Tuesday, July 22

We're back to the slow ferry . It takes eleven hours to travel from Sitka to Petersburg, where we will get off; it's another nine hours to Ketchikan, our next stop. Of course, many people fly between these cities, but most southeast Alaskans are as dependent on the Marine Highway as the Tlingits were on their dugout canoes. Skagway and Haines are the only cities in all of southeast Alaska that are reachable by road. Our charming guide on the Wildlife Quest boat our first evening in Sitka told us what it had been like to play on the Sitka High School women's basketball team. The competition was among Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan, and sometimes, because of the ferry schedules, they were away for an entire week to play one game. Their coach was also the math teacher, so he kept them busy while they were waiting for the ferries. They camped out on the ferry deck and stayed in the homes of their opponents, usually not knowing until after the game who their hosts would be.

We have it easy. We don't have to play a basketball game when we get there, and we have our cozy camper in which to sleep. We have secured wonderful seats in the front of the observation lounge from which to watch the scenery and the navigational aids as we go along. During the first part of the journey we retraced our way from Juneau through the Peril Strait, which is indeed narrow, and later we saw some whales. The ferry arrived at midnight, and the town of Petersburg has thoughtfully made an area close to the ferry terminal available for RVs to spend the night of their arrival.