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Post by fargowolf on Jul 22, 2010 12:55:41 GMT -8
Yes!!! In the background, where the light standards are. That's what I figure was the old terminal facility. The biggest change in the pic you provided Flug, is that in the satellite pic, the loading bridge had partly collapsed. In this pic, it's gone altogether. It also looks like what may have been a terminal building, may also have been demolished.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Jul 22, 2010 18:32:15 GMT -8
OK, so to confirm what I posted earlier, AMHS did not actually have a terminal building in Stewart, BC. However, I have not been able to confirm where the ferries did dock at Stewart.
Ferry service to Stewart was started at the request of Hyder, Alaska. Hyder did not have a suitable dock for the ferries, Stewart did. AMHS did not want to invest in a docking and terminal structure at Hyder since they were unsure of the amount of traffic the route would receive.
The Aurora was the regular ship to serve Stewart, I don't know if the Chilkat ever ventured up there, obviously the Wickersham did once, for an open house. Nice pic of the Wicky by the way, I didn't know she made it up there until I saw that picture and it was mentioned when I was getting info on Stewart and Hyder.
When the Aurora called at Stewart, it was the same as when the LeConte calls at some of her ports. The purser will sell what we call hand tickets (hand written tickets). They would sell them at the head of the ramp, or they would collect money once onboard.
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In other news, and shifting gears north towards Haines, Alaska. Some interesting times today as the ramp at Haines is "broken." Not sure what is wrong exactly, but the ferries are unable to load or unload at Haines at the moment.
Malaspina is doing her dayboat run, and is bypassing Haines sailing directly from Skagway to Juneau and return.
The Matanuska is also up there today and was unable to finish loading before the ramp problem arose. She sailed for Skagway with those already onboard and is heading back for Haines tonight. Don't know if she will be able to dock or not.
Good Times.
And of course, the AMHS website has nothing on it about the ramp problems and people unable to travel to Haines today on the ferries.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Jul 23, 2010 17:39:31 GMT -8
In other news, and shifting gears north towards Haines, Alaska. Some interesting times today as the ramp at Haines is "broken." Not sure what is wrong exactly, but the ferries are unable to load or unload at Haines at the moment. Malaspina is doing her dayboat run, and is bypassing Haines sailing directly from Skagway to Juneau and return. The Matanuska is also up there today and was unable to finish loading before the ramp problem arose. She sailed for Skagway with those already onboard and is heading back for Haines tonight. Don't know if she will be able to dock or not. Good Times. And of course, the AMHS website has nothing on it about the ramp problems and people unable to travel to Haines today on the ferries. To follow up on this, the ramp is working, the Matanuska was able to dock Thursday night at Haines, however this has put her several hours behind on her schedule. The Mat is not expected to catch up to her schedule until her Sunday departure from Juneau. There is a notice on the AMHS website now. www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/schedule_changes.shtmlIt is interesting that the notice sounds like it was written Thursday, however it was actually not put up till this morning (Friday). Not that we dislike our website, but to be honest, it is lacking somewhat. It's layout is not the greatest, and it does not do a very good job at showing schedule changes. There are times, especially during the winter, that we have whole sailings canceled and there is no notice posted. The Reservation Call Center and Terminal Staff will call and notify reserved passengers of sailing changes, but having an up to date website would be handy for letting other people know. Sorry about the little rant, sometimes I must vent. Anyhoot, Haines ramp fixed, Mat is a little late, and everyone lives happily ever after.
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Post by northwesterner on Jul 23, 2010 21:32:42 GMT -8
Just another example of how AMHS seems to operate only on inertia - there's certainly no managerial leadership.
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Post by SS San Mateo on Jul 23, 2010 22:01:32 GMT -8
The Bartlett was retired around 2004, and last I knew was down around Ballard, WA. She's still in Ballard, just east of the Ballard Bridge on the north side of the canal (based on the latest images from Google Maps).
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Post by EGfleet on Jul 24, 2010 4:38:43 GMT -8
The Bartlett was retired around 2004, and last I knew was down around Ballard, WA. She's still in Ballard, just east of the Ballard Bridge on the north side of the canal (based on the latest images from Google Maps). And still owned/operated by the Seattle Maritime Academy: www.seattlecentral.edu/maritime/fleet.php
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Post by alaskanmohican on Jul 27, 2010 19:14:43 GMT -8
It's nice to know the Bartlett is still leading a useful life. She was never the nicest ship in the fleet, some even called her a "cattle boat," but she was reliable.
When she was retired from AMHS, it wasn't because she was too old, she was just too small for her route. Also with her bow door and not having the side doors typical of Marine Highway vessels, she wasn't compatible with the docks found elsewhere in the system.
She was a good ship, still is from the what I can tell.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Nov 6, 2010 16:32:49 GMT -8
This past week the Aurora has been sidelined with a problem with her anchor windlass. From what I have heard, for some reason the motor seized up. The windlass is not only used for the anchor, but to tighten the mooring lines. The Aurora has been out of service since Wednesday, and is hoped to be back in service by next Wednesday. AMHS has had to run a passenger only charter boat to accomodate some communities and reroute the Kennicott and Matanuska to accomodate a few other communities. The fast fery Fairweather is being rushed into service early to accomodate some travelers heading north to Haines on Tuesday. The Fairweather is entering service about 5 days early, so it's not too bad, but it still takes a bit to get her ready for passenger service. Some press releases: www.dot.state.ak.us/comm/pressbox/arch_2010/PR10-2584.shtmlwww.dot.state.ak.us/comm/pressbox/arch_2010/PR10-2587.shtmlAnd two short articles from the Juneau Empire: juneauempire.com/stories/110510/loc_731508330.shtmlwww.juneaublogger.com/updates/?p=6232
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Post by alaskanmohican on Nov 6, 2010 17:20:36 GMT -8
So in honor of our sidelined ferry, I just thought I would post some photo's of the Aurora taken by my brother a while back. Aurora arriving Auke Bay. Posted by permission.
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Post by lmtengs on Jun 20, 2011 12:03:00 GMT -8
Why was the Bartlett retired so early compared to the other AHMS ships? She was younger than the Taku, Mal, Mat, and Tusty, (all built before 1965, while the Barlett was '69) yet she was retired so much earlier than the others, who are all still in service.
And my other question, what's happened to her since her retirement?
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FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,948
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Post by FNS on Jun 20, 2011 13:11:23 GMT -8
Why was the Bartlett retired so early compared to the other AHMS ships? She was younger than the Taku, Mal, Mat, and Tusty, (all built before 1965, while the Barlett was '69) yet she was retired so much earlier than the others, who are all still in service. And my other question, what's happened to her since her retirement? The E L BARTLETT is now a training ship based in Seattle. More at: seattlecentral.edu/maritime/fleet.php
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Post by Name Omitted on Jun 20, 2011 16:52:53 GMT -8
She was younger than the Taku, Mal, Mat, and Tusty, (all built before 1965, while the Barlett was '69) yet she was retired so much earlier than the others, who are all still in service. She is smaller than anything else we had in service at the time, and her visor made her incompatible with most of the docks in the system, so she was not particularly flexible with regards to re-location. When it came time to spend money to bring her up to spec, replacing the Aurora with a purpose built (and cheap, something like $12m to build and 4 crew to operate IIRC) Lituya and bringing the slightly larger Aurora up to South-Central made more sense.
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Post by Name Omitted on Jun 29, 2011 18:40:45 GMT -8
Governor Parnel has released the post veto budget. Highlights for the AMHS include;
$60 M for our new ferry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ferry Vessel Refurbishment, $15,000,000 Fleet Condition Survey Update, $200,000 M/V Columbia Repower and Ship Systems Improvements, $25,000,000 Vessel and Terminal Overhaul and Rehabilitation, $8,000,000 Deferred Maintenance, $3,000,000
Pelican Ferry Terminal Renovation, $3,000,000 Port Lions - City Dock and Ferry Terminal Replacement, $8,000,000
$75,000 for transportation and ferry improvements in Elfin Cove were vetoed. The Ketchikan yards got $2,000,000 of the $6,000,000 that was in the budget before vetoes.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Aug 12, 2011 18:11:47 GMT -8
A news article from the Juneau Empire about the AMHS call center. juneauempire.com/state/2011-08-11/delegation-fight-juneau-ferry-jobsThe possibility of the reservations staff moving to Ketchikan has been rumored for over a year since the announcement of AMHS purchasing land for a new Admin building. It may seem like it is "only" 23 jobs, but Juneau is getting a little tired of seeing jobs move out of town. Also the original move of the main AMHS offices to Ketchikan is still a controversial one.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Aug 22, 2011 18:54:53 GMT -8
AMHS has released the operating plan for Summer 2012 and there are a few changes that I rather like. First the Link: www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/share/schedule/considerations.pdfFrom the press release: Proposed Vessel Deployment• Kennicott to operate Bellingham cross the Gulf to Southwest • Columbia to remain on the Friday Bellingham Route • Matanuska to sail from Prince Rupert to Skagway and from Prince Rupert to Juneau once per week • Malaspina to homeport in Juneau and sail North Lynn Canal daily except Thursday • Taku to sail from Prince Rupert to Juneau twice per week • Lituya to sail 5 days per week between Metlakatla and Ketchikan • LeConte to sail a Northern Panhandle Route with the exception of Angoon • Tustumena to sail the Southwest Route with two Aleutian chain trips per month • Aurora to sail between Valdez and Whittier, also serving Tatitlek and Chenega Bay twice per month • Fairweather to sail: May 1 to June 30, Sitka 2 days/Sitka with Angoon 2 days. July 1-Sept 30: Sitka 4 days, Sitka with Angoon 2 days, Petersburg 1 day • Chenega to sail: May 1 to Aug 21, between Cordova and Whittier 5 days, reversing triangle Cordova, Whittier Valdez 2 days. Aug 22 to Sept 30, between Cordova and Whittier 1 day, reversing triangle Cordova, Whittier, Valdez 6 days Adjustments to the schedule: • Malaspina homeport in Juneau, Lynn Canal schedule starting in Juneau northbound • LeConte overnight Hoonah on Monday, drop Angoon from schedule. LeConte is scheduled for overhaul Aug 21- Sept 30. Her schedule will be covered by the Aurora or a combination of the Fairweather and the Malaspina • Fairweather add Angoon on Sitka runs two days per week • Chenega drop reversing triangle to two days per week vice six ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So as far as the major changes, the two big ones are the Malaspina being homeported in Juneau versus Skagway and the Fairweather serving Angoon. Regarding the Mal, homeporting her in Juneau has been something many people have been asking for since she started her dayboat service. One of the reasons for homeporting her in Skagway the last four summers has had to do with dock availability in Juneau at night. The current plan for next summer is to have LeConte spend one night a week in Hoonah which will open up the needed dock space for the Mal in Juneau. Another change is the addition of the day off for the Malaspina during the week when the Matanuska will be running North Lynn Canal. Now on to the Fairweather serving Angoon, this has been something in the planning stages for a while. This past summer crews have been working on the Angoon dock to accomodate the FVF's. So next summer the Fairweather will serve Angoon usually two times per week combined with a stop in Sitka. The remainder of the week the Fairweather will serve Sitka while Petersburgh will get FVF service only once per week. Over the past few years it has driven many peopel a little bonkers as the Fairweather has served Petersburgh twice a week. The mainliners Taku, Matanuska, and Columbia also stop at Petersburgh both north and southbound. Simply Petersburgh does not have enough traffic to warrant this amount of service. The Fairweather sails nearly empty on Petersburgh sailings and usually full on Sitka sailings. Why keep serving Petersburgh then? Politics. So the Fairweather serving Angoon is both good for AMHS, it frees up the LeConte for serving communities closer to Juneau and offering more service to Gustavus. This is also good for Angoon as it not only gives them convenient service to Juneau but also to Sitka. Many people from Angoon use to travel to Sitka until the LeConte shifted to dayboat status. So overall some pretty good changes in my opinion. Also regarding the Chenega dropping the reversing traingle in Prince William Sound. For those wondering what the reversing traingle refers to; the ferry sails from Cordova to Whittier then Valdez before returning to Cordova for the night. The next day the ferry would sail the same route only in the opposite direction, Valdez, Whittier then return to Cordova. The plan for next summer is to spend more days sailing directly between Cordova and Whittier, the Chenega serving Valdez only twice per week. This would work fine as Valdez has the Aurora homeported there during the summer and most travel to and from Cordova is through Whittier. So the Aurora will handle the Valdez/ Whittier run and the Chenega the Cordova/ Whittier run and Cordova/ Valdez/ Whittier twice per week. So thats the proposed schedule and my lengthy thoughts on the matter.
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Post by northwesterner on Aug 27, 2011 21:12:42 GMT -8
Malaspina on N. Lynn Canal dayboat service is still a huge waste of resources. Still missing the Fairweather serving that route a couple of days a week.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Sept 12, 2011 19:16:43 GMT -8
An article about horses on the ferries. Link: juneauempire.com/local/2011-09-11/ferry-board-hears-complaints-about-horse-rulesPersonally I would probably side more with the ferries, although not because I have worked there. My main reason is because this really is less about the ferries and more about the EPA regulations. I tend to agree with some of the comments on the article that such regulations should rest more with the states and not the "one size fits all" mentality of the federal government's EPA. As far as the $1,000 deposit, it is a bit steep I will admit. The notion of allowing credit card deposits that would only be charged if a clean up was needed might not solve the problem the way people think it might. If that were to happen then the Marine Highway would need a way of placing $1,000 in pending on the card that would only "go through" if AMHS authorized it. What this means is that there would still need to be a grand available on the card. As it is now, you are charged the grand then it is refunded to you if no clean up was needed. If you are using a credit card this means the money will not likely be available to you for 48 hours after the sailing is complete. While placing it in pending it depends on the bank how soon it will become available to you again, from my experience it would likely be 24 hours. So you would have the funds available to you sooner, but not immediately, and you would still need a grand available on the card in the first place, just providing a card number to AMHS will not be enough, the company needs to know that there is actually enough funds on the card to actually work. Having worked the ticket counters I can't tell you the number of times we have had customers who have been dumbfounded that there is not enough money available on a card because some of it is in "pending" status. Personally I mostly agree with this comment by "dingdong" in the comments section: "I hope the ferry system holds the line. I for one, resent all the barking, peeing dogs on the car deck. The ferry system is to be commended for allowing any large animals at all under any conditions. Who wants to put up with a barnyard condition when you are just trying to enjoy a nice trip? Sorry but the horse people should stop complaining and not ask the rest of us to subsidize their expensive hobby. If you choose to live in Alaska especially southeast, you know upfront what the logistic problems are and the costs of keeping hayburners." I should add that I am not against pets traveling on the ferries by any means, I have traveled with my own many times. Finally I can tell you from experience that the amount of traffic on the ferries that come from transporting "large" animals is quite small and typically generates complaints from other passengers about the animals and there subsequent "messes." AMHS is the "highway system" for southeast and the south coast of Alaska, but there is also the reality that these are ships on the sea, as much as we use the notion that it is the "highway" it is not really a highway in the land sense, there are differences and different regulations governing transport on it.
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Post by Retrovision on Sept 16, 2011 17:14:36 GMT -8
Aurora Not-in-Service Movement
(Not enough of this kind of movement to warrant it's own thread, I thought, and also figured that this thread would be more appropriate than the actual Aurora one, but please correct me if I'm mistaken)
The Aurora is almost abreast of Port Hardy heading southbound with these AIS details given:
Destination: BELLINGHAM ETA: 2011-09-17 23:00 (UTC) (Note that unlike most AIS-tracked vessels on our coast, AMHS vessels do actually display their ETAs as UTC)
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KE7JFF
Chief Steward
Posts: 106
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Post by KE7JFF on Sept 16, 2011 19:15:01 GMT -8
I'm curious does anyone have pictures of one of these "staterooms"? I've been thinking of taking a trip out of Bellingham and would be interested.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Sept 16, 2011 20:41:50 GMT -8
I'm curious does anyone have pictures of one of these "staterooms"? I've been thinking of taking a trip out of Bellingham and would be interested. Here are some photos of a few of the staterooms. Sorry they are not the greatest, but hopefully will give you some idea of what they are like. First, this is a four berth "outside" cabin from the Columbia. Outside here meaning the cabin has a window whereas an "inside" cabin would not have one. These two pics are of a two berth cabin from the Taku. Finally these two pics are of a four berth cabin on the Malaspina. The cabins vary a little from vessel to vessel but are generally smaller than what you would find on a cruise ship and definitely smaller than your average hotel room. AMHS reservations sometimes will refer to them as cabins to try an emphasize to people that they are not big, but they are clean and comfortable. And it is nice to have a private place on your journey and your own bunk at night. By the way if you get a cabin, you get the whole room, AMHS doesn't rent single bunks to travelers. Hope this helps.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Sept 16, 2011 20:52:35 GMT -8
Aurora Not-in-Service Movement(Not enough of this kind of movement to warrant it's own thread, I thought, and also figured that this thread would be more appropriate than the actual Aurora one, but please correct me if I'm mistaken) This thread works fine, however a few of us do use the ship threads to post info there as well as pics, so this would probably work in the Aurora thread if you posted it there.
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KE7JFF
Chief Steward
Posts: 106
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Post by KE7JFF on Sept 18, 2011 7:15:01 GMT -8
I'm curious does anyone have pictures of one of these "staterooms"? I've been thinking of taking a trip out of Bellingham and would be interested. Here are some photos of a few of the staterooms. Sorry they are not the greatest, but hopefully will give you some idea of what they are like. First, this is a four berth "outside" cabin from the Columbia. Outside here meaning the cabin has a window whereas an "inside" cabin would not have one. These two pics are of a two berth cabin from the Taku. Finally these two pics are of a four berth cabin on the Malaspina. The cabins vary a little from vessel to vessel but are generally smaller than what you would find on a cruise ship and definitely smaller than your average hotel room. AMHS reservations sometimes will refer to them as cabins to try an emphasize to people that they are not big, but they are clean and comfortable. And it is nice to have a private place on your journey and your own bunk at night. By the way if you get a cabin, you get the whole room, AMHS doesn't rent single bunks to travelers. Hope this helps. Thanks for the photos! Yeah, I knew I wasn't getting a parlour room or anything, but I just wanted to see how much of a difference it was over a room in a train. Actually looks better than I thought. Is there 120V power outlets in the room?
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Post by alaskanmohican on Sept 18, 2011 14:25:01 GMT -8
Is there 120V power outlets in the room? The rooms have 110V power outlets. Typically there is only one outlet per room, usually around the sink area. It really depends on the vessel for their particular arrangement. AMHS also warns passengers that these outlets are unprotected from surges, but I have not really heard of anyone having problems, I haven't myself, but there is the warning to be aware of.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Sept 18, 2011 16:25:19 GMT -8
So the State has finally released some new documents with info for the Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan. This is the plan that gives a general direction for AMHS to follow. This should also give those who are interested some ideas regarding a timeline for the retirement of our older ferries. This report is a preliminary report that presents the various alternative plans for the public to have input on which they prefer. A series of public meetings will be held over the next month. Link for report: dot.alaska.gov/sereg/projects/satp/assets/FinalScopingReport082911.pdfLink for meetings: dot.alaska.gov/sereg/projects/satp/assets/Sept7ProjectInfoSheet3.pdfSome highlights from the report: 1. Alternative one is designed to identify what it may cost to maintain the existing system and provides a baseline alternative against which all other alternatives are compared. 2. Alternative two is designed to identify what the cost, benefits, and impacts would be to manage our ferry fleet capacity in a way that more closely matches current and future traffic demand. 3. Alternative three is designed to identify the costs, benefits, and impacts of discontinuing ferry service between Southeast Alaska and Bellingham, Yakutat or Whittier. 4. Alternative four presents an evaluation of the of replacing three aged mainline ferries with three 350 foot “Alaska Class” ferries and a new mainline ferry. 5. Alternative five is designed to identify the costs, benefits, and impacts of replacing the existing mainline ferry system with a system based on road segments connected by shuttle ferries. 6. Alternative six is designed to evaluate what happens to the transportation system, if we do not plan for replacement of the aged ferries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Within the report are several tables displaying routes and timelines. What will interest most ferry fans are the retirement timeline for the 3 blue canoes. What the report states is that three older mainliners would need to be retired sometime over the next 14 years. - Malaspina would be replaced around 2020. - Taku would be replaced around 2021. - Matanuska would be replaced around 2025. It should be noted that these are dates that the replacement vessels would enter service. Now the various alternatives differ on details such as retiring but not replacing the Malaspina or Taku or both. Now I believe that the most likely options to happen are either Alternative 1 or 4. Alternative 1 keeps things generally as they are and build direct replacements for retired vessels. Alternative 4 is the more likely one as this involves and finally gives a little clearer idea for the Alaska Class ferries. Highlights are: - Malaspina and Taku will be retired and replaced by three Alaska Class vessels. - Matanuska will be retired and replaced with a new mainline vessel. - Alaska Class 1 would enter service in 2017. - Alaska Class 2 would enter service in 2019. - Alaska Class 3 would enter service in 2021. - Matanuska replacement would enter service in 2024. A few final notes about other vessels that are consistent throughout most of the Alternatives: - Columbia will be repowered in 2012. - Fairweather will be repowered in 2013. - Kennicott will be repowered in 2030.
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Post by alaskanmohican on Sept 21, 2011 20:52:51 GMT -8
So the Fairweather has cancelled her run to Sitka today due to weather, which of course has brought out the naysayers. Link: juneauempire.com/local/2011-09-21/high-winds-force-fairweather-turn-aroundWhat should also be pointed out is that earlier in the week there were the following delays: - Chenega cancelled her Prince William Sound sailings for Monday and Tuesday. - Tustumena was delayed in Chignik due to severe weather on Monday. - Kennicott was delayed in Kodiak due to severe weather on Monday. I believe the severe weather has caused several cruise ships to reroute through some of the inside passage as well. The fall storms are upon us, life in the north.
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