Monday in Juneau

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The day I have been waiting for has finally arrived. Ever since I visited Juneau several years ago and saw an enormous cruise ship in port, I dreamed of being on one of those ships. During the morning there were showers and the mountain tops were shrouded in mist and fog. I remained optimistic that it would lift, and while it might not be perfect and maybe a bit cool, we could wear layers and it would be okay. I had been watching the weather for Juneau for weeks and it showed rain every day for weeks before the start of our cruise.

After breakfast we went to listen to Michael again about Alaskan wildlife. His talk was very informative and entertaining as well. Afterwards we went back to our room to get ready for our excursion. We wore sweatshirts, jackets and packed our rain gear. We arrived in Juneau at 11 a.m. As we disembarked the ship, the clouds started to break up a little and hope was in the air. Juneau has 330 to 350 days of rain in a year and depending on who you talk to, only 15 to 30 days of sunshine in the summer. So already we were feeling lucky that we could see peeks of sun. We did a little shopping, (okay, enough shopping that we had to go back to the ship and drop off our purchases because they were too heavy), before making it down the ramp to our waiting tour bus.

Today we were going to go whale watching (guaranteed to see whales), salmon bake at Orca Point Lodge and then to Mendenhall Glacier. Right from the start everyone we talked to had something to say about the weather. It was unbelievable and we were very thankful because most people don’t get to see the sites we saw because of clouds, fog, rain, etc.

While whale watching, we were informed that whales were solitary creatures and that usually tour groups only see 4 or 5 whales BUT today was our lucky day. We boarded our catamaran and were taken out some distance and it wasn’t too long before we saw a blow hole from a humpback whale. Then the tour director excitedly told us about “bubble netting,” which occurs when a female from below blows bubbles in a cirlcle and forms a net around herring and small fish which brings them up to the water’s surface and the rest of the whales band together and all at once come to the surface with their mouths open. It is a site to behold and we were informed that this isn’t something they see every day. The captain and tour director counted 20 whales. We were all so excited. What made this so wonderful was the weather. Blue, blue skies, no wind, mountains and glaciers unobscured by clouds and a balmy 72 degrees. We were told Juneau had had a very rainy summer and they hadn’t seen sun in 2 weeks.

Our catamaran then brought us to Orca Point Lodge for a sumptious feast of salmon, coleslaw, vegetables and a brownie for desert. It was delicious and the setting was beautiful. When finished there, we were brought back to the marina and boarded our bus for the short trip back to town and the Mendenhall glacier. We had an hour to spend there so we did a 45 minute hike to the base of Nugget Falls. We just marveled at the beauty of the glacier and falls, the sun bright in the sky and not a cloud or even a breeze. This was a perfect day so far. Our bus driver dropped us off in town which was a short distance from the ship. We had strict orders to be back on board at 9:30. It was now 8:00 p.m. and I had one last thing to do. I wanted a picture of a sunset and what better way to get it was at the top of Mount Roberts via the tram. Once on top (only a 5 minute ride), the view was breathtaking and I got my picture—well more like 75 pictures as the sun was setting on the horizon. After a brief visit to the gift shop, we took the tram down and returned to our ship with sore feet and exhausted, but with memories that will last a lifetime.

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Comments

[Kathy Henry]

Great photography!
It sounds like you are having a wonderful time. What a great way to document your trip!