Day 8 - Prince Rupert, BC to Ketchikan, AK (via ferry)

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This was a “low activity” day. No long-haul driving; just hanging out in Prince Rupert waiting to board the ferry this afternoon. Some fog rolled in last night and hung around into the early afternoon and eventually gave way to some sun breaks, but by late afternoon some marine air rolled in again and was very cloudy for the rest of the day (but no rain!).

Prince Rupert is a strange town. It’s a place that you HAVE to go to (to catch a ferry), not a place that you would WANT to go to. The downtown area where I stayed is rather seedy and the downtown locals mostly seemed to be transients and/or panhandlers. Instead of wandering around town in my spare time, I chose to confine myself to my room or a restaurant.

This afternoon (while it was partly sunny) I drove to a nearby nature trail and had a good two hour walk (no panhandlers there!).

The ferry leaves at 7:15 pm but you have to be at the terminal three hours early to check in and go through customs. I made my reservations for this ferry about four months ago because I had read that the ferry is very popular and fills up early. Well, this year, no doubt due to the economy, the ferry is probably only one-fifth full (20% of capacity) and reservations were not actually needed (but the reservation did make it very easy to go through the boarding process). A ferry employee also told me that northbound ferry passengers start to drop off towards the end of August (most passengers this time of year are southbound).

The ferry is older but remodeled and is actually nicer than I was expecting. They have a cafeteria with hot food (had a good turkey dinner tonight) and my cabin, while small, is efficient and comfortable (and I have a window!). Pets are allowed but have to stay in your vehicle and you can only visit your vehicle when the ferry is in port or during one of the three times daily that “supervised” visits to the car deck are allowed. That means that your pooch has to be left on his own for long periods of time in your vehicle (and I have no idea how they deal with potty issues!). I went down to the car deck to fetch something out of the Miata before we left port and there was a truck nearby with a little dog inside barking away. It’s going to be a long night for Fido!

As I had read while researching this trip, many passengers (mostly young) are travelling on a budget and don’t have a cabin. For those folks they have a “recliner lounge” with airliner-type seating and they also have a sheltered area on the top deck with chaise-lounge chairs for resting and sleeping. The true outdoor types can pitch their tents outdoors on the top deck (although they are advised to use duct-tape to secure their tents to the deck).

I found some photos displayed near the cafeteria that are aerial shots of this ferry taken by a photographer using a remote-controlled camera mounted on a kite. If you look carefully you can see the kite string. And one of the aerial photos, obviously taken during the busy season, shows how crowded the “tent deck” can get on this ship.

I talked with a weird 48-year old woman from Seattle who was travelling with just a backpack and had no money (she bought her ferry ticket before she left Seattle). She took a bus from Seattle to Prince Rupert, stayed in a hostel and was heading for Juneau with no idea where she was going to stay or how she was going to pay for anything. She plans to return to Seattle but has no particular plans for “how" or “when”. Now THERE’S adventure for you!

Met a guy about my age from New Jersey who is travelling alone (his wife is at home), heading to Alaska, and is driving all the way. He “says” he went to high school with Bruce Springsteen, personally knows (knew?) Danny Devito and has met Jack Nicholson. After visiting Alaska he plans to drive to L.A. to visit his daughter (an aspiring actress) and then drive back to New Jersey. My 6000 mile journey is paltry compared to this guy!

Anyhow, we’re now under way, the skies are gray, the waters are calm and we’ll be in Alaskan waters in a few hours and in Ketchikan around midnight (I think I’ll sleep through my short visit to Ketchikan). Tomorrow will be a full day at sea (with three more ports) and, after one more night onboard, we’ll be arriving at our final destination in Skagway where we (the Miata and I) will hit the road again.

UPDATE: Just before sunset the skies cleared on the horizon and we had the most amazing sunset I’ve ever seen (see photos) AND we’re now in Alaska!

I can smell the gold from here!

Jack

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Comments

[urbain breaud]

sleeping
My wife and I plan to ferry this June for 17 days. We will stay in towns along the way. We are trying to decide whether to take out two man tent to camp on the ferry or sleep in the lounge chairs. What is your opinion. We will be living out of out backpacks.