They’re Jumpin’ in Juneau

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They’re Jumpin’ in Juneau

Our “You Have a Message” red light prompted us to check our messages when we awoke, to find that our Gold-Panning Salmon Bake tour was sold-out, so we had to reschedule something if we wanted a tour. We purchased the unlimited laundry and pressing package, which really is nice. Sharon has a 3-star rating with HA, so we don’t yet qualify for this as a complimentary service, but it sure is nice. We left our second batch which usually gets returned the next day before setting out. We went to breakfast after checking with the excursion office and selecting the “Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest”. We also decided to do the tram which ascends 1,800 feet for a panoramic view of Juneau. I tried the Make-your-own-Omelet, with ham, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, onions, cheddar and Swiss with sour dough toast. Sharon had a delicious waffle with apples.

We had a morning to freelance in Juneau, so we opted for the cable car tram ride up to a nearby peak. The view of the harbor and ships was impressive. We’d heard that there were six cruise ships in port that day. We saw one that was tendering folks ashore. There was a very talented family that was performing on the bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo, and singing songs about this region of Alaska. They were very good and clearly enjoyed what they were doing. There were four of them when we caught the show, husband (guitar/mandolin), wife, son 17 (base fiddle), daughter 13 (banjo, mandolin, stick dulcimer). They told us there oldest daughter was travelling.

We then went to do Sudoku, but Sharon forgot her pen, and the pencil just wouldn’t cooperate. I finished both puzzles and we purchased soda card to get the 50% off savings, not available on the general beverage card we’d been using.

We had our lunch in Lido. I had the cheddar with bacon soup & Asian chicken and ginger broth; rotisserie chicken with veggies. Sharon had the roast beef and potatoes. It was pretty hectic, and we didn’t realize at first that they only opened the far side of the buffet, on the other side of the ship from where we were sitting.

We had a 1:05PM assembly on shore by the end of the gangplank for our Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest. It had started to rain and we were all huddled under the assembly canopy. John called his mother, but it was hard to hear her with all the din of the gathering mob. Our dogsled ride had been previously cancelled and the other one was cancelled now too, due to poor flying conditions. There was a lot of juggling and confusion as folks tried to find out which tours still had openings. We boarded quite soon, but were waiting as those who were just now deciding what to do, could join us. The driver had soaped down most of the inside windows and as the streaks and bubbles began to clear, you could see that the driver was quite right, that this made an excellent defogging agent and the windows were clear for viewing (and driving). As we were on the way to town, the driver pointed out the statue of a bronze breaching humpback, and wanted to make sure that everyone saw it, because this tour guarantees that everyone will see at least one whale (or you get a refund). It was a short ride to the dock where the bus pulled down a long narrow ramp to the docking/off-loading area, and we boarded our double-deck jet-powered catamaran. The weather was trying to clear and there were blue spots in the sky. Our guide informed us that these were “sucker-spots” because only a sucker would think the sky would clear.

Our guide was very knowledgeable, and originally from Alaska, and was full of stories about humpbacks and killer whales on our trip out to Point Howard. We passed a few whale watching boats that were circling a spot where a humpback had been sited, but our captain said we would be continuing on at full speed for about 45 minutes, in some places passing over depths of 2,000 feet, to a great spot for seeing whales, and boy was he right about that. Meanwhile, we learned that the humpbacks come to Alaska to feed during the summer, and that right about now they’ll begin their journey to Hawaiian waters for breeding. While in Alaskan waters the females will get up to 45 tons and are about 45 feet long, a bit bigger than the males. Humpbacks are baleen whales, also known as filter feeders. They have these long strips of baleen hanging from their upper jaw. When the spot a tasty looking school of fish, such as herring, they approach, but because their eyes are on the side of their heads, they can’t see their prey up close. That’s where the bumps on their nose and face come in, with their long blonde hairs that feel the ripples in the water from the school of fish. This signals the humpback to open its jaw and close it on the fish and 15,000 gallons of water. This water is squeezed out, and the baleen retains the smaller fish, which are soon consumed down a narrow throat, which can’t fit larger fish. The humpback has no teeth, just this baleen. After consuming about a ton of fish per day, and storing up lots of energy in the blubber, the humpbacks migrate to Hawaii. During the journey to and from Hawaii, and while in Hawaii, these whales fast. They go there to mate and bear their young, where the warmer waters are better for the calf’s survival. The calf’s feed on the mother’s milk, which is the consistency of yogurt, and gain on average about 7 pounds an hour.

While in Alaska, the humpbacks exhibit “feeding behavior” where they will surface, exhale air so quickly from their Volkswagen sized lungs that it vaporizes the water around their two blow holes (very close together like our noses), and we can see the vapor trail spouting from the sea. They will take 5 to 10 breaths on the surface, exhaling each time before maneuvering their body in a squirming motion that shows more and more of the back, until it arches the back significantly and the tail rises from the water showing the fluke and it disappears into the depths for fifteen to thirty minutes, feeding as it’s submerged. The fluke can be used to uniquely identify each humpback, just like fingerprints in humans, and there is a registry of flukes to track their sightings and movements. This behavior of surfacing, breathing, diving and feeding is repeated continuously which raises the question, how and when do whales sleep. The answer literally is one-half of the brain at a time. For about six to eight minutes at a time, the whale turns off half of its brain, and it sleeps. Scientists have made measurements on whales in captivity and shown that while in the sleep state, the brain that is sleeping also dreams. It is necessary to always keep part of the brain awake because for whales, breathing is not an automatic activity, but one that must be consciously controlled and monitored.

While in Hawaiian waters, the humpbacks exhibit “mating behavior”, such as breaching. Breaching is where the whale “jumps” out of the water, getting most of its body in the air, before falling back to the sea in a tremendous splash. Humpback whales do sometimes breach when in feeding waters; but, such sightings are quite rare.

We approach our destination, slowing our speed, and already numerous water spouts are being spotted. As we get closer we see the massive bodies of whales swimming in groups of two, three and more. And we are also seeing flukes as these behemoth sea creatures descend to depths of up to 700 feet in this waterway. As the next group of whales surfaces they were just off our starboard bow, and the “breathing dance” continued in tandem with three whales, until, almost in unison, one after the other, their massive flukes extended into the air and they were gone, only to arise again about nine minutes later on the port side of our vessel. Our guide said to be sure to get out on the topside deck, to experience the sound of the humpback blow hole spouting, and also the smell. The sound is like a whooshing of air and steam, and the smell is that of death (or dead fish anyway). I don’t think Sharon thought it was as bad as penguin poop in Antarctica, but we went back inside anyway.

We stayed a bit longer than our schedule called for, because of the numerous whales that were to be seen. As we started to leave the guide announced in a very excited voice that two breaching whales had just been sighted off the portside. As Sharon and I scanned the vicinity where we could see a bit farther off, there were numerous blows being sighted, we also saw two whales breach, and splash back to the sea, quite like the statue we’d seen in town earlier. And shortly thereafter, we saw one more breach, which is why we said they’re jumpin’ in Juneau!

With visibility improving amid scattered showers we made our way to Mendenhall Glacier. It was raining as we got off the bus, but stopped shortly and we had a pleasant stay. This glacier is one of four glacier flows that is part of the Juneau ice field. The glacier itself comes down with its deep blue and aqua coloration to a lake. From the side a massive waterfall spills into the lake. The blue of the ice, due to the density of the ice, was readily apparent due to the overcast conditions of the early approaching evening. We enjoyed the 11-minute movie in the visitor center, and then had time for a leisurely stroll back the bus boarding area. Our driver appeared just a few minutes early. On the way back he told us about bears, of black bears, and brown bears, and grizzly bears. If you come across a black bear you should stand your grown, get aggressive and even hit the bear in his snout. With the slightly larger brown bears, this doesn’t work so well, so if you get cornered your best bet is to play dead. He said some people have started carrying jingling bells and pepper spray as a bear deterrent, but added that the way you can tell grizzly bear scat from other bear scat is by the little silver bells and it smells like pepper. What I’ve hear over and over is that you can’t outrun a bear because they can move through the woods at almost 40 MPH, but the driver added this enlightenment, “You don’t need to outrun the bear, only the person next to you!” On the final subject of bears, the HA TV channel provided one more bit of advice: Should you come across a polar bear, which isn’t likely for us on this cruise, but should one cross your path out in the wild, just kiss your ass goodbye. They’re just plain vicious.

We got back a little bit later than we planned for dinner. After changing into our smart casual dining clothes, I ordered the chicken and beef satay appetizer. Sharon ordered the Italian wedding soup, and tried a sip, and I think she could take it or leave it, anyway I wound up with most of it even though I offered to order my own, but I think she thought I really wanted my own. The broth was tasty, but I was disappointed in not having a single tiny meatball in the soup. It didn’t quite measure up to the same soup at Bravo back in Dayton. I ordered the asparagus soup, with cream and garlic croutons, and it was excellent. This triggered a childhood memory from when I was seven years old. My parents used to include asparagus all the time with dinner, and I thought it was awful (it came out of a can). Then one evening we had dinner at a restaurant in Geneva, and I thought it was delicious. My dad of course hadn’t told me that it was asparagus, and said “See, you like asparagus!” I replied, if the asparagus we had at home tasted like this, I’d eat all you put in front of me… and I’ll bet this didn’t come out of a can!” We didn’t have asparagus at home much after that, and this soup tasted just as good as the one I remembered from so long ago. I had grilled salmon in spicy tomato broth for my entry. The fish was cooked just right but the broth tasted a bit too fishy for me. Sharon ordered the London Broil, which was done just right for her, but it was a bit tough. For desert Sharon had the cappuccino bomb, coffee ice cream encapsulated by dark chocolate. John had the crème Brule which was done very nicely. This night’s cordial was the Bubble Gum, a flavor I detest, but made up of green crème de mint, Kahlua, Frangelico and Irish cream.

We arrived at the show a tad late, but were able to find seating at the back of the lower lounge. Elliot Maxx was the entertainer with silly songs and hilarious stories. His stick was very enjoyable, but Sharon thinks she’d seen it on a previous cruise. I don’t think it was one that I’d been on.

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