Alaska Marine Highway Ferry Whittier to Bellingham

the alaska marine highway system a ferry boat system that allows you to put your vehicle on the boat and let someone else do the driving we boarded the ship in whittier and then we rode for four days and five nights and got off at bella camp washington so you stage your vehicles outside wait till the official man points to you and says you can enter the boat drive your vehicle down for most of the cars they there were three lanes on each side of the boat and they positioned you so you were pointed facing out so you could get off and then they called them the wedges kind of the triangular shapes at the end that's where the motorcycles went the motorcycles needed to be strapped down so we strapped all four corners of the bike down tight so that any swaying would not have the bike tip over so once the bikes were nicely secured and we took all of our luggage off the bikes up to the rooms we went to enjoy the rest of the cruise our ship was the kennecott our rooms were on the cabin deck after we stowed our stuff we were up one more deck to the boat deck to say goodbye to whittier to go out and pose out on the observation deck to get some pictures and to say goodbye to some glaciers as we left as we motored out this is the view of kind of the receiving area and where all the rooms are off of going into our room we put two people in each room technically you could have put four people in each room there was spots for four people but we thought that was cozy enough going with two each from our cabins it was one level up and after we went up one flight of stairs we were up to the main area that had the cafeteria there's actually a small movie theater observation lounge for an aft and a small bar area here as we walk down to where breakfast lunch and dinner were served if one chose to do that kind of cafeteria style pretty bare bones this was not your all-encompassing cruise where everything was included you had to buy your food but the prices were actually pretty good there's a small bar area on the side where the first night we played cards and then for those who didn't get rooms you could go up to the top deck and set up tents in this kind of solarium area up on that deck there there were a few people who did that not many on the cruise that we were on and then there was another place they called the eagles nest that you could look at either side of the boat it was very warm up there and then inside the enclosed space and this is the forward viewing section that you could be in inside away from the elements and watch out the windows and then the doors were in the back you could go out and be out on the bow if you wanted to pretty quickly and just a quick walk outside and to enjoy the wind in your hair and the sounds of nature outside i spent a lot of time out on this area because it was quite a nice space to be out on and a good place to meet people and talk everyone found their favorite place on the boat bruce's favorite place was up in the top deck usually in the sun waking up occasionally to see an animal or someone he knew passed by this was kind of a no-frills kind of cruise um if the cafeteria wasn't open here were your choices and yes indeed right here like the fancy cruises this is the midnight buffet just insert dollars and make your selection we requested a tour of the bridge and they were very nice to give us that tour so we went up each took a turn at the wheel of course we could spin the thing it really wasn't driving the ship they had disabled it for us to stand there but we felt powerful anyway we all took a turn steering the ship stood there the captain was very very nice talked to us for a very long time and it was a good visit on the deck the alaska marine highway started in 1949 as a way to connect the cities in alaska that didn't have roads that connected them our crews went from the first stop at yuck attack on to juno but in juneau we docked 12 miles away from where all the main cruise ships stock but we grabbed a taxi and went into town and ketchikan which is our favorite we were only two miles away from where the main ships so that just was a short walk and we went in and had lunch and returned to the ship if you're wondering about the wildlife we did see many dolphins we actually saw a pod of orcas and some individual humpback whales along with eagles and sea otters and many other animals the ship had a weekly fire drill that we all got to witness as we cruised into a port where was nice calm waters then the captain surprised everybody by doing a man overboard drill he heaved out a ring buoy and called out man overboard the entire crew had to run up run around the ship looking for the buoy they had to point to it the ship was actually doing circles in the little inlet until they found it then they ran the fast rescue boat dropped it off the side ran it out picked up the buoy came back and had to lift the speed boat back up so it was kind of exciting to watch that everybody on the ship got involved and it was kind of a nice entertainment event for us on the [Music] cruise one morning we were told that there was a ship out in front of us a small fishing vessel they saw it on radar but wasn't communicating wasn't sitting on a beacon so they had and it was a very foggy morning so they had to blast the foghorn to keep warning the small ship that we were there [Music] when we were in ketchikan there was a small island across the water that was an airport this is the infamous story of the bridge to nowhere because they keep lobbying to put a bridge to the island but it would be a bridge to nowhere we actually get there by a ferry but it's a regular airport but it's also a seaplane and float plane airport so as we sat there we watched plane after plane land in the water right next to our boat which was kind of interesting the high is clearly the weather the weather after we stowed the bike got them under cover the weather was perfect other highs the food on chip was pretty darn good oh well the highs but just the the beautiful scenery and nice weather you're high for me that the night sky last night was the most incredible night sky i've ever seen it was incredible you pointed that sky out to me i would have missed it i woke you yeah i i i got out of the rack and went out and looked it was amazing we saw comets we saw satellites tracking across the sky more stars than i've ever seen in my life very smooth water uh it's what the farm has been so nice look at the cards playing cards was was awesome it's a lot of fun you you learn who your friends are and aren't or not that was a high did ketchup can was good a little over a two mile hike into town and then that was great town yeah pitch cannons and some good good shopping here we're back on highs the the bargains for jackets and t-shirts and i think bob doubled his wardrobe you have a lot of ketchikan gear and just technically for those wanting that the jewelry prices were not realistic so we didn't buy no nor gold or gold i think if we were gonna buy gold we would have bought it from lisa right from the source at central she would have given us a good deal that was a great great cruise experience yes it was a great way to break up the trip let somebody else drive for 2000 miles but i think we're all ready to hit the road tomorrow morning and cover some new territory some new states we had indeed enjoyed our four days of relaxation on the boat but now it was time to continue the journey home [Music]

Channel: PanAmBob

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Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 07 2022