July 29 & 30 - Skagway, AK to Prince Rupert, BC - 700 miles

This was our trip on the "Alaska Marine Highway" Ferry (they are really big ships) from Skagway, AK to Petersburg, AK - about 200 miles, on July 29, and continuing from Petersburg, AK to Prince Rupert, BC on July 30.

Our complete itinerary on this ferry, from Skagway to Prince Rupert, BC, had intermediate Alaska stops at Haines, Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangle, and Ketchikan.  The total distance for the planned route was about 430 miles, and was to take two full days.

As we checked in at the Skagway ferry terminal at 3:15 AM (yes, that early!), we met a motorcycle rider from Brazil !  

Yes, he had ridden ALL the way from Brazil to Alaska.  

He had ridden through ALL of the South American countries, ALL of the Central American countries, Mexico, enough US states to get to the Canadian border above Seattle, and through Canada.  Talk about a great adventure!!

He'd been gone from his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil since January 8th, and was now headed to Vancouver, BC to get an airline flight for himself and his motorcycle back home (his wife said "come home or else").

He is a commercial real estate man at home, but on this trip was writing articles and taking pictures for Brazilian motorcycle magazines, and also dictating articles on tape for a Brazilian radio station.    (For our motorcycle friends, he was riding a Yamaha 750 XTZ, a "Dual-Sport" bike)

Getting on the ferry so early in the morning, we just crashed in our cabin and slept for a good part of the morning.  The ferry stopped in Haines, but we were asleep.  Since we had just been there, we didn't think we missed anything.

Now for our interesting diversion on the ferry ride.

We had a nice day on the ferry, had stopped in Juneau, and were coming into Petersburg at about 7:00 in the evening, when an announcement was made that our ferry was going to make a diversion to help out Alaska neighbors.  

The small village of Kake had suffered a very bad storm, with lots of rain that breached the dam at their reservoir.  This reservoir supplied all of their water, including drinking water.  They were now in a bad way, had almost run out of drinking water, and had no roads into the coastal village on which to bring water.  

So, it was announced, our ferry while in Petersburg, would pick up two semi trailers  with large tanks full of water, and take them to Kake.

The only thing was that Kake was about 8 hours away, and round trip by ferry was 260 miles or so.  No problem; our ferry would make an overnight run from Petersburg to Kake and back, and then continue on its normal passenger run.  A slight problem was announced, in that on the normal route after Petersburg,  the ferry has to go through the "Wrangel Narrows", which is so shallow that the ferry can only navigate it at high tide.  Also, the Wrangel Narrows is said to be so narrow that "you can shake hands with the bears on each side of the ship".    

So, having no choice, but thinking it was an interesting diversion, we went along for the ride.  (Thank goodness we had a cabin so we could get good sleep).  That was on the evening of the 29th. 

The ferry did make it's run to Kake, and the overnight return to Petersburg.  So, at about 7:00 AM on the 30th, here we are, starting to make the rest of the normal run.  Its high tide now, so we can make it through the Narrows. We'll arrive at our destination at about 2:15 AM on the 31st instead of at 5:30 PM on the 30th.

Well, that's what happens when neighbors need help in Alaska.

By the way, we were scheduled to stay with Gold Wingers David and Jeannie Fisher at our destination of Prince Rupert.  They had invited us after I had talked to each of them earlier about our trip on the ferry.  (I got their names and phone number from the "Gold Book", a listing of all the Gold Wingers, world wide, who belong to Gold Wing Road Riders Assoc.)  

When I called and told Jeannie about the ferry diversion and delay, she said "No problem, I'll just set my alarm for early in the morning and come guide you to our house."  Gold Wing Road Rider Assoc. people are just the best!

One aspect of riding on the Alaska Marine Ferry has been very educational and interesting.  The US Forest Service puts a Forest Service "Naturalist" on each ferry, to talk about geology of the area, forestation, land animals, sea animals, and cultures of the various people in Alaska.

The Naturalist we had was very good, in that he was very knowledgeable, had actually grown up living in several parts of Alaska, and was very interested in our seeing the marine life and land wildlife.  So during the voyage, we saw whales (a big group of 10 to 15), sea lions, and other animals along the way, and really enjoyed ourselves.

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