North to Alaska

After much deliberation, we finally decided to save time and maybe a bit of money by taking the the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry up the inside passage to Alaska rather than pull the trailer up a very long mountain highway that is not even paved in long sections with huge trucks roaring past at high rates of speed. Our best source of information this entire journey has been from other travelers in the camp grounds. We were told that the trip was scenic but difficult and hard on the vehicles. The "poor man's cruise ship" was a much more restful trip, we were told. We booked a round trip and I got to ride free as they have a "driver rides free" special on right now if one books a mirror image round trip. We chose a three week round trip to and from Juneau that can be moved backward for 10.00 if we decide to stay longer.
We traveled for two days up the coast of Canada. Some trips stop in Prince Rupert, Canada however this trip skipped that stop. We were in open ocean twice for a bit over an hour each on this trip, and the ship rocked from side to side, and from front to back as we crossed the large spaced out diagonal swells. Had the trip been all open ocean, it would not have gone well for me. I didn't get sick but got to feeling a bit queasy. Had it all been that way, I may have become sea sick.
Our first stop was Ketchikan, AK. We got off the boat for a while as folks got on and off. We were there for close to two hours. The folks not concerned with costs, booked their trip from stop to stop and stayed at each place for a day or two. None of the towns we stopped at had roads in or out of them, as they are only accessible by air or water. We saw many small planes sitting at the docks and some in the air. I thought Hawaii was a small place to have to live, but these towns were isolated other than visits by the weekly ferry or cruise ships that stop. Each is about a half day or more from the next by boat. There were light houses along the way that used to be staffed by a four person team that kept them working, however they now don't require any human staff, but some have folks living in the old lighthouse houses. I don't know if they pay rent, or if they were able to purchase the houses.
The ship had Amy, a Park Ranger Naturalist on board and she gave three talks each day on the history, foliage, animal, and marine life of Alaska, and the glacier activity. I did not attend all of them, but David did attend most. Several were totally interrupted as someone would spot a whale or a porpoise, or the captain would announce seeing one and the talk was over until the activity was past, then she would pick up her talk again. We saw both humpback and orcas on the trip. I put one photo of a "splash" on the Net and some porpoise fins. My camera is too slow reacting to get a shot of a whale on the surface or blowing. I hope David got a shot of one, but he has not downloaded his photo's in a while. I will update the photos later if he got any good shots I missed.