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Passage to Prince Rupert

The final leg of my voyage on the Alaska Marine Highway from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert was a short six hours spent on the MV Taku.

Departure was at 23:00 and arrival in Prince Rupert was shortly after 05:00.

As there are no "narrows" or "straits" with beautiful scenery on this part of the voyage, it lends itself to night time travel.

The previous night on the MV Malaspina, I had problems sleeping due to an inebriated, bellicose passenger (see previous blog).

To avoid that from happening again, I decided sleep on a deck chair under a covered part of the sun deck.

There were only three other passengers wrapped up in sleeping bags by the time I got there around 01:00 .

The temperature must have been below 10 degrees centigrade but two sleeping bags did the job of keeping me warm.

Despite the noise and vibration of the engines coming from the nearby funnel, I was able to fall asleep, probably due to my lack of sleep the previous night.

Around 02:30 I awakened and the noise which I was able to tolerate earlier, now seemed deafening.

I tried to ignore it but to no avail. Placing my deck chair farther away from the funnel did little to reduce the noise level.

I became convinced that if I stayed there till morning, I would be deaf by the time I arrived in Prince Rupert. Around 03:00 I threw in the towel and abandoned my position.

It was thus that I ended up in the forward lounge which is full of comfortable large padded reclining chairs facing the large forward windows now totally blackened by the exterior darkness .

During the day time this is the best place to sit as there is a view to the line of travel as well as shelter from the elements.

The forward lounge had subdued lighting and by the time my eyes adjusted completely, I realized that there were practically no other passengers there.

I have a thing about sleeping in a sitting position. It just doesn't work that well for me. I therefore put my air mattress on the floor between the rows of empty seats and crawled back into my sleeping bag.

The noise and vibration of the motors were greatly diminished in this part of the ship but I still had difficulty regaining sleep.

Also keeping me awake was a pre-occupation not to miss an extraordinary opportunity upon arrival at Prince Rupert.

As the Alaska Ferry MV Taku approaches its terminal in Prince Rupert, it would be passing right by the newly inaugurated Prince Rupert Container Terminal.

This is the most exciting economic development in Northern BC in decades and one which I have written about in detail. (Blog No. 6 - "Prince Rupert - the New World Port").

Despite my desire to be awake as we sailed by the container terminal, I was not awakened till the announcement was made that we were about to disembark .

Even then my priority was to pack up my personal affairs and get ready to leave the boat.

By the time I got the opportunity to take photos of the terminal, we had already passed the main part of the container terminal. Furthermore, my efforts to take photos were hampered by the darkness and my own grogginess.

Leaving the Alaska Ferry parking lot was a slow process as Custom Canada had only one lane open for inspection.

I must have set off some alarm bells or maybe I was just the twentieth car that was singled out for close inspection. Confiscated was a small container of pepper spray which I had in my glove compartment. Apparently, these are illegal in Canda.

About 45 minutes later, I was finally on my way after having my car and contents thoroughly inspected.

By this time it was well past 08:00 and the first place I headed was to have a closer look at the container port - breakfast would have to wait.

Coming soon:

The Prince Rupert Container Terminal - A Closer Look