Moving to POW (Anchorage, Wales: movie theater, train, to eat)

[Captain Crunch]

Seasonal now...both of us....spring-summer-fall

There is a degree of isolation, but the ferry over to Ketchikan runs everyday and anything you may need is easily available either in town (Craig, Klawock, Thorne Bay) or via a call to any store over in Ketchikan...it'll come over on a float plane during the day for you....daily UPS too

[Metlakatla]

Daily? Last time I spent a winter on the island it was hell waiting for my e-bay purchases to arrive. Sometimes we didn't get mail for weeks............

[Captain Crunch]

Thats why I don't winter there anymore...well, that and a little sunshine south-of-the-border is refreshing

so....you're still addicted to eBay

[Unkfam]

That sounds way better. We know all about isolation, we are in a fly in only place. When the weather is bad we go without mail and UPS (which we only get 3 times a week usually). We have had a few weeks while out here when no airplanes came in. The fact that we could take the ferry or fly sounds much less isolated.

[Captain Crunch]

The island has its own ferry system....2 fairly new custom built vessels

The second vessel is a couple years newer and was to service a northern route from Coffman Cove on daily-round-trip over to Wrangell and Petersburg.

After building a new ferry terminal at Coffman Cove and using a new ferry terminal over near Petersburg that belonged to the state, there was not enough business to keep it operational....now a huge investment not being used

http://www.interislandferry.com/

http://www.interislandferry.com/06_MV_POW.jpg (broken link)

[Unkfam]

Do they now have 2 ferries running at different times? We have some family members that are coming up to visit us on the island and we are having a heck of a time trying to cordinate the ferry trip with their flight in to Ketchikan.

[Captain Crunch]

An option rather than being subjected to the crappola and monopoly-prices at Alaska Airlines is to ride the ferry to Ketchikan from either Prince Rupert (6 hours) or up from Bellingham...

Currently one round-trip daily from Prince of Wales to Ketchikan...

Check the schedule...

Alaska's Inter-Island Ferry Authority Southern Route Schedule (http://www.interislandferry.com/schedsouth.html - broken link)

[Metlakatla]

It's really tough to coordinate the ferry trip with flights...sometimes I think they do it that way on purpose. I have better luck making the ferry when I fly down from Anchorage as opposed to coming from Portland. They may end up having to spend the night in Ketchikan....I think the Narrows is just as good as the place across from the terminal and even though they are out a ways, they have free shuttle service.

For your future information, the Narrows offers a discount for POW residents when they go to Ketchikan.

[Unkfam]

Thanks for the tip on the Narrows. We will have to check them out.

[Unkfam]

Does the POW ferry fill up frequently or is there normally a lot of space on it?