June 25

The Wrangell Narrows is a tight, twisting section of the Inside Passage between the cities of Petersburg and Wrangell.  It takes about an hour 45 minutes for the ferry to transit, and is a tricky bit of navigation.  At points it is only about 300 feet wide and 21 feet deep.  The ferry is 78 feet wide and draws 19 feet.  The Narrows also get currents in excess of 8 knots, so they try to time the passage to coordinate with the tides.  At night, when the markers and buoys are operating, it is known as “Christmas Tree Lane” due to all of the flashing red and green lights.

When we got there, it was light enough for the navaids to be off, but also light enough to see well.  Tendrils of low fog hung about 30 feet off the surface, and the mountaintops were cloaked in cloud.  It was a magically beautiful place, and much too tight for the big cruise ships to run through.

Lana slept through a lot of the narrows, while I walked the deck in the cold wind snapping pictures.  Once we cleared, we all went to bed.  I had intended to get back up at Wrangell just to walk around, but the announcement said that we would only be there for about 5 minutes, since we were a bit behind schedule.  I got up to get moms cell phone, which we had left in the observation lounge to charge, and went back to bed.  I was back up around 9, Lana was still sound asleep.  I got a shower, went to breakfast, and re-took my place in the lounge (we had staked out excellent seats right by the front windows).  Lana joined me a bit later…she had not even heard me shower and leave.  It rained on and off during the day, it was partly cloudy by the time we reached Ketchikan about 2.  We jumped off and hit a grocery store for juice, instant oatmeal, and hot chocolate mix. We were sick of paying a buck for hot chocolate!  We had a little extra time, so we grabbed lunch at the Best Western Landing right off the terminal.  Great fish and chips.  We were back on the ferry just in time to head out.  We stayed in the lounge pretty much the rest of the day, finally leaving about 9:30 when they turned out the lights.  We skipped dinner, still full from our late lunch, but Lana and I mixed a couple of screwdrivers in the cabin and drank them in the lounge.

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