Catching the Alaska Ferry to Ketchikan
Trip Start
Dec 27, 2008
1
72
188
Trip End
Ongoing
Ketchikan,
Alaska,
United States
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
It was with regret that I left Sitka without seeing the interior of the Russian Bishop's House. There was just no time as the Alaska ferry was leaving in half an hour.
After a 15 minute shared cab ride, I was back on board the MV Malaspina.
So far, the voyage from Skagway to Juneau to Sitka had been a disappointment due to average scenery and inclement weather.
That was to change, at least partly, for a two hour period after leaving Sitka.
- Sitka to Ketchikan
I now realize the obvious. The scenery on the Alaska Ferry or even on the Inside Passage in BC between Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on the tip of Vancouver Island is only scenic during the part of the voyage that the ferries are passing through so-called "narrows" or "straits".
The reason is simple: the closer the surrounding forests and mountains are to the vessel, the better the scenery.
One of the problems with the Alaska Ferry is that its priority is not to provide the passengers with great scenery. Its priority is to move from point A to B in as little time as possible. The most scenic narrows or straits may be navigated in the middle of the night.
Therefore, my only really scenic stretch of the three day voyage was upon leaving Sitka and passing for about two hours through the spectacular Peril Strait.
The weather was still inclement but nevertheless it was still exciting to glide through this pristine wilderness on board the Malaspina.
We docked in Petersburg for half an hour in the middle of the night, just enough time to load one car. Because of its Russian name, I would have liked to explore this hamlet as well. Names however can be deceiving as Petersburg is proud of its Norwegian heritage.
Just past Petersburg is the start of the Wrangell Narrows which are possibly the narrowest part of the entire route of the Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Bellingham, Washington
- one last reminder of historic Sitka
. Narrowest means the most scenic. Since we passed through the narrows in the early morning hours, I slept through the most beautiful part of the voyage.
This would not have happened during an Alaskan cruise. I am sure that the timetable would be such as to permit the passage through the most beautiful part of the voyage in daylight hours.
Of course at $550 for a three-day trip, I was not paying cruise ship prices.
So what was I not getting on the Alaska Ferry that I would be getting on an Alaskan cruise?
Well, let's see..... great food in abundance for one thing.
The food on the Alaska Ferry was good but not outstanding. What was surprising, however, was how reasonably priced the food was, starting with $1.50 for a cup of coffee. That philosophy of pricing extended to the rest of the menu as well
- leaving Sitka Harbour
. There is no price gouging here. The cafeteria was open most of the time and included a large dining with seating for about 200 people.On a cruise I would have had a cabin to sleep in. Of course, cabins are available on the ferry for a price, but I opted to sleep on a bench located in the interior aft deck. I slept quite well on my inch and a half mattress and sleeping bag. This worked out just fine with the exception of the second night.
A cruise would have had great entertainment. On the Alaska Ferry there was little in the way of entertainment except for the bar which I did not frequent and a movie theatre which was oriented to kids or families.
On a cruise I would have seen the best scenery, but that point has already been discussed. Just to repeat what I said in an earlier blog, a cruise would have included Glacier Bay which has a stunning view of majestic glaciers from the cruise ships.
On a cruise the rate for internet access is $0.75 to $1.50 per minute. Surprisingly the Alaska Ferry has free Internet access and I was thrilled to have a conversation on Skype with my brother in Detroit, Michigan while cruising through the Alaskan archipelago
- back on the Alaska Ferry
. The Internet access lasted until I almost electrocuted myself with the frayed power cord of my lap top. As luck would have it, I was able to get a replacement power cord in a computer store in Ketchikan.A cruise would have had a lot of amenities such as a barber shop, music, dancing, a gym, tennis courts and a swimming pool, beautiful people and an overabundance of the opposite sex in skimpy attire.
Don't get me wrong, for the money, the Alaska Ferry is quite the deal despite its relative shortcomings.
Fortunately whether one pays a lot of money or less, the weather is the same for everyone. My comment however is somewhat nuanced since the cruise ships stopped cruising about a week before my arrival. Maybe they knew something about the weather at this time of year that I did not.
In recognition of the beautiful scenery that the voyage touches upon, the Alaska Marine Highway has been classified as an "All American Road", a designation which I discussed in my Seward blog.
- the wake of the ferry
I first saw an Alaska Ferry in Prince Rupert earlier this year and I was under-whelmed with its size. It was smaller than the sunken Queen of the North of BC Ferries that ran between Prince Rupert and Port Hardy. (see Blog No. 7). For instance my third ferry, the MV Taku (built in 1963 and renovated in 1981, is only 352 feet in length having a gross tonnage of 2,624. (The sunken Queen of the North of BC Ferries was 8,800 tons.)
There are 11 vessels in the fleet making up the so-called Alaska Marine Highway or Alaskan Ferry system. They are the Aurora, Columbia, Chenega, Fairweather, Kennicot, LeConte, Malaspina, Metanuska, Taku, Tustumena, and the Lutuya.
There are 400,000 passengers and 100,000 vehicles which travel the Alaska Marine Highway each year.
Contrary to BC Ferries, the Alaska Ferry system seems to have a stellar safety record as I cannot recall an incident with any of its ships other than a few delays caused by engine repairs.
The service was inaugurated in 1960 with one vessel
- photos from passage through Peril Strait
. It continues to be a state owned service contrary to BC Ferries which has been spun off into a public corporation.In 1963, the system operated with northern terminals in Haines and Skagway with a southern terminal at Prince Rupert, BC. The southern terminal has since been extended to Bellingham, Washington.
The eleven ships now serve a 3,500 mile route and 33 ports. The routes extend from Puget Sound to Southwest Alaska as well as across the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak Island, the Kenai Peninsula, Prince William Sound, and the Aleutian Islands, that long series of small islands that jut towards Siberia.
Speaking of the Aleutians, I was curious to know the location of the harbour used by a Discovery Channel program called "Deadliest Catch: The Unforgiving Sea". The program features the hard life of the king crab fishermen of the Bering Sea. The harbour to which they return with their catch at the end of a fishing expedition is Dutch Harbour. It is located along with its twin town, Unalaska (who thought of that name!) almost at the end of the Aleutian chain. Dutch Harbour is the biggest fishing port in the United States.
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http://www.alaska.com/places/cities/other_cities/story/45656 54p-4696325c.html
Getting back to the Alaskan Ferry System, the ferries seem to be incredibly well run.
The only complaint I have is their inability to remove a drunken passenger who was raising hell during the second night in my part of the aft deck where I was trying to sleep. The other question is, why did I not move to another part of the vessel?
Despite the fact that crew members came around regularly to try and calm him down, there was no attempt to remove him during the two nighttime stops. The fact that he was a man about 6' 6" in size may have had something to do with it.
I noticed the next day he was already seated in the bar at 10:00 waiting for the noon hour opening. He must have been denied service since I did not see him there later.
On the whole, my three day voyage on the Alaskan ferry system lacked one thing and that was good weather
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. But how can I complain? On the whole, this was the first time in my Alaskan trip that I had bad weather several days in a row.During my trip through Alaska, I complained several times in my blogs about the lack of wildlife sightings. This streak continued on the Alaskan ferries as the marine mammals were also playing hide and seek with me. They won!
The next day around 13:00 we docked in Ketchikan.
MV Malaspina's route for the final leg of the voyage was now directly to Bellingham. Since that did not include a stop in beautiful Prince Rupert, I had to drive off the Malaspina and after an 8 hour stopover, change vessels to the MV Taku for the final six hours voyage to Prince Rupert.
This left me with more than enough time to explore perhaps the biggest town on the Alaskan cruise ship circuit.
The entire town of Ketchikan is geared towards the cruise ships. Ketchikan by far has the biggest docks which could welcome five to six cruise ships at a time
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. The docks are separated from the impressive array of shops along the harbour by a huge boardwalk allowing for ample access to the cruise ships.It all makes for an impressive welcoming and inviting scene for cruise ship passengers.
I used to enjoy walking along Government Street in Victoria, BC during the time that the cruise ships were in town. It was an electrifying atmosphere charged with the sounds of ringing cash registers.
This atmosphere would be much more intense in Ketchikan as the cruise ships would be even more numerous in a much smaller town.
By the time I arrived in Ketchikan, the carnival atmosphere created by the cruise ships had come to an abrupt end. Instead there was almost a funereal feeling. It was very quiet, somber, deserted and without life. The last cruise ship of the season had left last Thursday. All that was left to do for the locals was to contact their accountants to get an idea of how well or badly they had done financially during the last cruise season.
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There were however a few more dollars to be earned. In desperation, it was now my turn to buy souvenirs as I bought a whole batch of T-shirts etc. from Ketchikan for mailing at Christmas time to various family members. (We would not be home this Christmas.)
The rainy weather partly continued in Ketchikan. This was not surprising as Ketchikan, the king salmon fishing capital of the world, also prides itself in getting 150 inches or 12.5 feet of rain on average annually.
Ten days ago we were on the north coast of Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, where the wettest spot on earth is located on Mt. Wai'ale'ale. The average rain fall is 460 inches or 38 feet per year.
Coming Soon:
Passage to Prince Rupert
