Juneau and Whale Watching!

Day 73 – Saturday, August 24

Juneau is the state capital of Alaska.  But it is a bit odd…there are no roads that lead to Juneau…It is only accessible by air or by boat.  So, we made a trip to Juneau today on the Fjordland, a catamaran-type boat designed to travel in these waters.  The water is deep (about 180 feet) and COLD (about 39 degrees) because it’s fed by glacial runoff. 

It’s a long trip—it takes almost 3 hours to get from Skagway to Juneau, but there is plenty to see along the way.  We saw mountains, and fog, and huge, tall waterfalls, lighthouses, seals, eagles, glaciers…there was almost too much to look at!

When we arrived in Juneau, there were two eagles sitting on the ridge.  They flew away, and a seal by the dock watched as people took pictures of the majestic birds! 

Juneau was a fun place…lots of shops and good places to eat, with fresh fish from the area.  After a great lunch at the Twisted Fish, we stopped at the Red Dog Saloon (a recommendation from Mom).  It was a fun place with sawdust on the floor and lots of fun decorations, and good beer! 

We didn’t have enough time to scour all the shops, but were successful in covering several and finding a few things to bring home.  We had to meet the bus for a trip to Mendenhall Glacier, another beautiful glacier in a beautiful setting.  

At the base of the glacier was water and trails around the area.  We went down a short trail along a salmon stream, and saw pink salmon running upstream, and a bear enjoying the delicacy.  After eating his share, the bear climbed a tree and took a nap…it was pretty neat to see.

The glacier was huge, and there was a huge waterfall next to it.  There were pieces of ice that had broken off the glacier floating along the water.  A pretty incredible sight!

But, the best of all was the whale watching on the trip back to Skagway.  Our captain seemed to know right where to go to see the group of whales.   At first we saw the spouts of water spraying up out of the water; then we saw the backs of the whales, and then they began arching up out of the water, and then the tail would flip up.   Once they dove, it would be about 3-5 minutes before they surfaced again.  It was very exciting because you didn’t know quite where they would come up next.   Once somebody spotted a spout, they would yell, and everyone would go to the side of the boat to see it.  A couple of times, they came up very close to the boat.  They are HUGE mammals.  It was quite a spectacular sight, and was the grand finale of the trip today.

The Captain got a round of applause for finding the whales!   On the ride back, everyone was comparing pictures and videos, and talking about the exciting display we had just seen from the amazing whales.   

As we entered the port, there were two cruise ships anchored, probably getting ready for their shopping day tomorrow! 

It was a long day, but full of activity, and the whales were certainly worth it.