Today’s excursion was scheduled for 1:20 pm so we had no rush for the morning. We had a nice relaxed breakfast and eventually made our way off ship at 10. The search for some black slacks for Brian continues, so the first thing we did was check at the information booth on shore. Fred Meyer was going to be our best bet and information booth guy directed us to the shuttle that goes to Costco and Fred Meyer, round trips for $10. Apparently this is a popular excursion, because the van was filled with 13 of us.
At Freddie’s, we searched diligently until we finally found some suitable dress pants. YAY!! We gathered a few other ‘necessities’ and caught the shuttle back to the ship. By then, it was time to gather our belongings and meet our guide on the dock for our next excursion—whale watching with a private company, Harv and Marv. I had read excellent reviews about this group and was very excited. Soon, a group of us were on a small bus ready to get to the harbor to catch our assigned boats.
Our driver was a nice young woman who had only been with the company for a short time. She gave a nice narration of information on Juneau. Because we had a few spare minutes before our scheduled arrival at the boat , she decided to take us on a little scenic loop to get a view of the Mendenhall lake and glacier. She pulled into a parking area of a wedding chapel to circle around back to our road, headed under an overhang and CRUNCH!!! Our bus was too tall to go under and she hit the rain gutter and eave of the overhang. She backed up, but the damage was done. Ouch! She got out and talked to the minister of the chapel and we were soon on our way. We all felt so bad for her!!
On to the dock with no further incident, we met our assigned boat’s captain, Liz. Our captain, a tiny lady, works 6 months in Juneau and 6 months in Honolulu doing whale watching tours. What a life!! She was very knowledgable and taught us a lot about whales. We loved her!
We were going to be with another two couples for our 3 hour whale watch. I was a little dismayed when I saw the size of the boat as it was very small. That’s a GOOD thing when you want to whale watch, but I was worried about Brian as he gets sea sick. Well, we’re stuck now, so off we went, hoping for smooth waters and no upchucking!
Our first little stop was to view some eagles in the trees along the shore. I never tire of seeing these majestic birds. Boat was a little ‘rocky’ but Brian did okay. Whew! Then we headed off to find where the whales might be. Along the way, Brian soon spotted the first spouting. We headed to that whale, but she only came to the surface once and we never saw her again. Liz, our captain ‘recognized’ this whale as a female that had been hit by a boat in the distant past and is very shy about surfacing. Apparently, it has been a long time since any whales have been hit by boats, but it’s always sad to hear it happened at all. There are a lot of regulations about whale watching and what boats are allowed to do. Our captain was very conscientious about this and we appreciated that.
We spotted a group of boats in the distance which generally indicates whale activity, so we soon joined them. We got to the area just as a whale was putting on quite a show breeching, making huge splashes. Always so exciting! Our captain noticed a mother and her baby, so she moved over toward them. What a wonderful viewing we had of that mother and her youngster, playing in the water. Breeching, fin slapping, diving with tail flip. It was spectacular. For three hours we were blessed with seeing about 9-10 whales. Two mother and their two babies, and several other adults. Just amazing. We even saw one of the babies playing with a sea lion. I had no idea that this could happen, but we saw it with our own eyes.
Amazing nature.
Amazing nature.
The scenery around us was breathtaking. Even without the whales, it would have been worth the boat trip. Alaska is truly God’s country. Just so beautiful. After watching the whales and they quieted down, we moved over to where there is a buoy, a favorite sunning spot for Steller Sea Lions. Magnificent creatures.
Time had come for our tour to be over. Sadly, we headed back to shore but oh, so delighted with the experience that we had just shared.Brian had done well with no seasickness, the water was silky smooth the entire trip. YAY!!
One of the gentlemen that was on our boat shared with us that a couple years ago he had had a brain aneurysm burst. He remembers coming home from work with “the worst headache I’ve ever had” and remembers nothing else until waking up several weeks later in the hospital, having had brain surgery and a long, rough life struggle. He and his wife were told that he would never walk or talk again. Yet, here he was. He expressed to us what an amazing thing it was for him to have just experienced this day with us. It was so moving, there wasn’t a dry eye on the boat. A very spiritual, moving moment that I feel blessed to have had that day. Life is precious.
On the way back to the ship our bus driver stopped at a viewpoint for some pictures of the Mendenhall glacier. Always surrounded by beauty in this wonderful place.
Back on ship, we were starving so we went to the Neptune Lounge to grab a few appetizers to hold us over until dinner. After all, we have become accustomed to eating at LEAST every 2 hours on this cruise and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Oh, the humanity!!
Brian pulled his newly purchase slacks out of the bag to hang them up. Lo and behold, the security device had not been taken off of them. WHAAAA? Too late to go back to Fred Meyer, no way for us to remove it, we took them to the concierge to see if they could do anything. So, the black slacks saga continues. Arghhh!!!
Dinner at 7, just the two of us, went by quickly. One thing I had always wanted to do on past trips to Juneau was to ride the tram. We had just enough time before the specified ‘all aboard time’ so we headed ashore and walked down to the tram. Bought our tickets and boarded the tram, we were the only people on it. It was fun, a little unnerving, but afforded us once last spectacular view of Juneau. Another item checked off my Alaska list!
We were told today that Brian's black slacks were looked at by the tailor and he didn't have the right tool to remove the security device. So tomorrow, they will check in the ship's shops to see if they have a tool. The saga continues!!
We were told today that Brian's black slacks were looked at by the tailor and he didn't have the right tool to remove the security device. So tomorrow, they will check in the ship's shops to see if they have a tool. The saga continues!!
Tomorrow—-ziplining in Hoonah, Icy Strait Point. Yikes!!
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