M/V Taku Day 2: Finally, Some Sunshine!

We saw some pretty fantastic scenery today as we made our way past the small towns of Wrangell, Petersburg, and Kake.  Best of all, the sun finally came out and it was a gorgeous day to be out on the water.

In the morning, the boat went through the twisty Wrangell Narrows, a 22 mile channel that’s only 300 feet wide and 19 feet deep in places (remember the boat is 72 feet wide and draws 17 feet).  There were so many channel markers, I was glad I wasn’t the one having to do the navigating.

It was cool to look at all the houses on these remote islands as we passed.

Because loading and unloading at Wrangell took such a long time, the Purser announced that we only had ten minutes or so ashore at Petersburg.  Which was a shame – it looked like it would’ve been a cool place to walk around.  Instead we went ashore and stretched our legs, took a photo or two, then headed right back on board.

But apparently two other passengers either didn’t hear the announcement or chose to ignore it.  About a half hour outside of Petersburg, the ship slowed to a crawl and the captain made an announcement that they would be lowering one of the rescue boats.  At first he claimed it was a “safety exercise” but later he made another announcement that the boat was going to head back to port to pick up the two passengers who were still stuck at the ferry terminal.

So the entire ferry (and all its other passengers) just sat there holding position while the runabout went to pick up the yahoos who couldn’t follow directions.  A bunch of us stood at the rail taking photos when the boat returned with two shamefaced guys aboard.  Just as they were raising the boat, the captain announced that there was a small iceberg off the port bow.  The nearby LeConte glacier often calves and there were several chunks of ice floating in the water around us. 

Since they already had the small boat out and ready, he had the crew lower the boat again and chip off a few chunks of glacial ice.  Which they then carried straight to the bar.  Another announcement was made that today only, the bar would be serving “Glacier margaritas”.

All the crew members had these giddy grins on their faces.  I got to talking with one of them and asked him if they did this kind of thing often – it wasn’t something I’d expect a state ferry service to do.  He said in the two-plus years he’d worked on the ferry they’d a) never turned back for a passenger who’d missed the ferry, and b) never ever lowered one of the boats for something as frivolous as breaking off a chunk of an iceberg.  So it was kind of an out-of-the-ordinary day for everyone, both passengers and crew.