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Published: June 12th 2017
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Sunrise Right Before We Reached Juneau
This was taken around 5:00 am, about an hour before we reached Juneau Geo: 58.3677, -134.58
We pulled back our curtains the next morning to see this promising sunrise as we neared the capital city of Juneau, but alas it was not to last. As we docked an hour or so later, dense fog and persistent rain set in. It is said that Juneau is by far the most picturesque state capital in America, and they can probably back that up given their stellar setting, perched along the shores of the huge Tongass Rain Forest. The city, on paper, is incredibly large – bigger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined – but the inhabitable area is very tiny and comprises a narrow strip of land on a series of islands. The huge area is explained by the city limits incorporating the immense Juneau Ice Field, comprising dozens of glaciers. There are only 30,000 people there, and it's the third largest city – only a couple thousand shy Fairbanks, which is in second place. Another distinction is that Juneau cannot be reached by road. Everything – and I mean everything – has to come in by air or sea.
Our morning was occupied by an organized visit to a local salmon hatchery, which
was enhanced by our arrival during the peak of the King Salmon run. They were, literally, everywhere, swimming upstream. At this hatchery, which endeavors to repopulate the native population of salmon, they have artificial streams and "nesting areas," which imprint on released salmon fry who in turn return five or six years later to spawn. They spawn up the river, reach the man-made “stream steps,” fight their way all the way up, and then as they're about to die, they're taken, killed, and either gutted for their eggs or milked for semen. I watched as salmon after salmon was pulled and unceremoniously clubbed in front of us. That said, they are doing good and the populations have soared due to such measures. In addition, fish farming is illegal in Alaska, and any fish coming from there are assured to be wild caught.
From here, we visited Mendenhall Glacier, just north of town. It is the most accessible glacier in North America. This was put under Forest Service control back in the 1970's. The glacier itself is retreating at an alarming pace – more than 600 feet per year – and the original visitor center, which used to abut the glacier face,
is now almost a mile away. There are many salmon-run streams in the area and many areas were closed off because of the high number of bear feeding. We honored all of the warnings.
After lunch, and a fortuitous break in the rain – if not cloud cover – we had a three-hour whale watching excursion. A high-speed “jet boat” brought us out to some prime feeding grounds for the humpback whales that gorge themselves all summer in Alaska, before migrating to Hawaii to give birth. The tour had a “100-percent guarantee” of seeing whales, and they did not disappoint. We watched two large groups of them, and were quickly joined by a loud and playful family of harbor seals. We found it ironic that as we originally departed the ship after lunch for the tour -- as we walked across the gangway – we saw two humpback whales directly below us – BETWEEN the ship and dock. I still cannot believe they fit there. Later in the day, we were able to watch those same two whales from our balcony, as they played alongside us.
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