The Alaska Marine Highway

Alaska – Day 3

Before I forget…it is 10:30 PM as I write this and it is still not fully dark…

Mike and I have finished Day 3 of our journey. The goal for today was to get from Sitka to Juneau via the Alaska Marine Highway (ferry system). Flying would have been much faster, but I chose the ferry ride so we could experience a bit of the Inside Passage by boat at least. It was amazing. I just can’t believe how pretty it is here.

Some of you may be bored by these pictures, because they are mostly scenery shots taken through the window of the ferry. They are not super high quality due to the window reflections and salt spray on the glass, but they should give you a good idea of the beauty we got to enjoy during the trip.

Wanna hear something funny? We flew from Washington, DC to Los Angeles in just over 5 hours. The trip from Sitka to Juneau on the HIGH SPEED ferry took 5 hours. It really was high speed, too. “Knots” doesn’t mean much to me, but Mike had his GPS unit turned on and there were times when we hit 48 miles per hour!!! (Average speed for the trip was 35 mph.) And you should have seen some of the small channels we were going through.

The journey was one hundred percent worth it. We saw at least one whale (just its back and the spray from spouting) and some other things that were either dolphins or smaller whales. And the scenery way breathtaking.

Juneau itself is quite underwhelming, but we’re only here briefly on our way to Glacier Bay National Park. Speaking of Glacier Bay… it is a national park, and it is remote. Chances are good there won’t be Internet access. If there are no updates for a few days, that is why.

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The following image appears on the front of the newspaper machine at the ferry terminal and I just could not resist sharing it with all of you…