Morrows to Alaska 2014: Ferry to Juneau July 31, 2014

We loaded our rig and ourselves on the Matanuska Ferry at Haines and headed south in the inside passage. The ferry held many motorcycles, cars, RVs, buses, and even semi trailers. Talk about tight! We could barely get between them to get to the passenger deck. There are three decks for the passengers: The berths, the cafeteria and observation areas, and the top deck mostly open. We chose to pay for a room which seemed more like a closet. It had bunk beds, and a bathroom with a shower. We needed to "shift" to pass each other. I chose the top bunk at first, I didn't think I would be able to sleep but I did pretty well. I woke up once and felt like I might have a little claustrophobic issue but that passed. We had two stops during the night: Petersburg , 12:30 to 1:45 and Wrangell 4:50 to 5:30. I did get up so I could say I had seen Wrangell but not at Petersburg.

There was quite a diversity of passengers. There were young people who obviously were rugged outdoors individuals. Most of them chose to sleep in tents, sleeping bags, and pool like recliners rather that a room. It appeared most of them did not spend a lot on their travels and some of them appeared to not have visited a shower for a while. There were also some from Germany, Switzerland, Japan/China, and other parts of Europe. It was interesting to visit with those of them who could communicate in English and most of them could. Then there were those like us and even older if you can believe it. There were several tour bus groups also. A few were traveling as a family.

The first stop the ferry made was Juneau. There was a four hour layover and we wanted to at least see the city. That proved to be very difficult because the dock was 14 miles from there. The information said there were buses to take us there then we were told there were no buses. We finally were invited to share a cab with a couple from Canada. Thirty five dollars later we got to town. They were riding a tram above the city so we just went along since we didn't have a clue what to do and we were extremely worried that we would get back to the ferry in time since it was so difficult to get a taxi. As soon as we finished the tram ride we headed back to the ferry. Another $35 dollars. There must have been 4 or 5 cruise ships docked in the down town area so you can guess what it was like. I guess we are pretty chicken but we could just imagine what it would be like for us to be left in Juneau and our RV still on the ferry.