Since our
ferry departure was moved back four-and-a-half hours, we were able to get a
good night’s sleep and awake at 6:30 am, instead of the dreaded 2:00 am. Although 6:30 am is still a bit early for us,
it sure beat the alternative! We drove
all of five minutes to the ferry terminal at Prince Rupert and pulled the RV
into line before our 8:00 am check-in time.
We weren’t sure what to expect, so we just stood around for a bit and
waited for instruction.
The first
order of business was having the RV measured.
Ferry rates are based in part on the length of the vehicle, and we had
paid for 24 feet. It turns out that we
are 23 feet-6 inches. No refund however,
as lengths are broken down only by feet!
The agent also noted that we had propane on board, as well as a cat.
We were
instructed to walk down to the Alaska Marine Highway System terminal to pick up
our tickets and check in. That was easy,
and we were able to get our tickets for most of the remaining segments of the
trip. It was then back to the RV to wait
for the signal to drive forward.
 Tickets in Hand, Ready to Sail |
Another
agent verified that we had shut off our propane tank and taped the door
shut. Because we knew ahead of time that
we would not have propane to run the refrigerator, we had consumed all of our
frozen foods and had placed the refrigerated items in a cooler with ice. We thought of trying to run the refrigerator
on battery power, but figured we’d try that on a shorter sailing. Even small refrigerators are such battery
hogs.
Next it
was time for U.S. Customs, which was a relatively painless process. The agent looked at our passports and Kitty’s
health certificate and asked us a few questions. Poultry and poultry products are the big
no-no right now, but we had none on board, and we were cleared to go.
Next we
were assigned to a lane to wait our turn to board the ferry. It was interesting to witness the actual
loading process and guess who would be loaded next. Length appeared to be the deciding factor,
and vehicles seemed to be picked at random from the various lanes. When we were directed to move forward, it was
just for us to get out of the way while other vehicles drove on board. It was finally our turn, and we easily made
our way to our spot on the car deck. We
had to leave Kitty behind in the RV, as we headed out to explore the ship. Passengers are not permitted to remain in
their vehicles while the ship is underway.
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| Boarding the Ferry |
 |
| Snug on the Car Deck |
Cars,
trucks and truck campers were well-represented on the ferry, and many had either
Alaska or British Columbia license plates.
There were only a handful of RVs on our sailing. We learned that many of the young people
heading to Alaska were on their way to summer jobs. The season is just getting started.
Although
it was cloudy when we left Prince Rupert, the sun came out for much of the day,
and it was smooth sailing all the way.
Once again, we lucked out with a beautiful day.
 |
| M/V Matanuska |
 |
| Smooth Sailing |
 |
| Watching the Scenery |
 |
| Approaching Ketchikan |
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| Ketchikan Harbor |
We docked
in Ketchikan and watched as the vehicles in front of us make a right turn to
exit on the side of the ferry. Since it
was already after 4:00 pm, we decided to stop for a few groceries and head
directly to the campground.
After we
had booked our ferry reservations in January, I went ahead and made campground
reservations for all of the cities where we would be stopping. I usually don’t make reservations, especially
that far in advance, but there are only a handful of campgrounds available,
plus we had a fixed schedule that was not likely to change.
For
Ketchikan, I booked us into the Clover Pass Resort, which is located about 14
miles from the downtown area and is the only commercial campground in Ketchikan. In January, we had no idea that we would have
solar panels and a lithium battery and figured that hookups would be the way to
go.
Another selling point for Clover
Pass Resort is that it is located directly on the water. We splurged for a waterfront site, and I’m so
glad that we did. Our view is fabulous,
and we enjoyed a relaxing evening gazing out at the water. A beautiful sunset was a fitting end to this
great day. Welcome to Alaska!
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| A Waterfront Site |
 |
| The View Outside Our Window |
 |
| I Am a Happy Camper |
 |
| Alaskan Sunset |
Beautiful sunset! Just started reading your blog. We plan to get up to AK in our motorhome in a few years and any tips we get from your blog will be useful in our planning. Have a wonderful time ... we love AK.
ReplyDeleteThank you and welcome to the blog. Alaska is such an amazing place, and so unlike any other I've visited. I'll make sure to include any tips that might be helpful for others who will be making the journey at a later date.
DeleteHave bookmarked your blog so I can follow your Alaska trip. Great recaps. One off subject question though. We also have a sprinter van and our manual indicates the propane should be off while driving. You mentioned you mostly emptied your fridge knowing your propane would be off. Now to my question. Do you typically turn off your propane while driving and how do you keep your food cold.
ReplyDeleteThanks for following along with us. I hope you enjoy the ride! That's a very good question about turning the propane off while driving. There is a great debate among all RVers about the subject. To be very safe, propane should be shut off. However, many folks leave it on, and that's what we've been doing for years. We try to remember to turn it off while filling up at gas stations, however.
DeleteMany people who do turn off propane run their refrigerators on battery power while driving, since the alternator is charging the batteries. That's an alternative, but we would often forget to switch to propane when we stopped for sightseeing, etc. That can drain your batteries quickly. You might want to test out this option and hang some kind of reminder to yourself to make the switch.
We will continue to leave the propane on, although we just found out that our new lithium batteries can run the refrigerator for a very long time.
Beautiful campground. I haven't seen a sunset yet - they are happening at 11:30 or so now. Sunrise is around 5AM - when do birds sleep?
ReplyDeleteThe campground was nice, but the best thing about it was the view from the waterfront sites. Your sunsets are occurring much later than the ones in Southeast Alaska. But, the light wakes me up at 4:00 am. Good question about the birds!
ReplyDelete