Whittier, AK

The last day on the ferry, and the one that I wasn’t really looking forward to. Yesterday afternoon we were passing Glacier Bay. I had never seen it before so I found a great seat on the Sun Deck. And the weather was nice and sunny. After passing it, I went in to get ready for 20+ hours of pitching and rocking as we were leaving the shelter of the coastal islands. It wasn’t that bad but I definitely felt better while lying down. 

By 1pm, we were near Valdez and the water was very calm again. I had lunch in the Cafe (general tso chicken) and when passengers were allowed on the car deck at 2:30, I went ahead and took all of my bags to the car. It looks like we will arrive in Whittier a couple of hours early. This will be great as I am planning to stay with my nephew and his family in Anchorage. It’ll be nice to arrive at a decent time. 

That’s Whittier. Kind of a wet evening…

Day 79 - Ferry

Today’s Internet is in Juneau. We arrived here at 5:30am, an hour and a half early. I hope we get into Whittier early as well. Yesterday was rain all day and, in spite of the promising view, I think rain is forecast for the rest of the week.

The Verizon signal lasted for about an hour after leaving Ketchikan. Not too bad. I met a couple of others from the RVing to Alaska 2021 FB group today. Primarily from seeing their posts. Since I’m not in an RV, I haven’t posted in that group. 

I took another half hour walk on the boat deck and selected “Outdoor Walk” on the Apple Watch. It must use the GPS on the phone as it states that I walked 9.24miles and under 4 min miles. The green is when I was walking towards the bow (in the same direction) and red was walking towards the stern. 

Lunch was simply dry salami on Triscuit crackers, a fruity granola bar, and a Granny Smith apple. More of a hiking or motorcycle trip type of lunch.  But more than adequate. 

This was the view last night around 9pm. No hint of the sun and since we were kind of in open water, there was some pitching. At least the wind and waves were from the back. Dinner was fish and chips from the cafe.

BTW, the showers on the ferry are phenomenal. Not in appearance as they are a simple SS box but the water pressure will blow you away. And this isn’t just because I’ve been in an RV for the last 20 months or so. 

Day 78 - Still on the Ferry

We arrived in Ketchikan this morning. It was pretty wet outside so the town was living up to its reputation. I believe the scheduled departure time is 11am so we have several hours here. Too bad you aren’t allowed to get off and wander around a bit. That is currently prohibited due to Covid. 

I had turkey dinner in the cafe and it was pretty good. Especially since they let me sub rice for the mashed potatoes. Rice with gravy is still a comfort food. The food isn’t spectacular but it’s not bad either. I brought breakfast, lunch, and some snacks with me.

This was taken yesterday evening around 9 or so. The days are definitely getting longer. There are 120 passengers on board so still only about ¼  of their capacity. Though the car deck is full so I don’t think that is any different. Just fewer walk-on passengers. There are a couple of guys getting off here with their sea kayaks. Lots of camping gear. I heard that they were planning on spending the summer cruising around southeast.

I don’t remember the last time I was in Ketchikan but it was over 15 years. It doesn’t look much different. The are allowing people to go into the terminal but not able to leave into town. And it’s still early in the morning. Tomorrow, we arrive in Juneau at about the same time.