We have a 5 hour tour starting about 9am but the light had us awake at 4am so we breakfasted early, along with half the ship. Juneau is smaller than I expected for a capital city. What would possess you to endure 10 months of Winter? The backdrop is pretty enough but the water has that uninviting dark and cold look. Not helped by the presence of otters or seals.
Spirit has been joined by the Disney Explorer(?) and the Island Princess. The quay is set up for tourists.Hope to find wifi here. Must finish yesterday's entry.
3.30pm and departing Juneau after another great day of sights. Juneau does not impress as a capital and the "show us yer tits" yobs in the dingy forming our escort adds to the impression of too much solitude enjoyed in this part of the world. Our guide, in typical try hard manner today acted kind of dopey but it was not an amusing way to impart information - everything took 3 times as long as it should. Tess was ready to swap groups (as was I) when she kept us in a carpark telling lame jokes for 10 minutes before our eventual - slow - walk to the Mendenhall glacier. See it soon folks, as it is receding at a rate of knots!
There are signs that people love it up here - so many float planes - and it is wild.
The lake before the glacier looked great and we took lots of photos like this:
We are dining with the chef tonight - a select dozen meet him in the lobby and then start a 7 course meal with wine at various points along the route he follows to feed 2500 every day. Will tell you how it went tomorrow.
Speaking of which, we are sailing to Ketchikan which is our final Alaskan port before stopping at Victoria, capital of BC, CA.
Back to today, after Mendenhall, it was off in a very fast boat
for our whale watching. I said earlier that I don't belong to the "smart as humans" mob when it comes to cetaceans, so was not overly excited. The boat ride was great though - it was a metal box on top of a giant zodiac style pontoon, attached to three powerful outboards. The fuel used mad me think the cost of the excursion was pretty fair.
About 20 minutes up the Inside Passage - Maria was talking all the time but mostly useless or cutesy information rather than facts - we pulled up with other whale watching boats near some gulls circling the water. Sure enough, spouts appeared and soon the leviathans did their thing, looking like giant eels except when they decided to show their tales.
These humpbacks are feeding so boats can get closer than when they are calving in Hawaii but our skipper seemed to stay well beyond the 100 ft minimum. Consequently, we have lots of footage of small black blobs in the distance. The whales seemed unconcerned and some lucky tourists had them surface almost on top of them.
My binoculars came into their own - the boat supplied a few sets too - and after more time than I needed, one junior finally breeched. Maria was almost in hysterics. Picture Sandra Bullock in her annoying, snorting act and you have some idea. Still, I tipped her when we left. It's a tough life in the US.
Past the halfway point in the cruise and I would definitely recommend one. Our cabin is always welcoming, the motion is relaxing and entertaining and the passing show hard to beat. I would not hesitate to do another,providing the waters are smooth like here. Perhaps the Mediterranean.
Air is getting cool. Tess is snoozing and I should import the latest photos.
- All my own work. RV. Except for the bits by Tess.
Location:Juneau Harbor, AK, USA
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