that sail up and down the SE Alaskan coastline:

We never went above 1000 ft. To do so would have probably taken us into cloud and we weaved our way around the hills, generally staying above the water all the way back to Ketchikan. Thanks to the rain the forward visibility was somewhat restricted but I suspect the pilot had flown the route dozens of times before and could have landed the Otter with his eyes shut. As it was, we alighted the water gently, coming to a halt just a short distance from the Promech Air pier. Thanking the pilot I exited the aircraft and took one last picture of it moored to the pier, awaiting its next trip to the SE Alaskan wilderness.

If you ever find yourself in Ketchikan, unlikely unless you are on a cruise of course, I can thoroughly recommend this excursion. It isn’t cheap but the memories will last forever. It was definitely the highlight of the week’s cruise.