Day 77
   
   7/13/01
   At sea, somewhere in the Gulf of Alaska
   
   I got up a 5:30am, showered, packed up the bike, and left the hostel.
   I grabbed a bacon-and-egg breakfast at a local greasy-spoon
   restaurant, and went to the ferry terminal.  It wasn't due to sail until
   9:30am, but I'd been told to get there early to get a good spot.  As it so
   happens, that was unnecessary, for there was plenty of space.
   
   Tickets on these ferries seem a bit pricey - $481 for myself plus
   bicycle to go from Seward to Bellingham, WA.  And that's to sleep on
   the deck in your sleeping bag.  Double that if you want a cabin.  I've
   been told that surplus cabin space on a regular cruise ship can often be
   found on the internet for around $500, and thus is worth the look if you are
   planning travel in this area in the future.
   
   Nothing wrong with the ferry, of course.  We cast off about 10:30am,
   backing out of the Port of Seward, turned, and headed out into the
   rocky, mist-enshrouded fiords of Resurrection Bay.
   
   Bikes and ferries seem to work well together, and I've used them on a
   number of bike trips.  They both travel at about the same speed, and
   tossing your bike on is usually of little consequence.  No need to
   disassemble and box it like on airlines or Amtrak.
   
   In the afternoon icebergs began to populate the waters, orphans of the
   Columbia Glacier.  The captain played dodge 'em for a while as we
   passed them by - this ship is unsinkable, right?
   
   That evening we docked in Valdez for a while to load and unload
   passengers.  Across the bay is the oil complex which comprises the
   terminus of the Alaska Pipeline, where tankers dock to take on their loads of
   crude.  This is the site of the infamous Exxon-Valdez oil spill, but
   there is no sign of that now after more than a decade.  In fact, I saw
   plenty of wildlife in the water, including a sea otter playing near the dock
   and whales slapping their tails farther out.
   
   We stayed in port for about an hour, then moved on again.  I laid out
   my sleeping bag on a lounge chair, like the other couple of dozen
   roughneck travelers, and crashed for the night.  In comparison to
   most of the past couple of months, these were high-class accommodations 
   for me - no mosquitoes, bears, or crevasses!

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