Robert, Wednesday, June 4
We got up this morning and finished getting packed up. We made it to the ferry docks on time but the signs there were very confusing when we drove in. One to the left said "Inter-Island Ferry" with an arrow pointing left and another said "All RVs Must Turn Right." And there were two possible ways to turn right–a hard right and a not so hard right. When you are pulling a 35 foot trailer, you get real cautious about driving somewhere as it may be the wrong way with no way to turn around. Leslie went inside the terminal building to find out where we were suppose to be while I tried to get where I wasn’t blocking traffic. We finally got it figured out; we were suppose to turn right but not the hard right. The place to get in one of the lines was very small so the guy telling everyone which line to get into told us to park where we blocked most of the lines. I went inside to get checked in and get our window sticker. They have little colored tags with your destination that you tape in your window. When they load the boat they try to do it so that those getting off at the earlier stops are closer to the exit. This boat had a door in the stern which they were not using and two doors in the bow; one on each side. They were loading into the starboard (right) side. They had one RV also going to Wrangell back down the ramp. All things being equal I would prefer not to back on the boat. We were the very last to board. We drove straight on and parked between the two forward doors. They told us that in Wrangell the off-load on the port (left) side so we would be the first off and we would drive straight ahead to get off. Yay! There was a large crowd of people on the boat–mostly Eskimo teenagers. (In this politically correct world I’m not sure it is proper to use the term "Eskimo" but I certainly cannot distinguish among the various native groups such as the Aleuts, Koniags, Tlingits, Haidas, etc.) They were all going to some big event in Juneau. The ferries have various areas for passengers. The typical arrangement is something like this. The lowest deck is the car deck. Above that is the cabin deck which is filled with passenger cabins. The next deck, called the observation deck, has seats so that you can see forward and to the sides. Aft of this is a bar and all the way aft is a cafeteria. The next deck up, called the bridge deck, has the bridge, which is off limits to passengers. Aft of the bridge is passenger seating and aft of that is the solarium. The solarium is enclosed on the front and both sides but open to the rear. It has a roof with overhead heaters. There are deck chairs that can be used like a cot. People grab these and put a sleeping bag on them. As the ferries run day and night this is a cheap alternative to paying for a cabin. The ferry we were on arrived in Wrangell at 3:15 pm and was to arrive in Anchorage at 4:00 am the next morning. Aft of the solarium is an open space. Here people pitch their tents. As the deck is metal, they use duct tape in lieu of tent poles to hold them in place. Someone brought one of those queen sized inflatable mattresses and had it on the floor in the seating area of the bridge deck. We were content to sit in the reclining chairs and catch up on the sleep we missed from getting up so early. Getting off the ferry was a breeze in Wrangell. The deck crew are very good at giving directions to maneuver without hitting anything. Three or four of them are all around you watching that you don’t hit anything and they give very clear directions as to where to drive to get off. The campground was a little over a mile from the ferry dock. Wrangell is much smaller that Ketchikan and that was obvious as we drove that mile. Just as we arrive at the campground it started raining. By the time we got parked and set up, I was pretty wet even wearing my Gore-tex jacket. We are here for 7 nights. Before we got here we were wondering what we were going to do for that long of a time. We do have to do some work on the trailer so this might be the place. And doing nothing but reading a book is fine with me.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Ferry to Wrangell
Leslie Wednesday, June 4, 2008
This morning we met the ferry boat Matanuska for the 6 hour trip to Wrangell. The ferry left Ketchikan at 9:15 am and arrived in Wrangell a little after 3:00 pm. This ferry was continuing up the coast and would eventually arrive at Juneau in the middle of the night. While coming from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan we were the first to board, today we were the last to board. I guess being so large has its pros and cons. We were the last to board because they placed us directly across the bow of the ship. We had two advantages today — we didn’t have to back onto the ship (which we saw someone with a 54 ft truck/long travel trailer combination do) and because we were placed across the bow of the ship, we were the first to off-load.
The chute to drive onto the ship is long and narrow.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816766_opMXQ-M.jpg
The Alaska Marine Highway ferries are nothing like cruise ships. They are working transportation boats. They do have a variety of places to sit. There is the observation lounge, which looked a lot like the one on the last ferry, a lounge chair section, a cafeteria, bar, sheltered outdoor solarium, and the aft deck. There are cabins but I haven’t seen them yet. There are also public showers aboard. They appeared clean and servicable.
The lounge chair section is far more humane than any airplane. See the wide aisles and small table between chairs. Many people had sleeping bags on the floor in the spaces between chairs. There is so much free space that someone even brought an inflatable areo-bed and placed it at the front of the cabin.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816816_JXbkr-M.jpg
Outside at the rear of the boat is the sheltered solarium. Notice the yellow tint to the picture. That is caused by the tinted overhead skylights. You can also see the heaters at the ceiling level. Many people stake claim to the reclining chairs in the solarium for sleeping. Because the heaters give off so much heat and you are sheltered from the wind by the hell of the boat and the plexiglass sidewalls, I think this would be the best place to ride. We’ll try the solarium on our next leg. I noticed one person had his inflatable camping sleeping mat on the chair – that looks like a good idea. Notice the areo-bed at the rear of the solarium and the rows of lockers.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816839_xkJmE-M.jpg
Lastly, you can pitch a tent on the aft deck. While there is no place to stake the tent, most people tape the tent down with duct tape. This is reported as a wonderful way to travel.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816853_8Lt6L-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816754_7hRbQ-M.jpg
The lounge section also acted as the viewing room for the movie. The movie on this run was a video of a Native American ceremony. (I felt as if I was back at summer camp with Indian lore.)
There were lots of kids aboard this leg. A group of Native American dancers was traveling to an event in Juneau. One of the workers giving directions in loading the rig told us that if we wanted to avoid the noisy kids we should sit in the bar because access is restricted to people over age 21. We stayed in the lounge section but the bar was large and included couches and separate tables.
Here’s a picture of the chute to exit the ferry at Wrangell. You can see the vehicles lined up to board this ferry. Because they work very hard to ensure that all available vehicle space on a ferry is utilized, they may require drivers to off-load their vehicles at intermediate ports and re-load.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816793_gKgB6-M.jpg
We are staying in the only commercial campground in Wrangell. It has all of 7 spaces (and one space is occupied by the manager). Getting into this site was very difficult. Robert had to back up a steep incline and make a blind turn into the site. I was outside giving him instructions via the two-way radio – in the pouring rain. While Gore-tex does work at repelling rain, there is only so much it can do when sheets of rain are falling. We spent the rest of the day inside warming up.
more later,
Leslie
This morning we met the ferry boat Matanuska for the 6 hour trip to Wrangell. The ferry left Ketchikan at 9:15 am and arrived in Wrangell a little after 3:00 pm. This ferry was continuing up the coast and would eventually arrive at Juneau in the middle of the night. While coming from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan we were the first to board, today we were the last to board. I guess being so large has its pros and cons. We were the last to board because they placed us directly across the bow of the ship. We had two advantages today — we didn’t have to back onto the ship (which we saw someone with a 54 ft truck/long travel trailer combination do) and because we were placed across the bow of the ship, we were the first to off-load.
The chute to drive onto the ship is long and narrow.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816766_opMXQ-M.jpg
The Alaska Marine Highway ferries are nothing like cruise ships. They are working transportation boats. They do have a variety of places to sit. There is the observation lounge, which looked a lot like the one on the last ferry, a lounge chair section, a cafeteria, bar, sheltered outdoor solarium, and the aft deck. There are cabins but I haven’t seen them yet. There are also public showers aboard. They appeared clean and servicable.
The lounge chair section is far more humane than any airplane. See the wide aisles and small table between chairs. Many people had sleeping bags on the floor in the spaces between chairs. There is so much free space that someone even brought an inflatable areo-bed and placed it at the front of the cabin.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816816_JXbkr-M.jpg
Outside at the rear of the boat is the sheltered solarium. Notice the yellow tint to the picture. That is caused by the tinted overhead skylights. You can also see the heaters at the ceiling level. Many people stake claim to the reclining chairs in the solarium for sleeping. Because the heaters give off so much heat and you are sheltered from the wind by the hell of the boat and the plexiglass sidewalls, I think this would be the best place to ride. We’ll try the solarium on our next leg. I noticed one person had his inflatable camping sleeping mat on the chair – that looks like a good idea. Notice the areo-bed at the rear of the solarium and the rows of lockers.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816839_xkJmE-M.jpg
Lastly, you can pitch a tent on the aft deck. While there is no place to stake the tent, most people tape the tent down with duct tape. This is reported as a wonderful way to travel.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816853_8Lt6L-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816754_7hRbQ-M.jpg
The lounge section also acted as the viewing room for the movie. The movie on this run was a video of a Native American ceremony. (I felt as if I was back at summer camp with Indian lore.)
There were lots of kids aboard this leg. A group of Native American dancers was traveling to an event in Juneau. One of the workers giving directions in loading the rig told us that if we wanted to avoid the noisy kids we should sit in the bar because access is restricted to people over age 21. We stayed in the lounge section but the bar was large and included couches and separate tables.
Here’s a picture of the chute to exit the ferry at Wrangell. You can see the vehicles lined up to board this ferry. Because they work very hard to ensure that all available vehicle space on a ferry is utilized, they may require drivers to off-load their vehicles at intermediate ports and re-load.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/307816793_gKgB6-M.jpg
We are staying in the only commercial campground in Wrangell. It has all of 7 spaces (and one space is occupied by the manager). Getting into this site was very difficult. Robert had to back up a steep incline and make a blind turn into the site. I was outside giving him instructions via the two-way radio – in the pouring rain. While Gore-tex does work at repelling rain, there is only so much it can do when sheets of rain are falling. We spent the rest of the day inside warming up.
more later,
Leslie
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