Whale of a time cruising a seaway on steroids

Salmon, crab, halibut and cod abound in Alaska's Inside Passage.

The Weekend Herald updates Gareth Morgan's motorcycle trip through America's heartland. This week he takes a ferry through Alaska's Inside Passage from Skagway to Vancouver:

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For four days we have glided down the still waters of Alaska's Inside Passage from Skagway. Then, finally reaching the northern tip of Vancouver Island, we have taken to our bikes once again.

Coming after 14 weeks of pretty much continuous riding, incarceration on a ferry was at first a welcome change - but before long cabin fever set in.

Alaska's marine highway - a network of ferry routes that weave through the intricate labyrinth of fiords to the west of the mainland - is the only way a bevy of small towns are physically connected to the outside world. Typically, each village has only about 20km of road around it. Even Juneau, the capital of Alaska, is one of these isolated communities.

Alaska's Inside Passage is like the Marlborough Sounds on steroids. More than 1000 islands combine to provide 18,000km of coastline.

It is beautiful, with some stunning waterfalls running out of the bush and narrow passages the ship has to negotiate.

Of course, one didn't a few months ago and now lies 400m down on the fiord floor.

But once again it is the wildlife that is the highlight.

This time it is the whales that have us mesmerised. Apparently, about 4000 of the world's population of 37,000 humpbacks spend their summer holidays here, scooping up mouthfuls of shrimp, herring and krill before heading back to waters off Hawaii and Mexico for the winter.

We saw plenty of them and a few orcas besides.

The frequent piercing of the calm waters shroud by a seal's head or a leaping salmon also confirms the richness of these waters. Each year the locals take over half of all the fish landed around the US, including salmon, crab, halibut and cod.

As our ferry weaves its way through the fishing fleet casting its purse seine nets for salmon, we get an appreciation of just how large the fleet is - 70 boats working out of Prince Rupert alone.

With so many boats, the narrow channels between islands can be the scene of tension as boats vie for their rights.

One poor trier, not noticing our ship bearing down on him, turned too late and watched helplessly as his net was ploughed under our keel.

We steamed on and he was left a stunned mullet, cursing us over the horizon no doubt.

Speaking of halibut, just for the hell of it Dave and I had a day's fishing for the prime catch of this region. Our boat landed only one that day, a 20kg job and obviously enough meat to feed a family for a week.

Looking like over-sized flounder, these are the stock in trade of the commercial fishing industry here, an industry that accounts for almost half of all private sector employment in the state.

And so we arrived at Port Hardy, on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. It was a relief to be able to ride our bikes again. The road is much like that between Tokoroa and Atiamuri - only 450km longer. Pine trees cover rock outcrops with rivers and some lakes interrupting the monotony.

We passed the old Fletcher Challenge-owned pulp mill at Elk Falls - still going strong, pity about the owner - and were impressed by its sheer size.

Then across to Vancouver proper, a stunning city of 2 million at the foot of forest-clad mountains rimming a sheltered harbour.

I found the setting not too dissimilar to Hong Kong although with the well-to-do feeling of a Sydney.

And the 400ha Stanley Park - the city's centrepiece - is the most stunning botanical garden-type resource I have seen in any city in the world.

The weather here is balmy right now as summer brings folks to the beaches to play. Certainly the chilly climes of the Far North are now a distant memory as we continue to head south to our departure point, only two weeks away.

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