The “Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour” is a popular shore excursion for people visiting
Ketchikan, Alaska.
The tour aboard the “Aleutian Ballad” gives you a glimpse into the life of being
a commercial crab fishermen in the rough waters of the Bering Sea while safely being over
a thousand miles away in the calm waters of the Alaskan Inside Passage.
We thoroughly enjoyed the roughly 3-hour tour with our little JellyBean while visiting Ketchikan
during our Alaskan cruise in late May of 2019.
The “Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour” can be booked through your cruise line or
directly through the tour operator’s website.
During our visit, the tour boat was docked at Ketchikan’s berth number 3, directly
next to our ship, which made for a very quick walk.
Even if your ship is not docked at berth number 3, it’s no more than a third of a mile walk
from the other 3 cruise ship docks in Ketchikan.
A woman holding a “Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour” sign was standing nearby and it was
a short walk from there to board the ship.
If you’re a fan of the Deadliest Catch TV show, you might recognize the tour boat’s
name: the “Aleutian Ballad.”
The boat became famous when it almost capsized after being hit by a 60-foot rogue wave during
a storm in the Bering Sea.
Since then, the “Aleutian Ballad” has been retrofitted into a tour boat with two
levels of stadium seating,
two live tanks,
a gift shop and snack bar,
and restroom facilities.
Wheelchair and scooter accessible seating were also available, as well as an accessible
restroom.
In addition to a small snack handed out to each guest, complimentary hot cocoa, tea,
and coffee were available inside the cabin, near the gift shop and snack bar.
A TV monitor was setup inside showing footage of the 2005 rogue wave event from the Deadliest Catch.
Before leaving the dock, one of the boat’s crew members shared the history of the “Aleutian
Ballad” and how it came to be a tour boat in Ketchikan.
Soon afterwards, we left the dock and another crew member began sharing information about
the boat’s commercial fishing equipment and operations as we headed away from the port.
As the weather became cooler out on the water, deckhands provided warm, waterproof jackets
that were complimentary to use.
During our tour, the boat’s crew showed how to set crab pots and fishing lines.
They also pulled up multiple crab pots and fishing lines they had previously set.
Each time they pulled up a crab pot, the crew explained how it worked and how it was different
from other types of crab pots.
Some of the catch was placed in the live tank for guests to view, but there were also several
opportunities to touch or hold the Alaskan sea life and take photos.
Before they were gently released, we were able to hold live snow crabs, box crabs,
prawns, and more.
A couple of crew members pulled some much larger Red King Crabs from the live tank for guests
to get a much closer look.
It should be noted that while most of the pots the crew pulled up had live crabs, the
Red King Crab pot used plastic examples, which the crew members explained they do in an effort
to greatly reduce the tour-related deaths of that species.
In-between hauling up the catch, the crew members shared many captivating personal stories
from their lives as commercial fishermen.
While we thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the “Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour,”
one of the highlights was a stop in an inlet known to be a feeding ground for American
Bald Eagles.
All of the guests watched in awe as scores of bald eagles flew around us, swooping down
to catch fish in their talons.
At the end of the tour, the boat returned to Ketchikan and the deckhands used guests’
cameras to take photos with the crew.