Trip back from Sitka - July 4 & 5

Leaving Sitka

 The men are out watching because we are going through some narrows. In these sections of the waters the captain has a very narrow channel in which he must keep the ferry. These men are here to quickly drop the anchor if trouble arises and there is a need to stop quickly.

We saw lot of Sitka black tailed deer along the coast.

These boats are fishing, dragging nets behind them.

 We didn't see much open ocean as we are usually between some of the many islands of the Inside Passage.

 The water has many "moods." We have seen "smooth as glass" water, and some that was quite choppy.

 We saw seals on the buoy as we were entering Petersburg.

Marine gas station.

Petersburg is known as Little Norway. Velkommen!

We had 45 minutes before the ferry was leaving, so we got off to search for a Pepsi. Juel wanted a Pepsi!!!

We found crab baskets...

By the way....it is raining. So we are doing this search in the rain. Juel really wants a Pepsi and they only serve Coke on the ferry.

We found a place that sells Pepsi.....but....it was not open. Poor Juel! We went back to the ferry, wet and with no Pepsi.

Homes along the shore of an island. We were told there are no roads on this island.  However.......

.....there are cars. But they are parked just along the shore. Not sure the reasoning. They must ferry them across???
 

THE NARROWS.... This is the really narrow Narrows.

The captain has to keep the ferry between the buoys. There were several miles of these. He had to make many turns and travel very slowly along this section. The ferry is the largest boat that can come through this section.

Everyone in the observation room was watching as the captain made this journey through the narrows.

We saw eagles.  These eagles (below) were feasting along the shore where a fishing catch had been cleaned.
 

Gulls...

We got very close to the shore at times.

This lady is from the US Forestry Department. She gave several talks on glaciers, whales, the narrows, etc. She was also available to answer questions. As a child she lived in the wilds with her family; her father was a professional hunter. She later took her own children into the wilds to live. So she knows the land first hand.


Wrangell....

The differences in the color of the water (below) is where glacier silt (gray and dark) is meeting the sea water.

Leaving Wrangell.  We hoped to see the fireworks as it is the 4th of July. However, they started just as the town disappeared behind a mountain.

Arriving back in Ketchikan at 4:15 am.

Getting off the ferry.


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