Writer:Bailey Berg

Oysters don’t traditionally grow in Alaska. While the waters off the coast are just warm enough — and filled with plenty of plankton — for the oysters to thrive, it’s just a bit too cold for them to procreate. Instead, some clever farmers have recently found it’s possible to transplant baby oysters into suspended nets in the bay, where they grow for several years until they are sweet, plump, and restaurant-ready. At Hump Island Oyster Farm, guests have a chance to visit a working oyster farm and learn about the process of growing and harvesting oysters, as well as sampling some freshly shucked ones. The roughly three-hour experience includes a scenic cruise through Clover Passage Waterway, passing by whales, seals, eagles, and sea lions.

See one-of-a-kind totem poles

Ketchikan is home to the world's most extensive collection of totem poles, with each carving narrating everything from folk stories to historical events. It’s also home to one of the few shame poles left. In the days before courtrooms, when Indigenous Alaskans were wronged, they would erect a pole bearing the likeness of the wrongdoer and the story of what happened in a prominent place to embarrass the offender into righting the wrong. The pole was then taken down, and the story was never repeated. One of the most famous was made in the 1880s to ridicule William H. Seward, the Secretary of State who orchestrated the purchase of Alaska from Russia, ignoring the claims of Indigenous people to the lands he oversaw the sale of. It now sits in Saxman Totem Park, along with two dozen other poles.

Go birdwatching and kayaking at the same time

One of the local’s favorite ways to get away from the crowds in the summer months is by paddling through Ketchikan’s sheltered coves and misty fjords. Ketchikan Kayak Company offers small-group guided trips in the protected waterways of Clover Pass, where over the course of the 2.5-hour paddle, guests circumnavigate two to three small islands in search of bald eagle nests and Sitka deer on shore and vibrant sea stars and Pacific porpoises under the water. Lucky visitors may even spot orca whales slicing through the current.