We spent the last few days of our long trip, over 3.5 months, 28 states and more than 15,000 miles, in Bellingham while we waited for the ferry to take us home. The new ferry schedules put Sitka on the return leg to Bellingham. That means we would have to ride the ferry all the way to Skagway and repeat Haines and Juneau then out to Hoonah and in to Sitka.
That would be a four day trip so we booked a cabin.
We contacted a friend of ours from Seward who works for the ferry and found out he would be working part of the trip as well. Just after departing Bellingham, we met up with Frank Bihlman. Sorry we forgot to get a photo.
 |
| Bellingham Ferry Terminal |
 |
| leaving Bellingham |
The first day was spent traveling through Canada and seeing the sights and we didn’t have to navigate or do anything.
 |
| town of Bella Bella, Canada |
 |
| totem pole by the clan house by Bella Bella |
Our first stop was Ketchikan and we arrived early in the morning Friday. We only had an hour stop so we stayed aboard.
 |
| Ketchikan |
After Ketchikan we headed up to Wrangell. Docking in Wrangell took a while and we later found out it was due to an engine failure. If we would have known, we would have taken the time to visit with friends who live there. After a few hours they got the engine running but didn’t trust it to go up the Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg. Instead we headed straight for Juneau.
 |
| Wrangell |
From Juneau it was up the Lynn Canal to Haines and Skagway.
 |
| leaving Skagway in beautiful weather |
On the return trip after Hoonah we went through the Peril Straits and the narrow waterway system that we took with Sari Timur in 2019. This patch of water can be treacherous and only a few days earlier a tug and barge came to grief there. They were still doing cleanup as we passed and we got some pictures.
 |
| the tug, high and dry, with a smashed stack |
Back on Sitka, we had help unpacking from friends Chuck and Trish and they then invited us to dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment