Day 12 of Ak trip
Ketchikan,
Wrangell, St Petersburg are stops during the day. Juneau will be 3AM and likely dark so will
miss. Ferry’s do not dock in Juneau but
out of town in Auke Bay.
Fairly good
night of sleep once it comes. The
commode/shower has a heavy door that must be pulled open to get access. Difficult when half asleep. We have come into Ketchikan, the first port
and it’s earlier that announced at 5:30AM. It is heavy mist, cool and fog, a
Ketchikan trait. Travelers disembark,
vehicles drive off, new travelers and vehicles come on. The staff changes, rooms are being cleaned
and readied. There are three out of
commission ferries in port. The ferry
system needs reno of many aged ferries and new ones are being built but it
takes two years. And getting staff is
difficult. The airport parallels us and multiple Ak
Airlines jets are landing. It’s
precarious landing strip so pilots have to be expert at landing etc. The port is in a very tight narrows and
requires a crew member to stand in front to watch the water for issues as we
leave. Once we leave those narrows the
mist is less and there is some sun shining through.
Only grille is open for breakfast so we have
breakfast there and it is very pleasant.
Many people park themselves in here after the rush. If you choose the right table, you have views
out both sides of the ferry. We play a
couple games of Scrabble in tight competition. There is no Internet access so our blog has
become backlogged and unable to insert pics.
We’ll reinsert dailies and pics as soon as we get access. We are able to access WORD to prep the
narrative so that helps.
We are now
traveling more in narrower channels with occasional open water. Views never stop with snow covered peaks
etc. We pull into Wrangell. This tiny town has a small dock and getting
this huge ferry tied up takes time and skill.
Lots of lateral thrusters and back and forth. We don’t get off the ferry since they only
give limited time. We have stayed on
Wrangell in the past. We still have the
garnets that Wrangell children chip out of the rock. They are not gem quality but have a deep
burgundy color in rough uncut shapes.
Eagles are circling overhead in anticipation of the salmon.
Soon after
we enter the narrowest channel of all.
The large ferry has to weave in and out of channel markers. We are only about 30 feet from each shore at
any time. We pass by 3 major fishing
lodges and there are large groups
standing around waiting to get in the boats.
There are many cabins in this slow moving channel. We enter Petersburg. No mistake that fish and crab are their main
export. As we pull into their dock much
more easily than Wrangell, we watch the boats unloading their catch of the
day. And the eagles gather round. Little tug boats pull huge barges filled with
cargo up the channel for port unknown.
We only stayed long enough to let passengers, walking and in cars, off
the ferry, no new ones come on.
We have
dinner in formal dining room at special table and we watch Petersburg disappear
as we leave. Seafood chowder and Caesar
salads are the choice. A quick libation
to check out the lounge. Décor is a
combo of 1960’s and old time saloon.
Someone plays their ukelele. The
full glass wall looks out over the water but it is behind the front
seating. It’s one way glass and they
can’t see us. Free popcorn, hurrah!
Nice hot
shower and ready for bed. For the first
time Pat can hear a howling dog down in the parking area. It is muted but is heard. Can’t believe how many dogs are on the
cruise. Doesn’t matter, still able to
sleep with engine heart beating.
So, we were
in three ports today, 2 more to go.
Nighty,,
night.
