Remainder of the cruise Alaska to Vancouver

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After gorgeous weather and blue skies at the Hubbard Glacier and a day of scenic cruising in Glacier Bay we headed south. Being here just left us in awe...we hit such incredible weather and it is difficult to describe such raw beauty when nature reveals it so stunningly. The snowcapped mountains, glaciers and blue green glacial waters with the large floating ice cubes were quite the combination. We felt so lucky. We got quite a few incredible photos and videos and was able to get video of the Marjorie Glacier calving. Here as well there were birds sitting out on the ice incuding an eagle. So hard to judge distance on water. There was one wall of mountain that looked like it had many faces carved into it. We walked miles on deck.

In Skagway the day remained cloudy. In Juneau we went to the local quilt shop and met up with Jan for about an hour before we met up with our privately arranged whale watching excursion. We had made arrangements to go out on a small boat and were with 4 other people. This worked out so well as we were able to cover a lot of area and quite quickly. We were out in a bay area off of Shelter Island a short distance from downtown Juneau. We were so fortunate to be with a very knowledgable tour guide who owned the company and was also a photographer who had jointly published a book on whales which we were able to buy. Awesome tour guide and was easy to tell this was his passion, not just his job. When we left the marina the Mendenhall Glacier and mountains rose high in the background. Beautiful area with snow capped mountain ranges. We came across orcas, a couple pairs of eagles and also watched a group of them fishing, sea lions, and at the end we came upon a very playful baby humpback along with the mom. The water was flat. This baby humpback came up out of the water at least 20 times while we were able to stay and see them...excited doesn't even explain how we all felt...this was incredible. When we had to leave they gave us a big wave with their pectoral fins. Actually I am pretty sure it wasn't about us at all but we felt like it was a wave. Managed to get quite a few pictures and video. An incredible site and it will be an adventure we will always remember. We had a short stop at the Mendenhall Glacier after our tour. Beautiful spot. We will be back to do this again.

Onto Ketchikan and the skies were blue and the sun was shining. We spent the day walking and shopping, stopping at the creek area for fish and chips. The float planes and boats went pretty steady all day long and we were able to watch some eagles flying at the back of the ship. After leaving Ketchikan we were able to spot dolphins/porpoise. Heading into Vancouver we made sure we were up early and were able to get pics and video going under the Lions Gate Bridge and then docked at Canada Place. We have made this trip before and we will do it again. What a beautiful part of the world. Have some photos here to share. We took many but here are a few of them. There are 55 pics attached.

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Photos

Juneau
Baby Humpback

Juneau
Humpback at play!

Glacier Bay
Marjorie Glacier

Glacier Bay
Mountains behind Glacier

Glacier Bay
Gulls on the Ice

Glacier Bay
Tucked away near glacier

Glacier Bay
Heading out

Galcier Bay
Out for a swim!

Hubbard Glacier
Many faces on the rocks