9/22/08 - 9/25/08

Looking forward to traveling through Alaska’s famed Inside Passage in the southeastern part of the state, we booked a trip on Alaska’s State Ferry system, otherwise known as the Alaska Marine Highway.  Being a long time rider and fan of the Washington State Ferry system, I did not know what to expect of the Alaska ferries, although they do both serve a large volume of commuters, locals and tourists.  Alaska’s ferry system is quite widespread, serving not only the Inside Passage and its more remote communities, but Prince William Sound and the Aleutian Islands.  There is even a cross-gulf ferry in the summer that sails from Prince Rupert through Juneau all the way across the sound to Whittier.

We chose to board at Haines, taking a four hour ride to Juneau, disembarking for about 20 hours, and then continuing on a different ferry to Prince Rupert, BC.  Riding the Alaska ferry as a passenger is quite reasonable, cheap really – one man on the ferry kept proclaiming it as the “poor man’s cruise,” but much more flexible and fun as you can change your schedule along the way as you wish for only $10.  Taking a vehicle on the ferry is somewhat expensive, although with the current fuel prices I believe we actually saved money by traveling via boat.  Space for vehicles is limited, so make your reservations early if you have a specific boat or timeframe you are trying for. 

Our internet reservation recommended arriving two hours prior to departure.  We passed the ferry terminal a few hours earlier on the way to the river to stalk the bears and I was perplexed by the unfolding events.  The numbered ferry lines and parking lot had no sort of gate to go through and no one to direct vehicles into specific lanes.  At the four hour prior mark, several vehicles were in the lanes, seemingly randomly parked at the front of those various lanes.   When we arrived at the two hour prior mark, many vehicles were parked in all the lanes so I proceeded into the office for instruction.  The woman behind the counter processed our reservation, gave me a slip to tape to the windshield and told me to go to Lane 9. 

We parked in Lane 9 and waited for the ferry to load.  After about an hour, the agents started walking through the lines and sporadically checked tickets and IDs.  Then the loading began.  First a couple of semi trucks pulled in from the road and proceeded to back onto the ferry.  Oh wait, backed on and off the ferry about three times each.  Hmm.  Then the ferry directors started loading the cars.  For some odd reason, I had expected them to start with Lane 1 and proceed in a numerical fashion.  Silly me.  The cars were loaded one at a time from various lanes at different times – half of some lanes, not cars or RVs together – really no sort of discernable order at all.  However, we have to give credit to this man, who clearly knows how to travel on the ferry.

When we finally got on the ferry, we realized some people were backing on the ferry, others driving straight on, and others actually doing U-turns on the boat deck.  It was quite the “system”. Granted, they were loading the boat from a side entrance which precludes an easy on/off, but I still found the procedure to be lacking in much organization.  Our ferry entry was a fairly simple turn and park scenario although subsequently I had to do a K-turn to get off the boat in Juneau.  Needless to say, I was very happy to be finally parked on the boat and we took the stairs up to the passenger deck. (It is also worth noting that due to Coast Guard regulations passengers are not allowed on the car deck while the boat is at sea, save for 15 minute intervals every four hours or so on the longer trips.  These intervals are used mainly to let your pets out, if you have them.  If not, I would recommend planning ahead and steering clear of this particular free for all.)

Our ferry was scheduled to depart Haines at 8:30 with a four hour ride to Juneau.  With the sun setting, it was dark by the time we departed.  We took a tour of the boat to find some interesting enclaves of seats and tables.  A solarium is situated on the top deck, complete with heat lamps and reclining plastic lounge/beach chairs.  The uncovered part of the top deck is the designated area for tents (!!) where people actually duct tape their tents to the deck and sleep inside them.  The remainder of the weather-hardy folk sleep in their sleeping bags on the lounge chairs under the heat lamps.  While I am sure this could be a pleasant place on certain summer nights, the cold, windy, rainy smallish space was not very appealing to Jessica or me.

After a tour of the various areas, including movie room, cafeteria, cocktail lounge and several smaller sitting rooms, we opted for the observation lounge, a large area at the front of the boat encompassed in windows.  Although we could not see very much in the dark, we sat in the forward most seats.  A group of high school volleyball girls came in and set up in the rear part of the lounge, which included blowing up many air mattresses, clothes changing and giggling.  With the lights down low (after 8pm) the observation lounge was clearly the place to set up a bedroom.  Or, you could just lay down any ol’ where, as we observed everyone else doing.  No pillows, bags, blankets – just walk along until you see a free spot on the floor and hit the deck.  So goes the protocol.  After some fitful napping and slouching down in the chairs, we resolved to look into renting a cabin for the next ferry. 

After spending the day in Juneau (please see Jessica’s entry), we boarded the ferry at night on the way to Prince Rupert.  We had luckily been able to book a 2 berth inside cabin, so after dinner in the cafeteria, we decided to get some sleep.  While the cabin was not too spacious, it did the trick and the bunkbeds afforded us some much needed sleep.  Jessica woke early and after a shower (great water pressure, by the way) went out on the decks and was immediately rewarded by seeing a humpback whale playing in wake of boat and then another one breaching in front of the boat.  The early bird catches the worm I suppose, as I did not see any whales on this ferry, although I did spot many a porpoise splashing through the surf. 

The ferry stopped at a few towns during the day – Kake, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan.  While the stop at Kake was a bit early in the morning (5 am) for us, we did get out to explore a bit of each of the other towns.  All very much fishing towns, they had their own flavors:  Petersburg is Scandinavian, Wrangell is nature-oriented and Ketchikan – well, the downtown was situated a bit far from the ferry dock to get much of a flavor, so we only saw the industrial side.  Here is a view of the town of Wrangell as the ferry left the dock.

The sun was brilliant, the ride spectacular and the scenery stunning.  As we left Ketchikan, the purser called my name from the waiting list to alert us to the fact that we could move into an outside cabin.  While this provided only a 2x3’ window, it made all the difference and allowed us to drink our beers and have some snacks while watching the mountains and ocean sail by.   I definitely recommend springing for the cabin – at $124 for two nights, it was probably the best room deal we got in all of Alaska!  Very highly recommended for those of you who, like us, prefer not to sleep haphazardly arranged in full public view and pathways.