On the Ferry: Bellingham to Ketchican

Travelling by ferry from Bellingham to Juneau was just the best possible way to recover from flying from New Zealand (not sure what to do about recovering when we fly home!) It was so relaxing, and with a cabin we were able to go and rest whenever we wanted - as long as we could open the door, which was extremely heavy to the point that both Mac and I helped people push their doors open! The ferry staff were lovely and relaxed,and the guy who made announcements was really funny, all of which made for a relaxed atmosphere.

We had boarded the ferry in the evening, and from then, and all the next day we travelled without a stop up through the Strait of Georgia and the Queen Charlotte Strait which lie between the mainland of Canada and Vancouver Island. It all looked like Queen Charlotte Sounds on a grand scale - but wait - suddenly we were in Queen Charlotte Sound! It seems the What to Call a Sound book has limited names available. From there it was though Hecate Strait.

Saturday night was fun: they announced a live band playing in the bar so we went and bought a beer each, only to discover that the band was two people singing country. Still we stayed to drink our beers and realised that the guy was an awesome guitarist, and the woman who was an okay singer was a pretty good base player. As we sat and listened, the music got less country and gradually turned into blues and even a couple of jazz standards, and we really enjoyed it.

There was not a lot of 'doing' on the trip, but the scenery was amazing, and we saw (though didn't manage to photograph) whales, porpoises, dolphins, and EAGLES! Bald headed eagles!!

After two nights and a whole day of seeing hardly a hint of human existence other than was on board with us, we arrived in Ketchican at7.30am on Sunday.