Day 25 - August 16, 2013

From the M/V Kennicott -

A view of the food serving line - from where all meal service begins.

A view of the course ahead - Somewhere along the inside passage.

And yet another view looking south - in the direction of travel.

August 16, 2013

Day twenty five.  All is well.  On board the M/V Kennicott.

Today we continued to travel south.  This isour last night on the ship before docking in Bellingham, Washington tomorrow morning.  I am anxious.  This has been too confining for me and I am ready to continue on the bike.

Our travels south since leaving Ketchikan has been the most direct route, and course of least resistance, both of which generated the best travel time, yet maintain approximately the same speed of the vessel.  One of the other passengers is a retired employee of the Alaska Maritime Highway System.  When I asked him why we were not traveling the inside passage, as the charts show we should be, he checked with of the ship crew members he knew and he said he was told that the boat needed to be in Bellingham as soon as possible for maintenance to one of the engines.  The scheduled work would take five hours, with no allowance for unforeseen issues.  The modified course was to buy some extra time at Bellingham.

No stops today.  None were scheduled.  It was cloudy most of the day, with rain much of the time.  Today, and soon after leaving Ketchikan yesterday, we have been sailing along the western coast of Canada, as the Alaska coast line stopped just south of Ketchikan.  The scenery remains gorgeous, except for those times when we are too far at sea to see anything but open water.

At 8:45 p.m. Alaska time the announcement was made over the ships PA system that we were now scheduled to arrive in Bellingham at 6:00 a.m. Bellingham time (PDT) – two hours earlier than scheduled.

  

All is well.