June 3, 2024
Petersburg to Sitka. 10 hours 156
nautical miles Sitka to Juneau (state capital) 8 hours 45 minutes, 132 nautical
miles
Day 9 Awake
very early. We have sailed all night and
landing in Sitka on Baranoff Island. The
ferry must go out of its way to sail along the coast nearer the Alaskan Gulf to
get to Sitka. It had 5 cruise ships in
dock. There are not enough ports for
them so some must anchor in the bay and be brought in by tender. This little tiny town of 800 balloons to
50,000 on high cruise days. There is
only 14 miles of road and two stop lights.
The town has kept its small-town ambiance and all shops are locally owned. Did not see the usual franchise or precious
gem shops. The history is mainly stories
about Russian fur traders and Tlingit people who clashed. Yet, the Russian Orthodox Church is the
prevalent religion for natives. There is
a prominent Russian Orthodox Church in the middle of town and we are allowed to
walk in and observer the interior. It is
very ornate and full of iconic art. We
do a small amount of shopping. They have
a 6% sales tax here and many of the same types of art we can find in Anchorage. We are attracted to anything that claims
local artists only. Mt Edgecomb sp? Over
sees the town and is a dormant volcano.
The clouds are so heavy we can’t see it today. There is a high bridge leading over to
Jablonski Island where the hospital and the airport are. The airport is very tiny and can only handle
on Ak Airlines flight a day. The ferry
dock is located 6 miles from the town so 55+ ferry people board a local bus for
$10.00 apiece roundtrip. There are many
eagles nesting and flying around the area.
We make it
back to the bus in plenty of time. We
take some of our luggage to the car because we will land in Haines at 4:15AM
and it will help to deal with it at that time of the morning if we have less. It should be pretty light at that time and
we will sort out our gear for the rest of the trip in the terminal parking
lot. Coffee shop in town opens at 6AM
and the Bakery opens at 7AM. Our
favorite Roadhouse out of Haines before the Canadian Border doesn’t open until
10AM. We are comfortable in Haines so it
will all work.
We are able
to sit for a few hours on our AFT deck perch and rewarded with a breaching
whale and tail wave. Lots of rocky
outcroppings in the water here and narrow enough this is not a route for cruise
ships to go.
People have
gotten off the ferry at various locations and taken on new people. There are not many children on board and the
ones who are here seem well behaved.
There is a big Tlingit gathering in Juneau and some of their folks are
on board wearing traditional garb and creating crafts to share at the clan
meeting. Sailing on the ferry is about
scenery and quiet time. There is very
little distraction other than a movie about Ak at night. Lots of time to read, knit, play games,
sightsee and nap. People do hook up and
introduce themselves swapping stories and experiences. We tend to stay quiet but friendly.
We stop off
at the bar where the game boards are. We
play a couple games of Scrabble on an inferior board and tiles not what we are
used to. But we prevailed! We have dinner in the cafeteria, soup,
chowder and toasted cheese. We will
likely make it an early night and may not see Juneau at 10:30PM the ferry docks
in Auke Bay well outside the city. But
it could be light enough to see the Mendenhall Glacier that sits above the
city.
A note about
the Kennicott staff. Everyone is
friendly and very willing to assist.
It’s obvious they are encouraged to say how much they like working on
the ferry. LOL. They work 2 weeks on, then 2 weeks off (12-hour
shifts). Many of them are multi-functional working many jobs. They keep things moving well and everything
is clean. We Purell our hands with every
stair railing and door handle. How they
get all the vehicles on the ferry without damage is a miracle.
