Amanda’s Senior Adventure (Bellingham to Juneau)

06/20/2008 We arrived a couple hours early to board the ferry out of Bellingham. We sailed on the M/V Columbia from Bellingham to Juneau. This would be a three day sail with interim stops at Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg. When we first arrived on the boat it was time to hunt out a place to sleep. For this portion of the trip we were sleeping “on deck” without any room accommodations. We did not take a tent on board with us as we expected to sleep in the chaise lounges provided on the boat. We were not aware of where the chaise lounges were located at and were told to head to the observation decks in the front of the boat. We parked ourselves in an enclosed observation area and I went exploring. I found another area that did not have many people in the movie lounge area that had no windows and reclining seats. We moved our gear there and took a row with three seats. These seats are like a first class seat on a plane or a typical seat in a coach train that recline about three quarters way and have a small foot rest. We ended up staying for the three days and nights on the ferry to Juneau. Amanda would sleep in one of the chairs, we would put our packs in the two other chairs and I used the therma-rest and slept on the floor. It was quiet at night, but the crew left the lights on all night in the room. This room was also used for showing movies during the day and night. This was the only “formal” entertainment provided by the boat. When a movie was shown, it was usually nap time for me.
After we were parked in our camping spot, I went and did some more exploring and found the chaise lounges in the Solarium. This area was enclosed on three sides and covered in glass, being open out the back. This was on the top deck. The chaise lounges were all taken, a few tents put up and all the floor space taken by people sleeping in the area. It was a noisy area for due to a ventilation fan for the boat. Also on the boat were standard accommodations that included 2 or 4 bunks and a head in the room. The rest of the passengers shared public restrooms, showers and the boat had a laundry room with pay washers and dryers.

We slipped the lines about a half hour late due to the amount of vehicles being loaded on the ferry. We sailed straight through to Ketchikan without any stops as most of the time we were in Canadian waters. This portion of the trip lasts two nights and one day. We sat and watched the water roll by and looked at the different islands for the first few hours. To pass time we also read books, played games that Amanda brought with her, talk with other passengers or ate in the cafeteria or full dining area on the fantail. I would feel guilty sometimes if I was doing anything other than watching the scenery go by or look for wild life. As I described it to another passenger, you were really looking for the anomaly. That would be a movement on a hill side or a wave not breaking the same as 99.9% of the others and looking to see if an animal was causing the change.
If I did not explain earlier, this part of the trip was traveling up the Inland Passage to Alaska. This passage is between primarily Vancouver Island to the west and smaller islands further north and the mainland to the east. This provided protection from all the weather and smooth sailing. I have been reading over the years about traveling through this passage and the wicked currents through here. I am sure there were there, but outside of a tight channel between Wrangell and Petersburg, I could not see them. It was an area I am not sure if I would like sailing as with the protection, there did not appear to be much wind and you would need to work with the currents to go anywhere. The second evening we saw our first whales. There was a momma and baby humpback that I observed. The mother was broaching slowly and the baby was jumping up and clear out of the water and coming down with a splash. There also weren’t many inhabitants along the water front. Most of the places had to do with light houses or a fuel station that is pictured. What I found beautiful was they always had a red roof and painted white. It stood in contrast to the green background.
We made it into Ketchikan Sunday morning. It is a waterfront town. We got off the boat and had breakfast in a restaurant across from the ferry station and walked to the local Safeway for some snacks for on the boat. We then had shorter trips that day to Wrangell and Petersburg. We did not get off of the boat for these stops as they were small towns and we only had usually less than an hour for the stop. There was two interesting sites during this day. One was a channel that we needed to “thread”. There was less than four feet on either side of the ship as we went through a “S” curve and the second was before Petersburg. I was looking out the window and saw a flock of birds. It turned out to be a flock of bald eagles. There was probably between fifty and a hundred birds flying near this one house and stopping and taking off out of a couple of trees. It was definitely an anomaly.
06/23/2008. We arrive in Juneau at 0500 in the morning. We decide to stay in the sleeping bags until 6:00AM as the boat isn’t leaving until almost 7:00AM. We need to pack and leave this ship as we will be in Juneau for 36 hours and board a different ferry for the next two legs of our trip. It turns out the ferry station is 12 miles from town. We end up taking a taxi into town and pay $40 with tip. He dropped us of at the hostel where we will be staying. As it was early in the morning we walked down the hill and found a coffee shop and bakery for breakfast.