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This is the first full day out to sea. The scenery is awesome and there's always something to see on the water. There's fishing boats along the way along with small towns here and there. Last night was a tough night to sleep through though. Since this ferry originates in Anchorage or Juneau, all the cabins are sold out by the time I get on. For future reference, if you want a cabin, you have to get your ticket really early and reserve a cabin at that time. The ferry has a movie theater, restaurant, and even a bar on board. Sleeping arrangements get interesting because people sleep anywhere they can throw a bag down. Some even bring tents and set up on the deck in back. The rear deck gets pretty crowded with tents and they are often tied to the railings and such in case of wind. I doubt it would be much fun to see your tent fly off the back and float in the sea somewhere behind the ferry!
Most of this sea voyage is along the Canadian coast and it is beautiful and green. The landscape so far in this area is largely unpopulated. We did come across an interesting rock, which does not show up well in the picture unless you zoom in tight. The rock is out in the middle of nowhere with a small house on it. This small house is not a lighthouse; it's just a regular house. Whoever thought of putting a house out here is a genius! No neighbors and a 360-degree water view! Speaking of rocks, that’s how people often refer to our island. When going on vacation, we just say we are getting off the rock. To get "off the rock" you either fly or boat since we are not connected to the mainland by road.
Having a phone out here may be nice for pictures but you have to be careful. The captain has come on and advised everybody to put their phones in airplane mode so the phones won’t try to get signal since we have entered Canadian waters. Roaming charges out here are a killer! It would make for a nasty surprise on the phone bill. So, on to airplane mode and no contact with civilization or GPS points with the phone! Without this I don’t know where we are, not that I knew to start with.
The people of Canada are friendly. We are passing several fishing boats as we mosey along. There are quite a bit of people out fishing but no town in sight. The fishing must be really good to draw people out here this far from a town. The people on the fishing boats wave at us as if they know us. Not being rude people, we waive back at them. I saw a few humpback whales but as usual, my timing sucks. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t catch one on camera. No killer whales yet though. For the people out fishing, that’s a good thing. Once the killer whales show up, you may as well go home because the fishing is pretty much over since the salmon make a run for it. I even have a video at home of a killer whale biting a salmon in half as some poor guy is reeling the fish in as fast as he can.
Finally, a small Canadian town comes into view. No one I spoke to have any idea what town it was and boy did it look small. It made Ketchikan look like New York City! I have to say that the stereotype of Canadians saying "ay" after most sentences is not far from the truth. I have spoken to many Canadians and while they don’t all do it, a lot do add the “ay” at the end of their sentences.
We went through a few maneuvers weaving around some commercial fishing boats. They look like they might be gill-netters because they have what looks like nets floating behind them fishing for salmon. I bet they are glad the killer whales aren’t around either. The killer whales have a nasty habit of annoying the fishermen by stealing salmon from their nets or punching holes in the nets.
I also noticed a cruise ship appear behind us and follow for about three hours. It’s weird because I can’t figure out where it came from. It was just there suddenly! I got a little paranoid that we were being followed but no problem, it’s not painted black. There, that’s a nice little movie reference!
I wandered around the boat for a while looking for the perfect spot to claim as my own; I have to say, it doesn’t exist! I did find a spot that looked like a quiet area with no kids around so I set up my bedroll and sleeping bag for the evening. You have to remember that the ship is made of metal and that includes the floor, which is now my bed. The floor is thick metal with what has got to be the thinnest carpet, no padding, I have ever seen. God was that floor hard. I think I am just getting too soft in my old age and too used to sleeping in a comfy bed! As my friend Steve, the logger, would say “You just have to man up!”.
So, every four hours you get an announcement that the car deck is open for 15 minutes. Time to stretch the legs and pet some dogs! Everybody with pets runs down to their cars because you are not allowed to bring pets up from the car deck into the people areas. People get their dogs out of their cars and on leash walk them around weaving between cars and such so the poor animals can relieve themselves. Now, the proper etiquette is that once your animal ummm does its thing, you clean it up. My friend Steve, yes the logger, used to work for the ferry system and says that people don’t always clean up. So, the best policy is “watch your step”. I believe the deckies, guys who work on the deck floor, get a small bonus per cleanup they have to do.
On a side note, a little background on my friend Steve. We have been friends since almost when we first moved up here 14 years ago. I used to work at the University of Alaska, in the computer lab, and his wife was one of my students. He came in and we quickly hit it off because we both had the same kind of screwed up sense of humor. Steve was a logger for over 30 years of his life and at 64; he still puts on the climbing gear and goes up trees when we go get firewood for me. I keep trying to get him to let me write a book about his adventures in the woods because he tells me stories of the stuff they did to each other as loggers and I am often rolling around laughing too damn hard to do anything. He doesn’t think anybody would find the stories entertaining but I know people would love to hear them. I will just have to keep annoying him till he lets me write the stories down. I even have the title “Thirty Years in the F’ing Woods!”. The title is the result of a phrase used by loggers quite a bit when you try to tell them how to do something. The full phrase is usually “Thirty years in the F’ing woods and you think I don’t know what I’m doing?”.
I went down on the car deck to check my motorcycle since we have been at sea and stuff shifts around under sail. I wouldn’t want to get to Bellingham and find out my bike is damaged and not usable after all this! There the bike is, squeezed into a small spot and tied to a forklift. When I asked the deckies where to tie it, they said to tie it to the forklift but to make sure I tied it to the steering wheel! When I looked at the guy with my usual puzzled look, he said that if I tied it to the steering wheel, they would see it. This way, if they have to move the forklift, they won’t drag my motorcycle around! Usually, you tie to things on the floor but the ferry was pretty darn full on this trip.
Night comes on and another chance to try to get some sleep.
Details of each picture to follows:
Pic 1 - The Canadian Coast: This is a shot of a small pass we go through on our way south along the Canadian coast. And yes, Canadians say "ay" after most sentences.
Pic 2 - My bed: Sort of my bed. I found a spot on the metal floor to lay my bag out and get some sleep. It was a tough night on a hard floor with something pretending to be carpet. I think I just need to toughen the old body up for sleeping in anything other than a bed!
Pic 3 - Secured!!: The routine is that they allow you to go down to the car deck about every four hours for 15 minutes. People run down there to walk their pets and give them a chance to 'relieve' themselves. Proper etiquette is that you clean up after you pet, but best policy is to watch where you step! The deckies have me tie down my bike in a weird way cause the ferry was full to the brim.. They squeezed me into a small spot and told me to use my tie down and tie my bike to the forklift. At least one of them said to make sure and tie to the steering wheel in case they had to move the forklift so they would see that I was tied to it and not drag my bike around by accident. That would have been a miserable way to start this adventure.
Pic 4 - The Rock: Probably can't see it unless you stare hard and use zoom generously but there is a rock out in the middle with a nice house on it. Weird place for someone to build but at least the views are 360 degrees and awesome! BTW "The Rock" is what most people at home refer to our island as and it was my turn to "get off the rock".
Pic 5 - No Zoom: Unfortunately, my iPhone has no zoom! There were friendly folks out on boats waving at us like they knew us. Couldn't even get good GPS location since we were warned by the ferry captain at specific points to put our phones on "airplane" mode or suffer the consequences of high roaming charges for Canadian cell phone service.
Pic 6 - Fishing: Still off the coast of Canada, ay. This must be a hot fishing spot because there are plenty of pleasure boats out today. No town anywhere in sight. Saw a couple of humpback whales but no matter how much I tried, I could not get their picture well enough to show anything. At least they were humpback and not killer whales. When the killer whales come around the fishing grounds, you may as well go home, because you ain't catching any fish with them around!
Pic 7 - Tiny Town: Tiny little Canadian town. No one seemed to know the name of it either.
Pic 8 - First Real Town: This has got to be the first town of any real size. As such, though, it still looks a lot smaller then Ketchikan.
Pic 9 - The Maneuvers: We had to do some maneuvering through here. There were a few boats with gill nets out behind them fishing for salmon. Also saw some killer whales in the area. They have a nasty habit of annoying the fishermen by stealing salmon from their nets!
Pic 10 - Fort McNeely: Tiny little town but at least the captain told us it was Fort McNeely. Not too much of a town but at least it had a name!
Pic 11 - Sunset: Finally, night falls and I get another chance to sleep! A cruise ship appeared behind us out of nowhere and followed us about three hours. I was suspicious but my suspicions were allayed when I notice it was not painted black (movie reference...get it... men in black)
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