Sitka to Juneau

Leslie Saturday, June 21, 2008

Today we traveled from Sitka to Juneau. We were booked on the high speed ferry, the Fairweather. I took a few pictures as Robert boarded the ferry.

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The boarding wasn’t too difficult because the chute was short.
The ferry itself was very different from the boats we had traveled on the earlier legs. This high speed ferry has only one large, open deck (open meaning one big room) that is closed to the outside. There is a solarium in the aft but it doesn’t have heaters or lounge chairs. This is a transport vessel. The passenger area above board was very nice.

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There were areas for quiet study (with desks and good lamps), excellent lounge chairs, and chair and table combinations. We selected a chair and table combination. Because this ferry moved so quickly (up to 40 mph), we saw wildlife only when the captain announced that a sighting had occurred on the port or starboard side. We were fortunate to see two whale sightings on our voyage.

The off-load in Juneau was easy. I found the sign to "end of the road" funny although it is real. The road does end shortly east of here. Although Juneau is on hte mainland it is not connected to any other place by road. There is talk of building a road to Haines which would enable access to the interior, the cost would be prohibitive. Generally the conclusion is that it makes more economic sense to improve and add to the existing marine highway (i.e. more ferries).

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