BLUE CANOES of Alaska's Majestic Marine Highway, THE

Sea Classics, Jun 2009 by Coppock, Mike

A colorful ferry system of handsome modern vessels provides a bevy of scenic wonders as it links Alaska's coast

Inspite a strong wind raking against them, the school children of King Cove, Alaska, stood in the early morning hom*s on the wooden dock staring out into sea fog. Above them, the snow line had advanced down the surrounding mountains. Though early October, it felt more like winter than fall in this remote corner of the world.

Suddenly, the blue ocean-going ferry M/V Tustumena tears through the mist churning for the dock. The children give offa yell turning to their parents and teachers pointing at the vessel. The Trusty Tusty" had been pounding a course through massive ocean swells along the isolated and rugged Alaska Peninsula all night after leaving another small village, Sand Point, so as not to disappoint the children that the crew knew would be waiting.

This is the last seasonal voyage for the Tusty out to the small hamlets that dot the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Island as she tried beating the raging seas of winter. It is the last chance for locals to bring home any vehicles, construction supplies, and household goods before they are left on their own for seven months.

Such is life on America's last frontier in the 21st Century.

Deckhands hurriedly lower gangways, offloading cars and passengers before mysteriously disappearing inside the Tusty. Then the Purser emerges waving for teachers and parents to guide the young children onto the gang plank **tfiaaBBK: and into the vehicle cargo hold. There, the ship's crew is waiting, dressed as ghouls, pirates, and Frankenstein handing out candy. Over in a corner is a huge pile of yellow pumpkins donated by the Safeway store in Kodiak and local American Legion chapters. A crowd gathers around them as crewmen and volunteers start handing out those pumpkins being pointed at by children, parents, and teachers.

One of the volunteers is a woman in her late 50s from New Mexico, a passenger who books this particular voyage every year. Her first taste of Alaska had been on a cruise ship. "I didn't like it," she says catching her breath after handling out pumpkins for a while to locals. "It was just so fake."

She and others were participating in the annual Great Aleutian Pumpkin Run put on by the Tustús crew, volunteers, and passengers every October so that children out on this far edge of the continent can enjoy Halloween.

In the summer months, it is not just children who line the docks waiting on the Tustumena, the oldest ship in the Alaska Marine Highway System's fleet and the only one sailing to the Aleutians, but cannery workers and locals holding plates. The vessel's kitchen stays open after the dining room is closed to passengers so to serve hamburgers and even simple breakfasts for people in Chignik, Sand Point, King Cove, Cold Bay, False Pass, and Akutan before pulling into the Dutch Harbor port complex. The largest of these communities, Sand Point, settled by Scandinavians, has a population of 900.

Here, the Tusty with its steward staff led by Mark Listberger is an institution. It, and the massive Columbia, are the only two ferries in the system offering dining room service. The other ships either have a cafeteria line offering or vending machines depending on the size of the ship. Off in a small corner of the Tusty is a small bar, The Pitch and Roll, consisting of a few bar stools, a couple of tables, and a window for whale watching. Barf bags are seemingly located everywhere. Yet, in June 2007, Esquire magazine declared this was one of the best bars in the United States.

"The bar got its name after we had a contest for both the bar and the dining hall," said Listberger. "A 12yr-old boy came up with the name."

Esquire was probably taken aback by the people its writer encountered. On any given voyage, one can encounter locals from Port Lions going into Kodiak to shop, Dutch Harbor crabbers, Sand Point fishermen, Chignik cannery workers, well-healed bird watchers, and even deep-sea divers planning to scour the ocean floor for gold.

"The Alaska coastline contains dozens of communities that have no other means of transportation of passengers and vehicles," said Vernon Craig, marketing manager for the Alaska Marine Highway System. "The ferry system also provides the only means for visitors to Alaska to see the Inside Passage other than to take a jet."

Craig pointed out what makes Alaska's "blue canoes" different from other ferry systems such as the one operated by Washington State is that Alaska lacks roads. The Alaska ferries, often out to sea for more than two-days between ports, are many communities only link with the outside world.

The fleet's eleven ships visit 32 ports in an arc nom Ketchikan to Dutch Harbor, more than 3500-mi of route carrying some 350,000 passengers and 100,000 vehicles annually.

It is one of the last sea-going systems in the world where transportation, rather than entertainment or luxury, is the primary goal. Cabins and food for instance are extra. Passengers are allowed to sleep in reclining chairs in the observation lounge or pitch a tent or throw down sleeping bags on the solarium deck of the ships.