1.
Cycle Canada truck in front of Pioneer Hostel this morning in the
dark
2.
The BC Ferry in Port Hardy this morning
The ferry leaves Port Hardy at 7 in the morning after we all get there by half-past 5. On our ride to the ferry, a few Tour Arctic people have head lights on their bikes, a few more have tail lights. All goes well on the 10 km trip to the ferry in the dark. There is little traffic at this early hour.
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On the ferry, the weather is cloudy and dull outside with occasional showers. There are lots of forested islands rolling by. After awhile, they all look much the same with the low clouds this morning.
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Today I bicycle 18 km in all, going to the ferry in the dark in the morning and going to the Pioneer Hostel in Prince Rupert in the evening. The ferry leaves a bit after sun up and arrives in Prince Rupert in the middle of the night.
I skip breakfast on the ferry. Instead, I concentrate on writing the first part of this story. At noon, I try a deluxe salmon burger. It tastes great, err, wonderful?
Dinner is prepaid for Tour Arctic participants. It is a buffet in a dining room with white table cloths, quite luxurious, with wonderfully tasty food. I have a bit of everything - start out with salmon that I’ve read is cooked well by this staff, and it is; get into vegetables on second trip to buffet; think of having some desert; 1st have further servings of some more tasty items on the buffet; then, feel ready for dessert after all that! I have blueberry crumble at first, then a couple of cookies on separate trips to the buffet, and coffee as our conversation stretches out on everything from tales of prior adventures to the mysteries of the human psyche.
In Prince Rupert, we're at the same “ brand” of hostel this evening – Pioneer Hostel. As midnight approaches, I converse a bit with a man from France who is seeing Canada by taking the bus to interesting spots where he stays in hostels and sometimes earns a few dollars picking fruit.
I get up a bit before 8 in the morning. I'm in a room with 7 others at “Pioneer Hostel” in Prince Rupert so sleep sporadically. Some of these old guys snore big time. I sleep OK by meditating. I decide to go for a jog and run around downtown area immediately as breakfast is still being prepared. It's foggy and raining sporadically this morning. I see lots:
Prince Rupert still has a downtown with a few mini-malls, and lots of real stores. It reminds me of my life in a town in southern Ontario when I was a child – the world before mega-stores and huge malls at the edges of towns that caused downtown economies to collapse.
A trail along the waterfront
A fish plant
A few ocean freighters in the harbour
A display for the 10,000 salmon project
A VIA train
Pillsbury House, an original residence
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Later in the morning, I update my rough log while in King Koin Laundry where my clothes go through a very fast wash and dry. I still have time for some lunch time snacks before we're due on the boat to Skagway late this afternoon. We need to line up at the ferry at 3 pm. At lunch, I converse with others about learning French and how English is THE world language of choice. One person indicates that English is easier to learn than French; someone proposes a day of speaking just French on the trip. Whoops!
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I ride to the Alaska bound ferry and get there about 2:30 pm. At the end of this ride, I note that my bike's rear tire is mushy again. I found it mushy this morning, put air in it, and it's mushy again. It holds only about 60 pounds pressure. Maybe I'll be able to access it and fix it on the ferry, but, most likely, I need to fix it in Skagway before attacking the first big mountain pass of this trip.
As I write this, I'm in a covered area in the back of the ferry looking out on the islands on both sides; I tried a lounge inside, but this is definitely better for now. There's much more connection with the world around us. I do have a birth in a cabin provided by Tour Arctic, but plan to stay here as long as possible. This boat is smaller than the BC Ferry of yesterday. There are some interesting passengers seeking adventures in Alaska. Some depart at the ports of call on the way to Skagway.
We're on this boat for 2 nights and the day in between, more or less, arriving in Skagway at 7 or 8 am on second day. Tour Arctic participants have cabins provided, but can sleep out in this covered, heated part of the ship on the upper deck if we want; some others say they will. I just say, “I'll see what develops.”
The ferry docks at Ketchican, at 11 in the middle of darkness. I and 2 other Tour Arctic participants decide to “go ashore.” We end up first in one bar, then another – a super-bar that one participant has heard is wonderful. The two others drink and play pool. I just observe. I'm a bit disturbed since there's this one motorcycle man who insists on paying for our drinks, all the time. What does he want? Or, is he just a bit too pissed. We also meet some other friendly people from the ship. One woman is from Switzerland; a man is from Colorado where he's taking courses in water resource management. Seems that he, too, is just interested in visiting a bar in an Alaska out-port.
Arise early today hoping to see more islands. It looks like the islands are still there, but it's cloudy and raining. Visibility is limited. Update notes about trip.
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At least one participant gets off ferry - “goes ashore” - at Wrangell this morning. He picks up a gem stone there from a vendor. I'm longing to “go ashore” about an hour later. The opportunity comes up in the afternoon at Petersburg. It feels wonderful to be on land again, and able to walk and jog quickly even on such a short stop of 25 minutes. I get off and walk around a bit. I recommend getting off at every port-of-call.
Somewhere in here we “Had a whale of a time” as expressed by one other rider in Tour Arctic. I, too, saw some whales and even more spurts of water when other whales surfaced and breathed. Many passengers were outside hanging off the railing with hopes of seeing a whale.
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