| Transportation
Air. During the summer months Alaska Airlines offers 5 non-stop flights from Seattle to Ketchikan daily. Even during winter, you can find at least three flights heading that way. Bush planes operated by nearly half a dozen small air-taxi services provide access to lakes and rivers in remote fishing areas.
Ferry. The ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway System are the primary means of getting yourself from here to there in much of Alaska's Inside Passage, as well as stops to many northern Panhandle cities. The ferries transport passengers, cars, trucks and even container vans from ports in Bellingham, Washington and Prince Rupert, B.C. Either port sends you to Ketchikan; and it's a non-stop trip. Staterooms, solariums, cafeterias and lounges are to be found on nine southeast-based ships. The MV Kennicott, the newest addition to the fleet, began touring the waterways in 1998.
In 2002, ferry service between Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island was appropriated by a group of local communities, launching the Inter-Island Ferry Authority. The 198-foot MV "Prince of Wales Island" makes daily runs between Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island. Service for another ship is scheduled to begin in 2005, connecting Coffman Cove on P.O.W. Island to Petersburg and Wrangell.
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Click Map to Enlarge
This map shows the inside passage
surrounding Ketchikan in more detail. |