By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
After a winter of near total isolation due to cuts in ferry service, three villages in Southeast received a brief respite on Saturday when the catamaran Melinda Leigh made a round-trip run from Juneau to Kake, Angoon, and Tenakee Springs.
The Alaska Department of Transportation contracted with Sitka’s Allen Marine company to run the route. A Sentinel reporter was aboard the Melinda Lee when it left the Juneau’s Auke Bay dock at 7 a.m. headed for Kake, first stop on the 12-hour circuit. All told, about two dozen people came aboard at the village stops, most from Angoon. The Melinda Leigh will repeat the loop on Tuesday. The fill-in service is for passengers only, and with an 80-pound carry-on limit per passenger.
Village residents on the boat expressed a wide range of reasons why they value ferry service in Southeast Alaska. Some on this trip were traveling for medical appointments, some for connections to basketball games and others to stock up on groceries, in short supply since the ferries stopped their regular runs. Everyone who spoke to the Sentinel said they were looking forward to the return of regular service by the Alaska Marine Highway System.
Calvin Wilson sipped his coffee and looked out the window as the catamaran motored through calm seas just south of Point Gardner.
Wilson lives in Kake where he works as a carpenter and machinery operator, as well as with the Organized Village of Kake. Wilson was bound for Ketchikan via Juneau to watch his grandson play basketball.
While he was traveling at this time to cheer on his grandson, Wilson said his primary concern about ferry cuts revolves around medical care.
He said those most impacted by the lack of winter ferry service were “the elders and the people over here (in Kake), the ones who have medical (issues) where they cannot fly.”
The Allen Marine boat Melinda Leigh is tied up at Tenakee Springs Saturday evening. Tenakee was the last leg of a trip which included Kake and Angoon as well. (Sentinel Photo by Garland Kennedy)
Wilson’s elderly mother-in-law was napping a few seats back. He said that she had serious difficulty flying.
“A lot of people can’t afford to fly. Even the ones that can, that’s pretty spendy,” he added.
Wilson’s wife Verlinda agreed. “The medical traveling with my mom, we have no choice but to fly,” she said.
She expressed thanks for the special runs being made by the Allen Marine vessel. She serves on the Organized Village of Kake council and works at the Kake post office and the school.
“To us it was a blessing... we literally couldn’t get out, even with money we couldn’t get out. And then they sent the boat, so we were back on.” She added that ferry cancellations and inconsistencies had prevented a family reunion, but she was happy to be heading to Ketchikan to watch basketball.
Her husband echoed the sentiment. “We’re really thankful… we really enjoy being on the water and traveling this way,” he said. “It’s just too expensive to fly.”
He said that today’s problems with the AMHS go a long way back.
“I just don’t understand why they let it go so far over the last decade,” he said. “I mean, they should have seen this coming a long time ago ... (But) we can’t point the finger, what’s done is done. And we have got to figure out how to fix this problem, because look at how it’s affecting all of us.”
Speaking of his grandchildren, he said “I hope that they see what I see when I was growing up on the ferry ... and I really hate to see the ferry system lost. That’s what scares me, because it connects our communities and keeps us tied together, whether we go to a funeral or a basketball tournament.”
Longtime Tenakee Springs resident Robert Walters was headed for Juneau for a long-overdue medical appointment.
“I’m going to the doctor for the first time since October of last year,” Walters said. He operates the diesel power generation plant in Tenakee.
Walters has spent 49 winters in the small Chichagof Island town. “If we can’t get a ferry system again, I’m going to have to move,” he said. “I’ve been here my whole life.”
He requires regular medical care.
“Me and my wife take diabetes medications and blood pressure medicines, and we ran out because of that (break in ferry service),” he said. He has knee and back problems as well, making flying nearly impossible.
Speaking about Saturday’s special passenger run to Juneau, Walters said “it’s great, it’s actually saving us. It’s a lifeline. See, in October (my doctor) put me on my insulin and I haven’t been able to see her to get my blood test.”
Looking to the future, Walters said any ferry service beats no ferry service at all: “Any kind, even if it was just whatever they could give us.”
He expressed frustration about how the cuts were made to the ferry system. “Most highways don’t really pay for themselves... it’s a balance. It’s something that people really need and to just rip it away from us is not very cool,” he said.
The Allen Marine boat sails the three-village loop from Juneau again on Tuesday. An indication that the return of regular service is in the works came with today’s AMHS announcement that the 2020 schedule is open for booking at ferryalaska.com.
During the day-long cruise to the villages on the Allen catamaran the Sentinel spoke with a number of other individuals about important travel-related topics, from the Tlingit and Haida Celebration in June to the role of ferries in emergency response plans.
Further stories about the trip will appear in the Sentinel through the week.
