Inside Passage

COLUMBIA FERRY

“Industrial, functional, slow.” Those were some of the better words I associated with ferry. How I came to characterize the Alaskan Marine Highway (ferry) is magical. The Columbia was our Ferry from Juneau down to Bellingham. Indeed, everything was less carnival and more functional than a cruise ship. What I appreciated was less canned distraction and more time for admiring the sites. The ferry schedule found us on the water more and in tourist ports less. If you want to shop for souvenirs then you want the cruise ship!

Wending our way between islands going out to Sitka must be one of the best sightseeing waterways in the world. It helped that clement weather prevailed, that is, no fog! The famous Inside Passage is what it sounds like. Islands protect calm, narrow passages between the Pacific Ocean and the North American continent. That makes for superior sightseeing on both sides of the ship. Especially the northern half of the IP reveals grand vistas of forested hills and mountains. Even better, there are no roads, lights, buildings or cell towers in evidence. This seems the way the earth was made to be. Sitting up front in the ship makes for a grand, moving view at the slow pace of the large ship. Even so, I felt it was going by too fast. I wanted more time to absorb all there was to see. I felt tempted to take the ferry back up to Alaska.

Humpback whales abound in the IP. Each new siting had us on the edge of our chairs. Fins broke the water, long backs raised up into view. Breaking flukes signaled each new dive. We counted whales until we lost track there were so many. Perhaps 100 or more. Carole talked with a citizen from a cruise ship plying the same waters. “What whales?” she asked. Must have been dancing in the disco, running on the treadmill or who knows.
Cruise Ships in Juneau


Inside Passage Shots

The other critter I wanted to see on this trip put in an appearance as we nearedthe south end of the IP. A small pod of Orcas frolicked in the channel and largely ignored our ship. Certainly, this is not SeaWorld, free Orcas do what they want!
Sitka Bay

In Ketchican we saw the now famous “Bridge to No Where” site. In the photo with the small ferry the bridge would be about there. The idea was to connect the small island where the Ketchican Airport is sited with the town. So Sarah Palin’s lobbying for the bridge was for a purpose. I suppose the cost far outweighed the benefits and would have put the ferry out of business. So much for Joe (wink!) Ferry!

Bridge to No Where location

Ketchikan

Once in Washington State we made our way to Seattle’s airport so we could fly back to Alaska! Why not bring the RV rig along? At nearly 50 feet, the cost was greater than the benefit we decided. We would be trundling back over the roads to the Lower 48. When we arrived back in Palmer where we picked up the trailer we discussed our options and decided the cold summer Alaska weather was enough and we started home ahead of schedule.