Alaska, An Excellent Choice ~ Day 8, Juneau

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Click here for photos from Juneau

At the start of several of these posts about Alaska, I've mentioned how it will be short because the photos for the day were scarce and dull, yet rambled on as if I didn't mean it. For this post of our day in Juneau I mean it. There were a paltry 25 pix that made it to the gallery from this constantly raining day, and not one of them is anything to talk about. So essentially we're done here, but I'll ramble a bit because that's the way I do.

After a wonderful breakfast with our fellow travelers at Johnny's Cafe (in the back), we disembarked into the cold rain of Alaska, an excellent choice. The weather was so bad that I only brought the small Canon SX50. We were going whale watching, which is an adventure where you ride on a boat and the whales watch you from below. We were hoping to capture a few of them on our memory cards as they surfaced to tease us.

Fortunately our boat had an ample covered area on the main deck where we could duck in from the rain and wind, but I didn't spend much time there. Even without the whales, seals and other goodies promised by our captain, I prefer the wind in my face when we sail, and only came back in occasionally to dry off my lens, grab a beer or have a slice of salmon.

The first 4 shots in the gallery are from my seat and feature more raindrops on windows, which was becoming an Alaskan favorite of mine. In the first you can see the side-controls the captain would use in tight spots. Just to break things up I added some color to the next 3 shots. In the red one you can see the reflection of someone standing behind me looking through binoculars. Whatever he was looking for probably couldn't be seen through the overcast grays.

As soon as the boat got to open water I was out on the back platform wishing I had brought something warmer, and thinking of the 90-degree weather back home. As I stuck my head around the port side of the enclosure, our first whale showed its back right alongside our boat. My camera wasn't ready, and I scrambled with it while trying to yell “Whale,” but no one heard me. I managed to get a pretty good shot of the splash she made just before disappearing, and I heard the captain announce her presence. The cartoon part of my mind imagined her going back down to her buds laughing about how she almost made some clown drop his camera overboard. My little camera would probably look lost in her elaborate collection.

I'm not as hip as I once was, and don't really know much about the new movie craze, 50 Shades Of Gray. I get the idea from vaguely paying attention that it has a lot to do with sex. Well, if that's the case, photographers must be some of the sexiest people on the planet (and you'll get no argument from me), because we use 256 shades of gray. In any case, it was still quite difficult to capture any quality when the sky was gray 42, the water was gray 43 and the whales were gray 44. The brochure promised we'd see at least one whale, and, with that commitment out of the way, the captain swung us around to see the colorful seals waiting for the sun. If we would have had the time to wait also, we would have much better photos than numbers 6 and 7 in the gallery.

We gazed through the grays and chased orca and other whales around, hoping to catch them in the act of teasing us. For any close encounters, the crew would open up the observation deck on top, and we were able to get unobstructed views of at least 200 shades of rain and wind. Still, I loved it. One fellow photog had rented a 300mm prime lens for the occasion, and he wished he would have done a better job at picking the right day.

Occasionally green and red would show through the mist, but they too were covered by a gray cast. Photo 11 I call “Whale Watching.” Barb was either dreaming of caipirihnas or “resting her eyes” as she calls it. Later when I showed her this shot of the day, she said, “I knew if there was anything to see, you'd shoot it and bring it back to me.” I smiled at her misplaced confidence in my craftsmanship.

We docked, said farewell to the captain and crew, and were herded back to our bus for the second excellent adventure of the day, the Mendenhall Glacier. The driver pulled in to the drop-off spot and the rains increased. Barb stopped at the restroom and I told her she'll know where to find me. I was pulled like a strong magnet to the beauty below, and kept my camera in my coat as I went to pay respects. I walked through the heavy downpour, and was grateful to have enough past experience to see the splendor through the misty rain . Unfortunately no camera I'm familiar with could have captured the thrill with anything worthy of presentation, but that doesn't stop me from filling the rest of the day's gallery with attempts.

After walking the shoreline, which I had to myself, I walked up the hill to the visitor's center. Inside it was dry and crowded, so I went back out to the rain to recapture the feel of the place. After walking back down the uncrowded switchbacks, which I seemed to have mostly to myself in the heavy rain, I noticed the crowded elevator, and wished I was more observant of the man-made stuff.

Although Barb knew where I'd be, I knew she wouldn't want to join me in the rain, but now I didn't know where she was. As it turned out she was in the visitor's center watching a video of this wonderland glacier. It wasn't a lack of confidence in my abilities; she knew the pictures would be better and viewing them would be warmer and dryer inside. I waited for her and the others under an overhang at the bus stop, and chatted with some interesting folks from New Orleans.

Later, back on the ship, we ran into some of our friends from New Jersey. Man, what a crew –a great bunch of fun-loving people. Russ told me they went on a helicopter adventure that landed them on the glacier. It was raining, and they eventually stopped the helicopter tours, so he was happy to get it in. A reunion of their 6 and our 6 is something I need to work on.

After 1 healthy and 2 excellent choices in Johnny's Cafe and a wonderful time eating and drinking, followed by some live entertainment, we went to bed knowing that tomorrow's adventures would be in the fourth rainiest place on the planet.

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