Petersburg AK

One thing about the Alaska Marine Highway System is that it runs essentially 24 hours. That means your cruise can be on a nice sunny day. Or you can get the red-eye. Tonight we got the red-eye.

After three nights in Ketchikan it was time to leave and catch our boat to Petersburg. The bad news is our scheduled departure was at 2:45 am. The good news is we had the whole day to spend in Ketchikan before we sailed. We were able to park the coach at the ferry terminal and use it as a base of operations on our final day in the city. We returned to the coach about 6:00 pm and cooked dinner. Then we tried to nap and waited for the ferry. Our strategy was to carry sleeping pads, sleeping bags and pillows onto the ferry and sleep in the lounge chairs on the solarium. The M/V Matanuska docked, and we boarded shortly thereafter. We headed for the solarium and made our nests. I would like to say we slept well. Dorcas seemed to sleep well; she always sleeps well. I think I managed to sleep a bit.

About 9 am, after sailing for 6 hours we docked in Wrangell. Wrangell was not our destination, but we got to take Matilda into town for about a 1/2 hour walk. There was not a lot happening in Wrangell this morning, but we did have a pleasant stroll. We re-boarded the M/V Matanuska for the 3-hour cruise to Petersburg. We arrived in Petersburg shortly after noon and cruised up to a private RV park that we had spotted.

We had chosen a stop in Petersburg because it is a relatively small town. Cruise ships don't go there, and we figured it would show us authentic Southeast Alaskan life. Petersburg was founded by Peter Buschmann, a Norwegian immigrant who arrived in the 1890s. He had been looking for a harbor with good lumber, good fishing and a glacier to provide ice for his cannery. He found it here and his town became known as "Little Norway". Other Scandinavians followed and there is a very strong Norse connection today.

Petersburg is a very quaint town with a very active maritime culture. We spent a lot of time down at the waterfront and out on the docks just watching folks do their thing. We spent a lot of time watching one particular guy. He had a large flat bed truck with a hoist, and on the truck was an aluminum dock ramp. He hoisted the ramp and lowered it over side of the dock, as if he were going to drop it into the water. Then he left the truck and the hanging ramp and headed away from the dock, saying as he went by, that he had to get a boat. A few minutes later he came around the corner piloting a small boat with a floating dock lashed to the side. He maneuvered the boat under the hanging ramp, then lowered the ramp onto his portable floating dock. It was extremely fascinating to watch. He saw us watching him, and when everything was secured, he came over to talk. He was interested in us because we were interested in him. We had a very good conversation about life in Petersburg and Southeast Alaska. That is when I learned that we, as tourists, had a special name. We were "Independent Travelers." Independent Travelers are those that have their own transportation and set their own itinerary. They are the opposite of the cruise ship traveler and tour bus traveler. Independent Travelers take the time to see the towns and speak to the natives and are generally respected and liked by the locals, once they are recognized as such. As opposed to the cruise/tour folks, who are generally disliked, notwithstanding the money they spend. It explains a lot. We have stopped to talk to people, and when they learned we are working our way up the inside passage, on our own and taking a fair amount of time doing it, they become very friendly and helpful.

The National Geographic vessel Sea Lion was in port. We talked to one of their guides, who was taking their customers across the bay to a hiking trail. It was also interesting to watch that ship's workers doing their chores. They would winch a large cargo net of dirty laundry out the side of the ship and into a rubber boat. The boat would then motor around to the other end of the dock where they would use an electric hoist to bring the net to the top of the dock and load it into a van, where, presumably, it would be taken to a laundry. In another load they off-loaded an outboard motor and loaded it onto a truck, presumably for repair. I just can't explain why these simple dockside chores fascinated me so much.

As we were leaving town on our second day Dorcas saw a beauty shop "Locks by the Docks" She couldn't resist getting an overdue hair cut.

We spent two days in Petersburg and wish we could have stayed longer. Our passage from Petersburg to Juneau is another red-eye. We sail at 1:00 am.