DAY 29 – 31 (6/1 – 6/3): Not Bored on Board

Thank goodness for Trader Joe's...as you might have noticed, they have fed us quite well so far - this morning we had breakfast burritos.

There is a cafeteria on board, but a lot of people bring food and heat it up in the microwave.  They also sell ice for a quarter.  About every 4 hours or so they allow people to go down to the car deck to retrieve items, and walk their dogs (you have exactly 15 mins).  I am reminded about what a good idea it was to leave Luke behind.  There is NO WAY he or I would have survived!  Dogs are not allowed on the upper decks unless they are service dogs.

The scenery around us has been amazing.  Alternating between cloudy and sunny, but there is something to see at all times as the captain weaves through the narrow waterways along the western shores of BC.  We even saw whales and bald eagles, but sadly we did not get photos!

Since we are on board ALL DAY today, I thought I would try to document how various people are sleeping on board.  It's pretty interesting!

They even have lockers you can use for your valuables, etc. if you are camping on board.

It is also interesting seeing what everyone does to keep busy.  I only caught photos of a couple of people besides ourselves, but we have seen people sewing, knitting/crocheting, watching movies/videos, reading, scrap booking, and puzzle making.  In this collage there is a guy tying flies for fly fishing, and another doing wood carving!

The artwork on board is really nice...here are a few pics of the stuff nearest our room:

There are two stops on the Alaskan Marine Hwy that are longer than others, and during the daytime, so most people will get off to walk around (after all, we have been on board now for 37 hours straight!).  Arrival in Ketchikan was bright and early - actually it was cloudy and early at 7am, after 2 nights since getting on board.  Here we are approaching port, cruise ships are already coming and going.

Watching the docking process is pretty interesting.

Since we are on the ferry, we do not get a berth where the cruise ships dock, so we had a 2+ mile trek in the rain to get to downtown.  Actually we were pretty glad to be out and walking even though it was raining outside.

In 1996 we went on an Alaskan cruise with my parents.  It was very generous of them to invite us, and we had a great time, but I never took the time to document the trip.  A combination of being busy with a 2 year old and pregnant with Jacob I guess!  We were in Ketchikan on that trip and I was trying to recall what it was like.  The minute we got to Creek Street it all came back to me.

It also brought back memories of crowded tourist traps - this is where the cruise ships come in.

We did stop at the Southeast Discovery Center (we don't think this was there last time) where they highlight and educate about the Tongass National Forest, history of the area & peoples, and have an interesting re-cap of the various entities that manage over Alaska's land masses.  This was a stop well worth the walk.

Next port call was Wrangels - we opted to stay on board since it was a very short stop, but we did watch the parade of dogs getting off and on the ship for a nature potty break!

On our approach to Sitka Monday morning we spotted a cool small ship that must have been a private cruise...

...and then about an hour later we spotted this ginormous cruise ship!  

Kayakers in the harbor

Sitka is a cute, quaint town that swells in population due to the cruise ships and tourism.  It is about 4 miles to downtown, and the entire island only has 2 stop lights, and 2 grocery stores (just a wee bit bigger than Molokai)!

There is a tour company that sends a shuttle to the ferry dock.  For $10/pp it takes you to town and back, complete with driver/entertainer Carlos, who holds 2 other jobs in town in the winter: school bus driver, and funeral hearse driver!

We were able to visit the Sitka National Historic Park and learn more about the history of how the Russians first claimed Alaska (even though it was not theirs to claim), their battle with the native peoples, and then the transfer of land to the US (they did not want to give it to Great Britain, their enemy at the time who controlled Canada).  It is good to see that the native culture of the Tlingits is being preserved and honored here at the adjacent Cultural Center.

This was our last day on board - the last stop was Juneau, but was in the middle of the night...we ate in the ship cafeteria for the first time for lunch & dinner.  Barry was pretty tired, tomorrow we arrive in Haines, which is where we get off to continue our road trip!

GOOD NIGHT!

Miles driven: 0