Sitka and Ferry to Ketchikan

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Ferry to Ketchikan and Sitka Adventures
I now have a blog written on the last ferry from Juneau to Sitka on July 9th but never posted because I couldn't figure out how to paste it from Pages, and another written on July 10th on the blog site but never posted when it appeared the site shut down while I was trying to download pictures. I'm now trying writing on Notes and will hope I can paste this!

We embarked on the MS Columbia, the largest ferry in the Alaska State Ferry fleet yesterday at 4:30 p.m. We are scheduled to arrive in Ketchikan at 2 p.m. We had brief stops in Petersburg and Wrangell but not long enough to get off the boat, but I was able to get a brief look at the towns from our stateroom. I am loving the ferries! I'm sure the big cruise ships are more luxurious but I doubt you have as up close views as you do on these smaller ships. Our room is bigger than we expected and while we don't have a balcony, we have a large window. This is the only ship that has a dining room with white tablecloths....reasonable prices and quite good food. They have eliminated the cocktail lounges on ships as part of "budget cuts" (another story but too long to write about here) and this is the only ship that will serve wine or beer with dinner......and you can't get any unless you order a full dinner (State law) and you are limited to two beers or two glasses of wine! We had fun seeing the tents pitched on the decks. This ferry runs between Bellingham Washington and Skagway--a 4 day trip and it appears that some people are camping out for the whole trip!

Sitka was not on the itinerary for the original REI Inside Passage cruise we had planned to do, and I am very happy that it ended up on our "self guided" Inside Passage trip. It's s beautiful town surrounded by jagged peaks, mountains and a volcano with a very clear crater. There is still a very strong Russian influence in the town and the history of the Russians, the Tinglit native people and the purchase of Alaska that took place in Sitka is fascinating. On our first full day, we walked through the Totem Pole park and then headed to the trailhead for the Indian River Trail. It was an easy trail along a salmon stream (though the salmon won't be running for another couple of weeks)....we stopped many times to eat the rasberries, blueberries and salmonberries from the bushes along the trail. There were four narrow bridges to cross that were beautifully constructed with logs.

.The highlight of our visit to Sitka was a 5+ hour boat trip with Gallant Adventures. They do only 21/2 hour trips most days, but offer this extended tour only when there are no cruise ships in town. There were four of us on the 25 foot boat and our guide, Paul was amazing. He took us 14 miles out into the ocean, stopping at small islands and navigating the boat into caves carved into the side of the islands. He knew exactly where to look for whales and we saw several humpback whales and watched them dive beneath the surface after watching their spouts for several minutes. I especially loved the sea otters floating around the kelp. We also saw lots of birds, especially on Sr. Lazaria Island which is a bird sanctuary where no one is allowed to walk on without a special permit.

We had planned to hike again yesterday before leaving on the ferry but got so many different opinions on bears that we ended up only walking around the town. We heard everything from "You don't need to worry about bears yet because the salmon aren't running yet here", to "You definitely need bear spray because there are lots of bears on Gaven Trail (where we planned to go) and even more on the connecting trail to Harbor Mountain." Another person told us that the mountain trails near town were fine and that the bears were more likely on the lower trails...like the one we had already hiked! I did buy bear bells but we will wait and see what people are saying about the trails in Ketchikan. I can't believe we have been in Alaska for 8 days now and have only had one day that wasn't mostly sunny....and that day only had minimal light rain in the morning. Ketchikan is supposed to be the rainiest place in Alaska so I'm not expecting the same perfect weather....but we are now only two hours away and I see blue skies ahead!!!

Photos later!

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