Prince of Wales Island Living (Anchorage, Ketchikan: organic, prices, groceries)

[gr8living]

My family and I are moving to POW this summer. I'm taking a position on the north end of the island. I'm curious about what to expect such as life on the island, cost of living (price of milk, cheese, gas/diesel,etc.), and anything that we should know about POW. We've done some research, but there's not a whole lot of insider info. available online. Can someone help? Anything, really.

[Metlakatla]

The grocery store's kind of expensive and the produce sucks. There's an organic farm in WA state that a lot of people get their produce from and have it shipped up. You can take the ferry into Ketchikan, get there about 11 and then take it back the same day at 3:30 if you want to do a little shopping. The Narrows in Ketchikan gives a pretty good deal to Island residents who need to spend the night or a few nights. Can't tell you about diesel, don't know. We get a lot of rain so be prepared for that.

Very good fishing though you'll need to live there a year before you can get a residents license; but it is well worth it to get the non res. the first year. It isn't the greatest area for growing vegetables but it isn't the worst, either. It's great for perennials and bulbs.

Be prepared for major gloom in the winter (and some in the summer). The daylight hours aren't much shorter than say, Seattle, but the quality of them isn't as good as you would find farther north in AK where winters actually have a lot of sunny days.

There are a lot of roads on the island and most of them are paved these days.

Flying in and out of the Ketchikan airport is a big PITA.

[gr8living]

Thanks for your fast and informative response, Metlakatla. You've hit the major questions that I had. I think I will look into the farm in WA you mentioned. What is the pain exactly of flying in and out of Ketchikan for future reference? Thanks for your help! Anything else we should know about the northwest end of POW? We'll be arriving sometime in July or August. Anyone, who knows the island please respond. Thanks!

[stiffnecked]

In Ketchikan the airport is on a different island. So you'll take the IFA ferry from Hollis on POW to Ketchikan. You'll then have to go up Tongass Ave to catch the airport ferry to get to the airport. The ferry runs about 30 minutes except some summers they add an extra ferry so you can get across every 15 minutes.

Stock up on groceries anytime you go to Ketchikan. There is also a WalMart in Ketchikan and their grocery section gets hammered. But they do a good job of keeping it stocked. It's just a regular WalMart not a big super center one.

Safeway and the A&P are the two main grocery stores. Generally prices are cheaper at Safeway but be prepared for sticker shock any way you look at it.

[gr8living]

Thanks for your response Stiffnecked. I plan on being a little sticker shocked, maybe a lot. The flight situation does sound confusing and quite a pain. We're coming up from a small, rural town in Montana, but no where as rural as the town we are relocating to. I just want to be as prepared as I can for the changes that will occur throughout the relocation process. Anyone know the price of diesel or a gallon of milk on POW? I figure if I can get an idea of the regular items, I can come up with an estimate of household expenses. Thanks!

[stiffnecked]

I'm not sure on the current price of diesel but I can tell you that fresh milk is highly overrated as a food product. Stock up on instant milk and calcium suppliments.

Prince of Wales Chamber of Commerce: Business Directory (http://www.princeofwalescoc.org/directory.html - broken link)

[gr8living]

That's what i've been told. I don't care too much about milk, but my kids love it. They'll live w/o it. I'll have to try the instant stuff. Thanks for the link.

[Metlakatla]

Also...catch all the salmon you can and put them up for the winter; you'll be glad you did.

Here's the website for the farm I told you about:

http://www.fullcirclefarm.com/

It usually takes two days to get to the island if you fly in from somewhere, unless you take one of the small planes over. Otherwise, you have to wait for the ferry the next day because the planes get in too late for people to be able to catch it.

[gr8living]

Thanks again. I'll look into it.

[GrammasCabin]

I don't see any post explaining which town you're moving to? POW is a huge island, literally hundreds of miles of road so it depends on which end of the island you're going to be.
If you go out and get your own, you'll have plenty of moose, venison, salmon, halibut and berries. I order bulk dry goods from Azure Standard out of Oregon. They deliver to the barge in Seattle free if you order the minimum which is high $550 -but I order only about twice a year and store everything in air-tight food grade buckets. When I don't need that much product, there's always a friend or two that wants to add to my order. 50# of dry milk powder is $112 but that's enough to last my household about 6 months at 1/2 gal. + a day, and it's good, it isn't organic (although they do sell organic) but it has no added hormones or antibiotics. The wonderful part is you never have to go to town for milk! Milk here in Wrangell is $5.79 , gas is $3.20 and diesel is $5.19. My guess is POW is similar.
You'll probably be eating a little different than you are are in Montana. First thing you're going to want to do is get yourself a copy of "Cooking Alaskan" from the people at Alaska Magazine and "Discovering Wild Plants" by Janice Schofield. Both books are terriffic for harvesting, cooking and eating like a king, Alaska style.
You're moving up here at a perfect time of year. I hope you fall in love with the place, POW is beautiful!

ps: ever heard of Alaska's "bridge to nowhere"? That's why you have to haul your luggage across the airport yard, down the ramp and wait for the ferry to take you across to Ketchikan ($10 per person round trip) A real fun time when there's a blizzard blowing or the rain is pounding sideways in your face. But enough of politics, Anchorage needed the money more than Ketchikan, I guess.