0014 19th May - Juneau to Haines

Unfortunately we didn’t manage to stay asleep until the alarm went off at 3.00 am.  I was reading at 2 am, and then Janet thought she heard some spots of rain, so we decided to get up straight away in case it rained harder.  Packing up Troopie is really a matter of doing everything in order, then it works really well.  I sleep up in the ”top bunk” so I get up first, roll up my sleeping bag etc, and then slide the mattresses and sleeping platform forward over the cab, so Janet then has more headroom in the “lower bunk” and can stand up and get herself sorted out.  Meanwhile I am outside making a cup of tea using the thermos that we boil last thing at night, and which is still scalding hot more than 12 hours later. Doing everything in order means we can actually get up and pack up almost without having to go outside until we absolutely have to.  Anyway, this morning we packed up pretty quickly and saved the cup of tea until we got to the ferry terminal.

 On the way to the terminal, about 15 minutes, we saw a couple of black tailed Sitka deer, and a porcupine waddling along beside the road.  By the time we got to the terminal it was raining quite heavily, so after checking in we lined up in lane 5 as instructed, and sat there with our cups of tea and a banana watching all the toing and froing as they unloaded vehicles and people off the vessel which had started this journey in Bellingham, not far from my sisters' in Anacortes. The Marine Highway system is really the way everything is moved around here, so there are always boat trailers and semi trailers that have been parked on board without a tow vehicle, and which need the tow vehicles to come on board at their destination to get them off.  Similarly when loading – In addition to the cars and motorhomes being loaded, more semi trailers are (usually) reversed on, and the trailers then unhitched.  So it is always quite a performance getting everything loaded and parked in the correct spaces on the vessel so they can accessed at the required port without having to move everything. On this occasion we were the first vehicle onto the ferry in Juneau – Only to find the ferry half full of vehicles that have come all the way up from Bellingham (just north of Seattle) and been on board for a couple of days.  We have had a great time jumping on and off the ferries and visiting several of the towns en route – It really is a great way to do the trip, and I feel totally justified in spending the extra money this time in order to see more of these island towns that dot this Pacific Coast.   Just wish we had seen more whales, then it would have been perfect !!

Today the weather has returned to normal for up here – Overcast and raining quite heavily when we left the dock in Juneau.  But it started to lighten up as we followed the Lynn Canal up towards Haines. This is the longest and deepest fjord in N America, with the Chilkot mountain range to the east, and several glaciers on the west side – Only visible of course if the clouds are high enough !!  Today isn’t bad, with the weather clearing a little as we had north, but we can’t see the tops of the mountains.  We see some Dall’s Porpoises around the vessel soon after we have finished our breakfast, as well as some sea lions, and then have showers on the ship so we will be ready to head north once we land.  We have been on the road for 2 weeks now – But only had to refill with fuel once so far because we have been on ferries so much !!  And we are trying not to buy fuel in Canada as it is quite a bit more expensive than the $1.02 per litre we have been paying so far in the US.  Canadian prices are more like the $1.50 or $1.60 per litre we pay in Australia.  When we get off in Haines today, we have to cross back into Canada just a few miles up the road, first in British Columbia, then into the Yukon, before getting back into Alaska and the US.

 

Slight dramas getting off the boat as we were blocked off by a small motorhome which had a flat battery, so we had to wait until they got it started before we could get off.  And when we did it was raining !!  It was raining 2 years ago when I came to Haines, and Haines itself hasn't got much better in the meantime either - But more of that tomorrow.

 

Pics here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0014JuneauToHaines?authkey=Gv1sRgCIz6p4D1ouaYYg#