Usually, the whales are at least a half mile away when you see them. This one was putting on a show. If you look closely, you can see this is a life-size sculpture in an infinity fountain on the Juneau waterfront.
After flying from Charlotte with a connection in Seattle, we arrived in Juneau for a day of sightseeing before embarking on our cruise. Juneau is a very small place with barely 30,000 residents. Yet, it is the capitol and has a complex of government buildings. Most, including the capitol building, resemble modern office buildings. The governor's mansion is the exception
Ravens are everywhere in Juneau
Our boat, the Wilderness Legacy, is the largest among the Uncruise fleet of cruise ships. Still quite small by cruise ship standards. The Legacy's 84 guest capacity pales to the Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Sea at 4905 guest capacity. We saw that monstrosity docked in Juneau, disgorging thousands of passengers into the tiny commercial district.
Shortly after embarking, our first activity was to don the life vests stowed in each cabin.
The boat pulled this trailer like "Sea Dragon" loaded with kayaks. The dragon has 3 kayak bays which allow you to embark and disembark from the kayaks on deck. Staff pushed you off or hauled you on ship.
Since we are within the Inside Passage of Alaska's panhandle, we are somewhat protected from winds and swells of the open sea. I'm certain conditions can get such that paddling would not be possible but we lucked out. Paddling was rather calm. Water was quite clear. Often you could see the bottom. Most of the time when you could see the bottom, it was loaded with vegetation.
It's early June. Snow melts away in early July.
They were numerous
Looking north after sunset was a special treat. The sunset was just before 10pm. It never got completely dark as there was always a glow except for one night that was quite foggy.
Nanci and Gogo trying to paddle straight.
We must have been drinking heavily. On the 3rd day, a second bartender was flown in.
This evening, we entered a tight fjord with almost vertical cliffs, all with cascading waterfalls being fed by melting snow.
This waterfall drops right into the sea. Our captain, maneuvered the ship right up to the waterfall. You could feel the spray.
Wineglasses in one hand and a phone in the other.
On day 4, I paddled up to this waterfall. The snowmelt must have been near peak.
One of the mega cruise ships passes at night.
Everyday we saw Bald Eagles. If you scanned the trees along the shoreline, you were sure to spot them. They seemed to prefer points of land that reached out into the water, allowing for a wider view of their hunting ground (sea). I watched several for a long period of time. Occasionally, they would head out and make a dive at some prey but I never saw they catch anything.
Day 5 we were in the Glacier Bay National Park. This morning's skiff tour took out into open sea along a rocky coast. Harbor seals were in the open water. Sea Lions were basking on the rocks. We saw several groups of Sea Lions, like the scene below. In all cases there was a massive male in the water. The big males were about 3 times the average size. It was suggested that they had a more difficult time getting out of the water on to the rocks.
Gulls don't care for us in their territory.
Sea Otters, not to be confused with their cousins, River Otters, are large. A North American River Otter tops out at 30 lbs while Sea Otters can grow to 100 lbs. It is difficult to see in the above photo, but this female has a baby on its belly, making it look like a two headed Sea Otter. Sea Otters swim backwards and upside down. That is, laying on the water belly up, moving backward. Babies can't swim early on, so they float on Mom's belly until they can swim.
Later that afternoon, we head to an island for a hike. I'm always on the lookout for wildflowers.
Skunk Cabbage was plentiful
Shooting Star in a bog
WW II gun placement. There was ruins of a couple cabins nearby as well as a small Quonset hut for supplies.
The final day of our cruise, checks out some glaciers. This one has a clean look. Not all glaciers look clean since they pick up rocks and soil as they move.
Our choice of activities today include a snowshoe hike, a kayak paddle by the glacier or an ice meander. Expedition leader, Skiba suggested the ice meander. Only 6 had signed up for it, so I was skeptical.
The ride over in the skiff, had to negotiate growlers of ice. We are told that a hunk of ice up to 9 feet measured at its longest point, is called a growler. If it is between 9 and 22 feet it is a "bergy bit". And larger than 22 feet, it's an iceberg.
The skiff lands on an island which was the terminal moraine of the glacier until it went through an abrupt melt, leaving a pool of several hundred yards between the glacier and the island.
Growlers, bergy bits and icebergs cover the island. How did that happen? It was not the tides. It was when a huge chunk of ice calved from the glacier and created a large enough wave to float ice chunks up on the island. We heard about a dozen crack booms, accompanied with chunks of ice falling into the water. The largest we saw was about the size of a compact car. They barely caused much wave action.
We pose in front of a bergy bit. Near here, we disturbed a colony of Arctic Terns. I assume there was a nest or series of nests since the terns squawked and harassed us until we moved away. They can hover in air like a hummingbird.
Peekaboo
I brought a hunk of ice back to the boat. It ended up in the bar where you could have a drink with glacier ice.
We rode the skiff back to the boat just in time for the polar plunge. Hardy souls made the jump into ice infested waters.
Man overboard
The final night on the boat was a festive one. The bartender worked overtime. The boat made the overnight journey from Glacier Bay back to Juneau. We arrived before 6am and disembarked at 9am.
Sea Lions one last time
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