North to Alaska

After arriving ONLY 40 minutes late on the Skeena we found out that it can sometimes be several hours late given that there is only one track in or out of Prince Rupert and several goods trains out of the city as this is the main shipping point for entry to north west Canada, and some of these trains are 2 km long – up to 200 trucks.  Several times along the way we were forced to wait at sidings whilst these goods trains rolled through.

We checked into our hotel for our 2 night stay and grabbed a late dinner in the bar lounge.  Our free day in Prince Rupert was taken up with a tour in a large catamaran to visit a sanctuary area for grizzly bears.  Whilst they don’t guarantee seeing grizzlies, they invariably find them and this was the case for us – we sighted 2 large males, several kilometres apart, and although they lose about a third of their body weight over winter, they were both huge.  The first one was very shy and we couldn’t get close because of shallow water, but the second bear we followed with the boat, mostly only 20 metres away, whilst it grazed on the lush grass and plants along several ‘beaches’.  We needed to maintain complete silence on the boat because they are easily spooked, but we managed to follow this magnificent animal for perhaps 20 minutes.  This was a most amazing experience. 

On our way back from the sanctuary we stopped near a native village where there is a known eagle roost and the crew threw chicken pieces into the sea, which attracted perhaps 20 or so eagles immediately beside the boat, so we managed to get some great photos of the birds swooping to pick up the food in their talons.  Another amazing experience!  Our tour lasted almost 7 hours and we arrived back at Prince Rupert in time to do a little shopping, have a shower and a drink before dinner.

We needed to be away from our hotel by 7 the next morning, as we were catching the ferry at 8.15 to Wrangell via Ketchikan – a trip of 12 hours.  This meant going through US Customs before boarding the ferry and we have never seen a more bumbling, inept performance by ‘officials’.  Just after we arrived for check-in, a tour group of New Zealand train enthusiasts arrived, some with US entry stamps already and some without.  We also had not gone into US territory to this point, so we were finger-printed, photographed, questioned and finally allowed entry.  Needless to say, the ferry left more than one and a half hours late!

As we write this, we’re steaming up the Inside Passage to Wrangell, flanked by snow-capped peaks on the mainland on our right and the string of islands on our left – most essentially uninhabited.  The scenery is quite spectacular.  The ferry is extremely comfortable and is similar in some ways to the Spirit of Tasmania, but quite a bit smaller.  It has day lounges and observation decks, a bar and a cafe which serves quite reasonable food.  It will be interesting to see what is on offer for dinner tonight as our original arrival time of 8.20 has now blown out to 10pm, too late for dinner at our hotel.  We have a free day in Wrangell tomorrow and tours booked for the next couple of days, before we catch another ferry to Haines.